All Songs Considered

Alt.Latino: What Were Felix and Ana's 2025 Favorites?

December 10, 2025

Key Takeaways Copied to clipboard!

  • The 2025 music year in Spanish language music was defined by major, culture-shifting releases from Bad Bunny (DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS) and Rosalía (LUX), which served as bookends to the year. 
  • The hosts highlighted the importance of Bad Bunny's work in elevating Puerto Rican culture, exemplified by his inclusion of El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico on his album, coinciding with the passing of El Gran Combo founder Rafael Itier. 
  • The episode featured several other highly regarded 2025 Spanish-language recordings that showcased immense creativity and genre exploration, including works by Queralt Lahoz, Roxana Amed, Arath Herce, Mon Laferte, rusowsky, and Lido Pimienta. 

Segments

Year-End Favorites Introduction
Copied to clipboard!
(00:00:45)
  • Key Takeaway: The hosts, Felix Contreras and Ana Maria Sayer, are reviewing their personal favorite Spanish-language music recordings from 2025.
  • Summary: Felix Contreras and Ana Maria Sayer introduce the episode of Alt.Latino as a look back at the best music of 2025. Ana notes the year featured culture-shifting and record-breaking music from the Spanish-language world, emphasizing the mind-boggling variety of expression. They agree to focus on personal favorites rather than definitive ‘best of’ lists.
Bad Bunny’s Major Impact
Copied to clipboard!
(00:01:56)
  • Key Takeaway: Bad Bunny’s album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS had a significant, multi-layered impact, moving from individual resonance to unprecedented historic influence on Puerto Rico and globally.
  • Summary: Felix details the expansive impact of Bad Bunny’s album, noting its influence on the individual, Puerto Rico (where he held a 31-show residency), Latin America, and the world. The album’s mission included elevating Puerto Rico, demonstrated by incorporating an opening sound from El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico.
Tribute to Rafael Itier
Copied to clipboard!
(00:03:45)
  • Key Takeaway: The passing of Rafael Itier, founder of the salsa institution El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, was noted, highlighting the significance of his legacy being introduced to millions via Bad Bunny’s record.
  • Summary: The hosts pause the album discussion to mention the recent passing of Rafael Itier, the founder of El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico. Itier’s group provided the first sound heard on Bad Bunny’s record. This connection brought the legacy of this crucial salsa institution to hundreds of millions of new listeners globally.
Rosalía’s Genre-Defying LUX
Copied to clipboard!
(00:05:17)
  • Key Takeaway: Rosalía’s album LUX is recognized as a masterpiece performed in 13 languages, expected to fully unfold its impact in the coming year through touring and broader reception.
  • Summary: Rosalía’s LUX is discussed as the second bookending album, appealing to diverse musicians from opera singers to classical musicians. Ana believes the album’s full life and impact have yet to be seen, anticipating developments once Rosalía tours it.
Queralt Lahoz’s Innovative Flamenco
Copied to clipboard!
(00:06:53)
  • Key Takeaway: Queralt Lahoz’s album (9:30) PM innovatively fuses flamenco energy with contemporary beats, expanding on the genre’s tradition in ways distinct from earlier Nuevo Flamenco artists like the Gypsy Kings.
  • Summary: Ana highlights Queralt Lahoz’s track ‘La Fe’ from (9:30) PM, describing her work as a contemporary infusion of pain and intense emotion into pastoral music, similar to the definition of flamenco. She uses rich percussion and strings, expanding flamenco’s base in ways different from earlier popular innovators.
Roxana Amed’s Jazz Reworkings
Copied to clipboard!
(00:10:03)
  • Key Takeaway: Roxana Amed’s album Todos los Fuegos features jazz arrangements of 1980s Argentine rock songs, offering commentary on societal alienation during the brutal dictatorship era.
  • Summary: Felix shares his focus on Latin American jazz, featuring Roxana Amed’s Todos los Fuegos, which includes jazz arrangements of songs by artists like Charly García (Cerati). The original song ‘Cinema Verite’ commented on alienation during Argentina’s ‘dirty war’ dictatorship, a theme Amed felt compelled to express.
Arath Herce’s Poetic Lyricism
Copied to clipboard!
(00:14:50)
  • Key Takeaway: Arath Herce’s album Musas en Mi, from Veracruz, Mexico, is praised for its gorgeous voice and profound lyricism, exemplified by the opening track describing the mind as a perpetually out-of-tune orchestra.
  • Summary: Ana praises Arath Herce’s Musas en Mi for its distinct sound within Mexico and its powerful poetry, noting the opening lines about the mind being an orchestra. The album’s producer, Leaf Bolabek, shares a beautiful chemistry with Herce, despite their different origins.
Mon Laferte’s Chameleon Artistry
Copied to clipboard!
(00:22:16)
  • Key Takeaway: Mon Laferte’s album Femme Fatal showcases her chameleon-like ability to embody different artistic concepts, drawing comparisons to classic vocalists like Julie London and establishing her as the most listened-to female artist in Mexico this year.
  • Summary: Felix plays ‘Vera Cruz’ from Femme Fatal, noting its similarity in mood to Julie London’s work. Ana emphasizes Laferte’s ability to evolve while maintaining her core vocal strength, pointing out that Laferte was the most listened-to female artist in Mexico in 2025.
rusowsky’s Genre Shapeshifting
Copied to clipboard!
(00:26:20)
  • Key Takeaway: rusowsky’s debut album Daisy highlights his producer-first approach, featuring extreme sonic shapeshifting and collaborations across genres, including a track with Gene Dawson.
  • Summary: Felix introduces rusowsky’s debut, Daisy, noting the artist’s tendency to collaborate across genres and time, often leading with his producer skills. The track ‘Kinki Figaro’ demonstrates this, followed by the tempo shift in ‘Johnny Glamour,’ showcasing his ability to manipulate sound in unexpected directions.
Lido Pimienta’s Orchestral Sound
Copied to clipboard!
(00:31:48)
  • Key Takeaway: Lido Pimienta’s album La Belleza utilized strings and orchestration in a way that paralleled Rosalía’s LUX, deserving equal recognition for its genre-defying approach.
  • Summary: Felix closes with Lido Pimienta’s La Belleza, noting that its use of strings and orchestration was concurrent with Rosalía’s work, though it risked being overlooked. He plays ‘Quiero que me veces,’ which features a full array of orchestral elements like horns, clarinets, and oboes.
Year-End Cultural Unification
Copied to clipboard!
(00:34:08)
  • Key Takeaway: The music of 2025 signifies a larger cultural unification across Latin America and the diaspora, with Spanish-language music acting as the primary vehicle for this global movement.
  • Summary: Ana reflects that the year’s music points toward a larger cultural unification of the Latin American diaspora happening through music. Felix hopes listeners recognize that the high-profile albums are just the tip of the iceberg, given the vast creativity spanning many countries, including Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Colombia.