Why Natanael Cano Fully Embraced His Urbano Era on ‘Porque La Demora’

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Natanael Cano, the OG king of corridos tumbados, took a surprise turn with his new album Porque La Demora. After two years focusing on collaborations with his genre peers (and to the shock of some of his longtime fans), he’s completely put corridos aside in favor of exploring reggaeton, hip-hop, and Afrobeats on his most transformative LP yet.

“There was a delay with this album because I hadn’t found that spark and drive to keep creating music,” Cano tells Rolling Stone on a recent Zoom call. “Urbano and those types of beats and rhythms reminded me that I have a lot more in me to keep making music. I felt like I did urbano very well with this album and showed that I can do whatever I want to do.”

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After getting his start as a precocious teenager, Cano became a pioneering force in bringing Mexican corridos to the forefront with his trap-infused spin on the sound. He blazed a trail for artists like Peso Pluma and Xavi, who have continued to globalize corridos. The undeniable success of corridos tumbados pushed the Latin Grammys to create the Best Contemporary Mexican Music Album category last year, which included Cano’s Nata Montana. Now at 24, he’s eager to see what else he can do.

“Sometimes it can take four, five, or six hours to make a corrido, record the instruments, and work on the production and arrangements,” Cano says. “It’s complicated and exhausting. With urbano, you simply write and flow with the rhythms. Reggaeton has got me feeling motivated again.”

Instead of the requinto and guitars, Por La Demora is full of perreo. Cano serenades his girlfriend Marissa Blanco Botiller in the alluring “Blancanieves” and he turns up the heat with the “Mary Poppins” featuring Chilean breakout act FloyyMenor. The album also boasts trap bangers like the Scarface-inspired “Como Tony” with Eladio Carrión and the hard-hitting “El Juez” featuring Myke Towers. On the Afrobeats bop “Perlas Negras,” Cano joins forces with fellow corridos singer Gabito Ballesteros. “This is my favorite album and I want my fans to enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it,” Cano says.

While speaking with Rolling Stone, he broke down six songs from the new album.

“Blancanieves”

I was having dinner with my girlfriend. After drinking some wine, I always want to get into the studio. I was with her and I said, “I’m going to get in the studio and make a song.” We left the restaurant and I went home. I woke up in the studio the next day and “Blancanieves” came from a freestyle that I did in front of the microphone. That song flowed out of me while I was thinking about my girlfriend perhaps. [Laughs.] It became an important song for the album and for the creative direction that I wanted to take with it.

“Perlas Negras”

Since Gabito showed me that song, I knew it was going to be a hit. There wasn’t a beat on that song at first. All we had done was the chorus. We had Tom Enzy do the beat, who is a talented Afro-house producer, and it came out great. No one could have done the beat better than him. That song is incredible. I didn’t think twice about it when Gabito showed it to me. I knew that I had to record it and put it on the album. For me and Gabito, it’s not always about making music. We have connected a lot as friends in our day-to-day lives. That day in the studio, we did connect over the music. We always give it our all. We love to create music together.

“Mary Poppins”

Edgar Barrera played me a part of the song. He had made the beat and part of the song. I connected with it a lot because I was going through something similar to the lyrics. I had to jump on that song, kill it, and follow my instincts. I love FloyyMenor and the music that they’re making in Chile. I haven’t had the chance to meet him yet. From the few times I’ve talked with him through DMs on Instagram, I can tell he’s a very sensible and easygoing person. When I sent him the song, he liked it, jumped on it, and killed it. He sent me his part of the song the day after I sent it to him.

“El Juez”

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I have connected very well with Myke Towers since the day I met him. We have messaged each other since the beginning of my career when I was in Miami. He could have said, “This song will be just me, you, and no one else.” When I told Myke I was going to add Ganggy, who is an artist on my label, to the song, he loved the idea. He was never against the decision I made to have the three of us on “El Juez.” Myke recorded the song and he sounds amazing on it. I sent him a message that said, “You killed it, cabrón! That was incredible. Let’s see how I do because I haven’t recorded my part yet.” After he recorded his part, it was my turn and he raised the bar very high. I had to kill it like he did. There was no other way.

“Como Tony”

I wrote that song like three years ago in Los Angeles. I had never finished it. I always just had a part of it done. When I showed it to Eladio, he really liked it and he decided to record it. Eladio recorded his part of the song like a year and a half ago. When I wrote it, I personally felt like it would be a really good song and it was. It was very easy to work with Eladio again.

“Primero Muerto”

It’s one of those songs that the artist doesn’t like, but their fans support it more than any other song. I didn’t expect it to receive so much support, but I realized that song would be popular because I was asked about it in a lot of interviews. I felt something like that was needed on my album even though it’s not that dramatic or sad. There’s always the need for that kind of song on an album. The album is very feel-good with party vibes, but sometimes life can be sad. I can’t deny that, so I needed to have a song like “Primero Muerto.”

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