Grupo Frontera Creates Cumbia Magic in Making the Hit Live! Panel at 2024 Billboard Latin Music Week

There was no better way to kick off the second day of the 2024 Billboard Latin Music Week on Tuesday (Oct. 15) than with Grupo Frontera‘s Making the Hit Live!, during which the group from Texas worked its magic to create a brand new song.

As is tradition, during Making the Hit Live!, an artist will take the entire panel time to write and produce a song from scratch. But instead, this year, Grupo Frontera — who shot to stardom in 2022 thanks to ots cover of “No Se Va” — received lyrics from the band’s go-to producer and songwriter Edgar Barrera ahead of time, and added ots signature cumbia sound to the lyrics during the panel. Unofficially titled “Ya No,” the irresistible, hip-swiveling song was indeed created in a span of 40 minutes.

“Before we met Edgar Barrera, I would write songs for the group,” Payo, the band’s frontman, said enthusiastically. “We released, like, two songs that were penned by me, and I wrote four other ones, but those didn’t come out because that’s when we met Edgar and were like, ‘OK, we’re good,’” he added with a laugh.

Now, when they’re in the studio with Barrera, Frontera’s Juan, Payo and Beto will contribute to the songwriting process, but Payo pokes fun at his bandmates. “They just say one word hoping it sticks,” he shared. “One time, they were obsessed with the word ‘gafas’ and they just kept repeating it, like, chill bro.”

When it comes to production, that’s where all six of them contribute with their respective instruments.

Part of the process of creating a song also includes setting time to think about content for social media to complement the song’s essence. The group’s presence online, whether it’s recording a dance or acting out a scene using part of a song’s lyrics, has made Grupo Frontera go viral more than once on TikTok. “We don’t create a song thinking it will be a hit on TikTok,” Juan explained. Payo added, “When we record a song, we always think the chorus will go viral, but we always get it wrong, so we have to record all of our social media content all over again.”

While setting the cumbia rhythm for “Ya No,” Frontera shared the story of when the members recorded “No Se Va.”

“We didn’t have money to rent a studio to record, well we didn’t have money, period,” said Beto. “So when we did record, we’d have to do everything in one take — even if we made a mistake, we’d leave that in there. We recorded ‘No Se Ve’ at a friend’s apartment building and every resident there was fine with us using the space — except for this one lady who complained.”

That song scored Frontera the group’s first ever Billboard chart entry. The song peaked at No. 3 on the Hot Latin Songs chart. While they’re not sure yet if they’ll release “Ya No,” the song they created during the panel, the track has hit potential. Check out a sneak peek below:

The 2024 Billboard 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.