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Alt.Latino's Favorites: The Songs Of 2017

Cuban vocalist Danay Suárez's "Tú Serás" was among our picks of favorite songs from 2017.
Courtesy of the artist
Cuban vocalist Danay Suárez's "Tú Serás" was among our picks of favorite songs from 2017.

"One-at-a-time blasts of groovelisciousness": That's how I refer to the individual songs that make up our most extensive round-up of year-end favorites so far.

That is not to say that the albums these songs came from were not worthy of mention. But sometimes just one song will do. And as you can imagine, there were so many to choose from that I had to call in help.

For the podcast, Jessica Diaz-Hurtado returned to the guest host chair to help facilitate the conversation between some very heavy hitters among Latinx music writers: Suzy Exposito, assistant music editor for Rolling Stone; Marjua Estevez, associate editor at Billboard; and Veronica Bayetti Flores, the co-creator and co-host of the Latinx music podcast Radio Menea. We had a ton of fun, lots of laughs and even a few singalongs!

All the additional blurbs you see below also come from the cream of the crop of Latinx music writers: Jaquira Diaz, Vicky Diaz Camacho, Julyssa Lopez, Janel Martinez, Emily Prado, Marty Preciado, Isabela Raygoza, Eric Torres and Yezmin Villareal.

There will be some things that we miss; that is unavoidable. But we hope this list can get you started in your hunt for a sound you haven't heard yet.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Felix Contreras is co-creator and host of Alt.Latino, NPR's pioneering radio show and podcast celebrating Latin music and culture since 2010.