Junior H

Antonio Herrera Pérez (born April 23, 2000), known professionally as Junior H, is a Mexican singer-songwriter. He is considered as one of rising acts in the corridos tumbados movement and has popularized the genre.

Early life

Antonio Herrera Pérez was born on April 23, 2000, in the town of Cerano, Guanajuato, in Mexico. At the age of 12, he and one of his friends would write lyrics since they did not know how to play instruments. He lived his childhood in Cerano until the age of 15 when he and his family moved to the state of Utah, United States. At the age of 17, while in high school, he worked at a sandwich shop and learned to play different instruments at the time, including the accordion and guitar, by watching videos on YouTube, although he later leaned more towards guitars and singing. One day as a hobby, he decided to upload several of his songs on YouTube under the name "Junior H." Away from social networks for one month without knowing anything about his uploaded songs, one day out of curiosity, while working, he went to review his songs on YouTube and upon seeing that his single "No He Cambiado" had more than 2 million views and several supportive comments, made him focus more on this independent musical project.

2019–2020: Music career beginnings

On February 2, 2019, Herrera released his debut album Mi Vida en un Cigarro, with nine songs. Among them was his first renowned single "No He Cambiado" and other songs such as "Mi Vida en un Cigarro" and "El de la Chevy". That same year, contacted by businessman Jimmy Humilde, he joined the independent Chicano record company Rancho Humilde, where he met fellow singer Natanael Cano, with whom he collaborated on the single "Disfruto lo Malo" on the album Corridos Tumbados; an album that includes Herrera's hit "Ella", a song written by himself.

In 2020, Herrera released his second studio album titled Atrapado en un Sueño, which features his most recognized singles, "Mente Positiva", "Atrapado en un Sueño" and "Jueves 10", surpassing 100 million views on platforms. The album was positioned in the top five of the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. Later that year, on September 2, he would release two albums that same day titled Musica <3 and Cruisin' with Junior H, which would feature 12 songs on each album. On December 18, together with Natanael Cano and Ovi, they released the album Las 3 Torres, including 16 songs which feature artists such as Snoop Dogg, Ñengo Flow and Snow Tha Product.

2021–2022: Further career

On February 12, 2021, Herrera released $ad Boyz 4 Life, with 16 songs, whose lyrics talk about love and heartbreak. In less than 24 hours, the album managed to position itself in the top spot of Apple Music's Latin Albums chart. Some of his recognized songs from the album are "La Bestia", "160 Gramos", "Me Consume", and a cover of Enanitos Verdes' hit single "Lamento Boliviano". On February 7, 2022, he announced and revealed the tracklist of his seventh studio album titled Mi Vida en un Cigarro 2, in reference to the name of his first album, which was officially released on February 11.

Months later, Herrera announced that he was working on a new album, but it contained Latin trap songs, which would be his first and only album of that genre, said Herrera himself. In October, he revealed the release date of his album, which would be November 11, although days later he changed it to a later date that would be the official one, November 23 of that same year. At the end of 2022, the album would be released as Contingente, which also consists of collaborations with other well-known artists such as Alemán, Big Soto, Ovi, Paloma Mami, and Snow Tha Product.

2023–present: $ad Boyz 4 Life II

In January 2023, Herrera released the single "Fin de Semana" with Oscar Maydon, which debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on number 86, making it both artists' first time appearing in the chart. In February, Herrera collaborated with Mexican musician and singer Peso Pluma on "El Azul", which marked both artists' first collaboration together. Herrera and Peso Pluma became frequent collaborators and had collaborated on "El Tsurito", "Lady Gaga," "Luna", and "Bipolar". "Lady Gaga" had peaked at No. 1 on the Mexico Songs and Hot Latin Songs charts, making this Junior H's first number 1 debut on both charts. On July 7, Junior H collaborated with reggaeton artist Rauw Alejandro, on the song "Picardía", from Alejandro's album Playa Saturno. In September 14, he and norteño group Grupo Frontera, released the single "En Altavoz", from the group's debut album, El Comienzo. On October 6, Junior H released his eighth studio album $ad Boyz 4 Life II, in which Herrera refers it as "more of an accident" since there were supposedly going to be featured artists in the album. In November 3, Junior H and Grupo Marca Registrada released "Mafiosa", marking it both artists' second collaboration. In November 13, 2023, Junior H appeared on El Alfa's album El Rey del Dembow, on the song "Aqui Ta Smoke", alongside Pop Smoke.

Junior H is known for being one of the most important figures of the corridos tumbados subgenre, along with Natanael Cano, which are also referred as trap corridos. He has also been influenced by a blend of Latin trap, reggaeton, and hip-hop music, genres in which he usually combines in his music.

The lyrics Junior H writes are usually about relationships, usually heartbreaking relationships, in which music with such lyrics is often referred as urban sierreño or "sad" sierreño, a genre inspired by Ariel Camacho, with Eslabon Armado being another important figure in the subgenre.

In his song "1004 Kilómetros", the lyrics are about and are dedicated to Junior H's mom, who actually lived 1004 kilometers away from him at the time. The lyrics represent a long-distance relationship.

Studio albums

Collaborative albums

Singles

Other charted songs

Guest appearances

Notes