Ángela Leiva, Santy y Su Estilo Único & More Emerging Latin Artists on Our Radar
Rising artists featured this December who should definitely be on your radar.
12/30/2025
Rising artists featured this December who should definitely be on your radar.
By
Ángela Leiva Courtesy of FONO
Every month, Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors spotlight a group of rising artists whose music we love. Think “diamantes en bruto,” or “diamonds in the rough.” These are newcomers who have yet to impact the mainstream — but whose music excites us, and who we believe our readers should make a point to discover.
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Our latest edition of On the Radar Latin includes a wave of emerging artists, who we discovered by networking, coming across their music at a showcase, scrolling through social media, or elsewhere. See our recommendations this month below:
Ángela Leiva
Country: Argentina
Why They Should Be on Your Radar: Ángela Leiva has earned a strong reputation in her native Argentina, but she’s now set her sights on exploring horizons beyond her home country. Known for her career in tropical music, a genre that has shaped her as an artist, Leiva has also started to make her mark in the Mexican music market. She was featured on Los Ángeles Azules’ album De Buenos Aires Para el Mundo and, in 2025, collaborated with Grupo Cañaveral — one of the most iconic groups in the cumbia genre — on the track “Regresa Mi Vida.” Towards the end of the year, she released her song “Amiga Traidora” in a Tex-Mex version as a tribute to Selena, one of her greatest musical influences.
2026 is set to be a pivotal one for her career as she prepares to release her first album tailored to regional Mexican music. She plans to promote it with tours across Mexico, the U.S. and Central America. Her style fits perfectly within the genre, but she recognizes the significant challenge ahead: “I listen to a lot of Mexican music. I love it. It’s a big influence on me — I’m a huge fan of Grupo Frontera, Grupo Firme, and Banda El Recodo. But I also know it’s a big responsibility to perform that kind of music,” she tells Billboard. Leiva has recently signed with Fono, becoming the first international artist on the label, which is a part of Universal Music. – TERE AGUILERA
Song for Your Playlist: “Amiga Traidora (Cumbia TexMex)”
Santy y Su Estilo Único
Country: U.S.
Why They Should Be on Your Radar: Hailing from Ridgewood, Queens, Santy y Su Estilo Único are carving out a distinctly New York-Mexican sound, mixing traditional música regional with the grit of the city.
Fronted by 18-year-old singer and tololoche player Santy, the group channels generations of heritage with a modern persuasion. From performing traditional chinelo dances as a kid to watching his father DJ cumbia sonidera and banda sets in his neighborhood — Santy began experimenting with his own musical style since the pandemic, inspired by corridos tumbados trailblazers like Herencia de Patrones and Legado 7.
The band’s EPs Straight Outta NYC, En Vivo desde Nueva York, Vol. 1 and 2, and corridos single “5 Condados” pay tribute to the big apple’s Mexican community with references to local landmarks like bodegas, graffiti of the subway trains, and Mexico’s patron saint, Virgin Mary. Earlier this month, the group was featured in Billboard’s “Can Puebla York Put NYC on the Map for Mexican Music?” report, where the frontman said: “New York is culture. Even just going to a deli, you can connect with everyone in a single neighborhood. I see this and it fills me with pride, and I know that thousands of people who are from here, or at least have walked here, feel the same way.” — ISABELA RAYGOZA
Song For Your Playlist: “ETV”
Rebolú
Country: U.S. by way of Colombia
Why They Should Be on Your Radar: Johanna Castañeda grew up making music in Bogotá before making her way to New York. There, she created Rebolú with singer Ronald Polo Herrera and with Moris Cañate and Erica “Kika” Parra. With their blend of traditional Colombian rhythms — namely cumbia, played with traditional percussion and flute — as well as Latin jazz influences and a dynamic live presence, Rebolú has slowly but surely built their following, culminating with a Tiny Desk performance this year.
Recently signed to indie AP records, under which they released their album El Reto, the group is now headed to Viña del Mar in 2026, where they’ll represent Colombia in the festival’s annual folkloric music competition. – LEILA COBO
Song For Your Playlist: “Para Ser Feliz”
Miranda del Sol
Country: U.S.
Why They Should Be on Your Radar: Miranda del Sol is an independent singer-songwriter and producer of Argentinian-Cuban descent who captivated me with just a few singles out. Raised in Miami and based in New York City, her ethereal sound — a fusion of alternative pop, R&B, and early 2000s Latin pop — is impeccably produced, full of layered vocals and instrumentation, with deeply personal bilingual lyrics that explore themes such as the power of attraction (“keep it to yourself”) and the fear of losing oneself to love (“so in looove”).
In September, she released the four-track EP When You Were Asleep (Vol. I), a showcase of her versatility that includes the previously released single “aguardiente,” featured on Spotify’s “Best of Fresh Finds Latin 2024” playlist and one of my personal favorites. She is currently working on new music for next year. – SIGAL RATNER-ARIAS
Song For Your Playlist: “aguardiente”
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