Ever since Natanael Cano got his hands on a guitar, he hasn’t been able to let go. In fact, it was at that moment, at age 12, that he realized he wanted to dedicate his life to making music.
“When I learned to play the guitar, that’s when I knew” says Cano, who turned 20 earlier this month. Since, his prickly guitars have powered his corrido tumbado anthems and, on his new album aptly titled A Mis 20 (In My 20s), his guitar-playing skills take center stage.
With this new 11-track set, released via Rancho Humilde and Warner Music Latina, Cano solidifies himself as a bona fide storyteller with corridos that are flashy (“Carlitos”) but also display his most vulnerable side detailing heartbreak (“Sin Ti”).
Strictly a corridos tumbados album, A Mis 20 is a slight departure from Cano’s recent trap corridos albums Las 3 Torres, Soy El Nata and Trap Tumbado.
“My team and I wanted to go back to what we were known for, which is corridos tumbados,” the chart-topping Mexican singer-songwriter – who by the summer of 2020 was named the third most-consumed Latin artist in the U.S. according to Nielsen Music – tells Billboard. “This album is just the beginning of what I have planned because I really want to focus on corridos right now.”
Stream Cano’s new album here and below, the Sonora-born artist answers 20 Questions for Billboard:
1. Your album is titled A Mis 20 (In My 20s) and you turned 20 earlier this month. You moved to L.A. at age 17 to start your career. What have these past three years meant to you?
It’s a whole other world from where I came from. I discovered so many things and I feel time has just flew by and maybe it’s because I’m enjoying every single minute of it. I don’t think of this as my job, it’s just something I do and enjoy doing. And that’s really helped me preserve the love I have for this. It’s the same love I had when I started making music.
2. What do you enjoy most about the process?
What I enjoy the most is to improvise and see the level I can reach with something that just happened on the spot.
3. With this album, you return to your corridos roots. There is not one trap song in here. Was this planned or did it just happen?
It was intentional. My team and I wanted to go back to what we were known for, which is corridos tumbados. This album is just the beginning of what I have planned because I really want to focus on corridos right now. But at the same time, I have like five or six trap songs that I’ve been saving. I will also be releasing them but I decided to wait until we have a better strategy for those releases.
4. When did you start writing for this album?
Two months ago. I finished all the songs in a matter of two months because it was the only project I was focusing on.
5. How’s your songwriting process evolved from the first time you wrote a song to the songs you wrote for this album?
I’ve tried to be more spontaneous. I’ve gone back to how I started writing or creating beats in the first place, which is while I’m showering.
6. What comes first, the lyrics or the beat?
The melody. I grab my guitar and I create a melody, I record it and then I freestyle over it, which is how I write songs. I’m not really good sitting down to write, I like to be in a studio and just freestyle. I sing in the moment.
7. You’ve collaborated with Bad Bunny, Alejandro Fernández and Snoop Dogg, three completely different world. Do you think these collabs have helped you define your sound or what role do they play in your career?
I did those collabs for the culture and for people to know who I am. So that people would understand this corridos tumbados movement and that we’re on the same level as them. Those collaborations have been super important in my career.
8. Who was that first person that believed in you?
I was the first person to believe in myself.
9. When did you realized you could be a full-time artist?
The moment I came in contact with a guitar and learned to play it. I think I was around 12 years old. That’s when I knew.
10. Which of your songs has been a before and after in your career?
“El De la Codeína” because it was the first song that exploded on an international level.
11. In what way did the city you grew up in helped shape your identity as a musician?
I helped a lot because where I grew up, there were a lot of kids my age and we became close friends. We were a tight group and we had similar taste in music so we’d hang out, smoke together and just listen to music. To this day, those experiences inspire my songwriting.
12. If you could see any artist, dead or alive, in concert right now? Whom would it be?
Ariel Camacho. I never got to see him in concert.
13. Who or what inspires you musically?
Jhay Cortez, Bad Bunny and J Balvin. I’m big fans of them and they inspire me to keep doing music.
14. If you weren’t a musician, what would you be?
I guess a normal person who would really get to enjoy life and not have to worry about things I have to worry about now.
15. You don’t enjoy life as a musician?
Yeah, I do. But it would be a different way of enjoying life.
16. What are you scared of?
At this very moment, I’m not really scared of anything.
17. What do you spend too much money on?
Clothes.
18. Who do you want to collaborate with next?
Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t really plan my collaborations they just happen. Not too long ago I collaborated with Duki and Ovi and it just happened because we were in the studio together. Those are the best collaborations.
19. What’s one piece of advice you’d give your younger self?
Live in the moment. Don’t rush anything.
20. Finish this sentence: At my 20s, I learned to …
I learned to enjoy life.
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