Rivs sees the Latin GRAMMY nomination as encouragement to push his creative instincts even further, treating the recognition not as a reason to play it safe, but as an invitation to take bigger risks with his music.
“I don’t see this nomination as a threat to my creative freedom. I see it as the opposite, as an extra push to make things that are even crazier and more creative in the future.”
Born out of the pleasure of making music and without calculating how far it could go, “Contra Todo,” his debut EP, is nominated for Best Contemporary Mexican Music Album. There was even a point when he questioned how much some of the people around him connected with the songs. Now, that uncertainty exists alongside his desire to take his blends even further.
The Monterrey-based producer, artist, and three-time Latin GRAMMY winner, whose career spans more than 400 credits, brings his own creative vision to the forefront on “Contra Todo.”
Mexican music meets pop, rap, and urban sounds as Rivs brings together Juanes, Akapellah, Santa Fe Klan, and a wider roster of artists within a universe shaped through composition, production, and musical direction.
“Beso de Novela” offers a glimpse into how that universe can take shape in the studio. Rivs arrived at Juanes’ Miami studio with five songs prepared for the session, but after listening to music and talking for a while, they decided to set them aside and start from scratch. Juanes began imagining the story of a couple, their kiss, and the idea of a novela, and the two built the song around that idea. They finished it in about fifteen minutes, recording the guitars and vocals at the studio that same day.
In conversation with us, Rivs returns to the gatherings in Monterrey where an accordion, a voice, and a bajo quinto were enough for music to become part of everyday life. That closeness is still present in the way he understands the audience’s response when he hears one of his songs playing at a market, from a car, or on someone’s phone as they make their way somewhere. We talk about those encounters, the fusions reshaping Mexican music, and his desire to travel and listen beyond the world he grew up in. “Contra Todo” thus opens a new stage in which everything he has learned so far shares space with his curiosity about what he has yet to discover.
A few months have passed since you released “Contra Todo.” With some distance from the creative process, is there anything about the EP that you understand differently now than you did when you were making it?
Yes. I’ve realized that I’m making really good music while also having fun doing it. I had no idea the project would lead to this nomination, and I think a big part of that happened because I was making the music while genuinely enjoying the process. I think that’s also why so many good things have happened with the album.
The project is nominated for Best Contemporary Mexican Music Album. From your experience in the studio, what is changing in Mexican music that may not yet be visible from the outside?
The fusions. I think we’re moving away from confining Mexican regional music to just one genre. The fusions that are happening in the studio with all of these artists are what we’re going to start hearing next.
I think we’re going to see more and more that Mexican regional music has no limits.
Now that “Contra Todo” has had time to reach listeners and has received a Latin GRAMMY® nomination, what has surprised you most about the way the project has been received?
I think what surprised me most is that, at one point, I started to wonder whether some of the people closest to me within the industry would really like the music.
But now that the project is nominated, I think it was actually the complete opposite. A lot of people connected with the project and the music, and that surprised me because there was a moment when I genuinely questioned whether people were going to like it.
Now that the project is in this position and has received this nomination, I realize I was wrong. People really are enjoying what I’m doing, at least for the most part.
When a project receives this kind of recognition, expectations for what comes next also grow. How do you protect your freedom to experiment after receiving a nomination?
I’m going to keep making the music I like to make without necessarily thinking about what might happen with the album or how far it might go. I make music because I love making music. It’s my life.
I don’t see this nomination as a threat to that freedom. I see it as the opposite: an extra push to make things that are even crazier and more creative in the future.
What was the starting point for “Beso de Novela,” and how did the song take shape once Juanes joined the collaboration?
We were in Miami at Juanes’ studio. I had brought five songs with me to see if there was one he liked, but we decided to start a song completely from scratch, and that became “Beso de Novela.”
It was the first song we started, and we finished it right there. The song came together in about 15 minutes. After listening to some music and talking for a while, I said, “Why don’t we just make a song from scratch?” We started working, and Juanes began imagining this whole story about a couple, the kiss, and the idea of a novela. From there, we started writing the lyrics and building the story of “Beso de Novela.”
Once the lyrics were finished, we recorded the guitars and his vocals there in his studio, and we finished the song.
“Me Iluminé” brings together three distinct creative voices. What was it about the combination of Akapellah and Santa Fe Klan that made sense for this song, and how did you approach finding the common ground between your production and the styles of Akapellah and Santa Fe Klan?
Akapellah is one of the most important rappers from Venezuela, and Santa Fe Klan is one of the most important rappers from Mexico; they already have something in common from that standpoint.
Akapellah is deeply rooted in hip-hop, trap, and diss tracks, and the beat had a lot of those elements, so there was something in it that naturally resonated with him and his music. On the other hand, I ran into Santa Fe Klan at the studio, and he already wanted to make a song with Akapellah. I had this song, and it just came together naturally.
The song and the beat also have all of these elements of Mexican regional music. So the fusion between the artists exists within the music itself, but also in their voices and in the fact that they both proudly represent their respective countries within the genre. And I became the perfect excuse to bring all of that together through a fusion with Mexican regional music.
With so many different voices and styles across “Contra Todo,” what was most important to you in making sure the EP still felt cohesive and distinctly yours?
First of all, I worked on every song from scratch. I developed the vision and direction for each track, knowing that every song would have its own sonic and musical identity built around fusion.
So each song has that Rivs universe clearly embedded in it. It’s there in the fusion of the music, the artists, the genres, and the production. That’s what allows every song on “Contra Todo” to coexist within the same universe.
You’re from Monterrey, a city with a rich and diverse musical history. What part of growing up there do you recognize in the way you listen, write, or produce music today?
In Monterrey, it’s very common to have live music at parties and just about any kind of celebration. And I don’t necessarily mean having a stage. It could simply be someone with an accordion, a singer, and a bajo quinto, which is a type of guitar that’s very traditional in northern Mexico. Having that kind of music at family cookouts is completely normal.
I grew up going to parties with friends and listening to live music, surrounded by musicians, singers, and self-taught people making music. I think Monterrey is a city where music is everywhere.
For me, being surrounded by music became completely natural. And if I’m somewhere where there isn’t any music, I’ll go looking for it. That’s what Monterrey has been for me.
Throughout your career, you’ve been involved in projects that have reached a very large audience. Once a song starts circulating, what kind of listener reaction tells you something that the numbers can’t show you?
I think it’s when I’m out on the street or at a market, and I hear someone playing the song, when a car drives by blasting it, or when you’re on the bus or the subway, and someone is listening to the track on their phone.
Those are the kinds of indicators where you can take algorithms, promotion, and marketing out of the equation. Like I always say, the people decide. If people are listening to a song throughout their everyday lives, while they’re just going about their normal routines, that’s when I can really see that a song is getting a reaction and that people are genuinely connecting with it.
“Contra Todo” marks the beginning of your work under your own name. What do you hope the next chapter allows you to explore that you haven’t explored yet?
I want to make music with even more creative fusions and work with artists who share that vision, artists who want to make music without thinking so much about the audience, but about the music itself. More than anything, I know that in this next chapter of Rivs, I’ll be making music with some of the biggest artists I’ve collaborated with throughout my career.
After everything you’ve learned from making “Contra Todo,” what are you most curious to discover about yourself as an artist moving forward?
Everything. I want to learn, travel, and experience other cultures. I want the opportunity to travel enough to step outside the bubble of Monterrey and Mexican culture that I’ve always known.
I’ve spent my life within a very specific world that I grew up in and love deeply, but I want to travel, experience new things, and detach myself from my roots a little so I can discover, embrace, and absorb what’s happening in other cultures and in music from other parts of the world.
From there, I want to keep creating from different perspectives and with new ways of seeing things.
Listen to “Contra Todo” and connect with Rivs on Instagram and TikTok.
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