Four powerful women who have built upon the legacies of their family names — Camila Fernández, Chiquis Rivera, Lupita Infante and Majo Aguilar — sat down together Wednesday (Oct. 16) at Billboard Latin Music Week 2024 and talked about how they rose above and assumed their own path in leadership roles in regional Mexican music.
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Moderated by Luana Pagani, founder of Fairwinds, and presented by Smirnoff Ice, the artists discussed during The Legacies panel how they are taking their illustrious family names and breaking through with their own sounds.
Here are the best quotes from the panel:
Camila Fernández: “[Our ancestors] inherit us in affection, and [fans tell me], ‘You remind me so much of your grandfather [Vicente Fernández]’. I’ve been working for 10 years for my hands. My grandfather used to say that success comes from work, not luck. It’s a mantra. You always have to have that thought. Exceed the expectations people have of you. Give honor to the family you come from; to keep elevating Mexico.”
“I need to start from zero to know [about being in the spotlight]; to earn it, that it’s not a whim of mine. Yes, I can do it! I make a fresh spin on mariachi for the new generations. Dressed as a charra and singing mariachi. My tour is called La Fernández.”
Chiquis: “From the beginning, I wanted to put a mark on my career. I want to do it with a lot of love. I’m proud to be Jenni Rivera’s daughter. She [did everything] with ovaries. She said, ‘If you don’t open this door for me I’m going out the window, but I’m going in.’ The first time I got on stage was when I was 10 years old in a competition my grandfather [Pedro Rivera] had. ‘I want to do that.’ An album of corridos. It was in 2012 that I said, ‘I want to try that’. And I sang ‘La Chacalosa’ [by Jenni Rivera] and won second place. Let them say what they say … I feel very proud of what we have been able to do, but even more proud of how I feel as a woman in my gender. We are stronger together.”
Lupita Infante: “It’s a great responsibility [the inheritance]. In the end it’s the public that decides if you continue with this career. I will never stop being [Pedro Infante’s] granddaughter. I feel that I grew up far away from the industry, from show business. My dad [Pedro Infante Jr.] passed away in 2009. My grandfather is long gone. And that’s where I got close [to music]. Connecting with Mexico. I’m from Los Angeles.”
“We who do the mariachi genre, it’s something very beautiful, very traditional, and it’s hard to break away, because you want to represent the genre. I am a producer as well. Change certain elements and find and look for that sound that I still have that I am respecting the mariachi.”
Majo Aguilar: “Since a long time ago I had it clear that I wanted to go forward, not sideways. Of course it helps [being the granddaughter of Antonio Aguilar and Flor Silvestre]. It is important to say it, otherwise it would be very unfair not to recognize it. That you have that surname that your family has done super important things in the industry. I admire all the girls here very much. Your mom is Jenni Rivera, you are already Chiquis, that you have achieved that with such a great mother, imagine being Jenni Rivera’s daughter, [Chiquis] you have paved so much road for us. My case is very particular, music chose me, and not music. Now I understand why I have this restlessness to sing”.
“I do mariachi with love, not to follow trends. To fuse the mariachi instruments with the tumbado format. Mariachi Tumbado is the name of my album. We have to embrace our genres, now they are in the global charts, and feel very proud”.
Latin Music Week coincides with the 2024 Billboard Latin Music Awards set to air at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 20, on Telemundo. It will simultaneously be available on Universo, Peacock and the Telemundo app, and in Latin America and the Caribbean through Telemundo Internacional.
