Milo J’s Tiny Desk Concert reaffirms Argentine artists’ global reach

During the last decade, a handful of Argentine artists were invited to the prestigious Tiny Desk Concerts filmed in Washington DC for National Public Radio (NPR), the most recent being 19-year-old singer Milo J. Born Camilo Joaquín Villaruel, the young hip-hop sensation joined the ranks of his famous compatriots Fito Páez, Nathy Peluso, Juana Molina, María Volonté, Sofía Rei, and Latin Grammy nominees Cande & Paulo.  In merely four days, Milo J’s YouTube concert clicked 3.5 million views and is expected to reach the status of his fellow trap-music singers Trueno (14M), Nicki Nicole (30M) and the highly successful duo Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso (51M and still counting). This is only the tip of the iceberg of the country’s new batch of stars with unexpected collabs, international tours and even interviews at The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon.  Argentine hip-hop artists have gained worldwide recognition thanks to the release of hit singles on digital music platforms and videos on YouTube, avoiding the slow and almost impossible distribution of analog days, when a local record company had to convince its overseas partners to release and promote an album. In addition, during the COVID lockdown, a new generation of acts learnt the DIY attitude of recording, releasing and filming their songs. Global collaborations and feats A good example of this success is the growing amount of Argentine talent featured in collaborations with high-profiled international acts. This week, Swedish pop superstar Zara Larsson released her remix album Midnight Sun: Girls Trip, which includes pop singer Emilia Mernes in the hit Girl’s girl. In February, virtual rock Gorillaz, helmed by Blur’s Damon Albarn, released the album The Mountain, featuring rapper Trueno on The Manifesto and producer Bizarrap on Orange County. Trueno had already joined Blur on stage at the Quilmes rock festival in 2024. In a similar way, last October Sting accepted to sing with rock hero Charly García in the single In the City, and this February recorded Hasta Jesús tuvo un mal día (Even Jesus Had a Bad Day) with Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso. Live with Jimmy Fallon This Wednesday, 24-year-old Trueno will appear on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, an unusual presentation of a Latin artist on a US national network. Before him, only Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso were featured last year, Nathy Peluso in 2024, Bizarrap alongside Shakira in 2023, and Nicki Nicole in 2021.  Purists might add rock guitarist Nicolás Bereciartua, who plays with The Black Crowes, and played live in 2024. “Soda Stereo and Enanitos Verdes paved the way for them, but there’s something deeper than the simple ‘international leap’ that this generation of artists embodies,” said Ezequiel Ruiz, editor in chief of Billboard Argentina.  “It’s not just about exporting music, but about validating an identity. The fact that Milo J is reaching the Tiny Desk with his austere sensibility, and Trueno is stepping onto American prime time with Jimmy Fallon speaks about a scene that no longer asks for permission or needs translation. Or, in the language of social media, it’s another crowning achievement for Argentine music.” International tours Argentine artists of tango, folklore and rock have historically toured throughout Latin America, sometimes reaching the US and Europe, but this new generation of talents is being included in massive festivals like Coachella (California), Glastonbury (UK) and Fuji Rock (Japan). Trap artist Duki even sold-out the huge Bernabeu football stadium in Madrid in 2024. Milo J is also experiencing major concerts outside Argentina, where he established himself as one of the new figures of rap, playing twice in the 45,000 seat Vélez stadium last December. His success is augmented by the challenge of recording a mostly folklore album, just two seasons after his debut, 111, and fourteen months after 166, both firmly based on hip-hop and rap. His new songs became instant classics with a modern vision, a fusion of instruments and sound details that reveal their gangsta and contemporary lineage. Audiences in Colombia, Ecuador and Spain have been raving about his style, as he is getting more and more international recognition. “Coming from different places, both Milo J and Trueno construct a narrative where the local, the political, and the emotional coexist unfiltered,” Ruiz adds. “It is precisely this authenticity, far removed from any prefabricated global formula, that is now universal. It’s not a coincidence or a trend: it’s the consequence of a generation that understood that in order to be heard abroad, it first had to sound definitively its own.”