Mau y Ricky and Carlos Rivera Debate What "Latin Pop" Means

Mau y Ricky and Carlos Rivera spent a 30-minute panel on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, arguing over what "Latin pop" actually means. Producer Na'vi joined them. The session, titled "The Many Faces of Latin Pop," was the first artist panel of Billboard's Latin Music Week in Miami.

Ricky, one half of Mau y Ricky, said the word "pop" simply means "popular." To him, it is a label that helps a record store sort its shelves. By that logic, the duo count as pop whether they record ballads, songs shaped by regional Mexican styles, or a dembow track with the Puerto Rican artist Arcángel. Dembow is a fast Caribbean beat that is central to reggaetón.

Carlos Rivera came at the question from another side. He said pop is easier for listeners to take in and is less tied to any one country's regional traditions. He pointed to the 1990s, when Latin pop travelled widely because it reached more people than other genres did. He named Raphael, José Luis Perales, José José, Ricardo Montaner and Franco de Vita as influences among balladeers, and called the arrival of the Mexican group Sin Bandera a major turning point for the genre.

Na'vi described a producer's job as something like an airline pilot's. The task is to serve the artist and steer toward the best result for them. He said building a personal connection with the artist comes first.

The conversation also turned personal. Ricky said he wrote "Las Flores" for the duo's album Mau, and that the song made him anxious because of how deeply it reached into emotion. Mau said that he and Ricky, the sons of singer Ricardo Montaner, took many years to work out their own identity. That search, he said, led them to blend pop with urban music.

Latin Music Week runs from October 19 to 22, 2026, and features interviews, industry panels, live performances and networking. The panel is one part of a crowded schedule. Billboard's Latin Music Awards follow on Thursday, October 22, with a live broadcast on Telemundo and Peacock from the James L. Knight Center in Downtown Miami. The show will also air on Universo, in the Telemundo app, and across Latin America and the Caribbean through Telemundo Internacional.

For anyone who has ever wondered why a genre name matters, the panel offered two answers. One is a shop-floor answer: pop is a shelf label. The other is about reach: pop travels because it is easy to hear. Both answers came from people who make the records.