Adriel Favela

Adriel Favela is an internationally celebrated singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist in the northern Mexican Regional genre known as norteño. His songs are trademarked by wedding traditional Mexican folk forms — corridos, romanticos, mariachis, and bandas — to contemporary pop hooks and polished production techniques in a lilting, resonant tenor voice with virtuosic guitar playing. His videos have registered hundreds of millions of views. Favela’s 2011 debut album, Favela por Herencia, juxtaposed narcocorridos with stirring love songs. The title track from 2015′s breakthrough Tomen Nota, featuring Los del Arroyo, spent 26 weeks in the Top Ten. Both 2017′s Azul Se Mira and 2018′s Señalado por Costumbre broke into the Top 40 at Latin Albums. Between 2020 and 2021, Favela released no less than 15 singles, including “Maldito” and “Asi Toco Ma Vida” with Natanael Cano. In February 2022, Favela teamed with fellow Sonoran, singer Carin Leon, on the single “Con un Botecito a Pecho.”
Favela was born in San Francisco in 1993. His father left the family when he was an infant and his mother raised him for three years in California before sending him to live with his grandparents in the northern Mexican state of Sonora. He began expressing interest in music at this stage and learned to play drums in school. Shortly thereafter he appended his musical knowledge by beginning to study electric bass, bajo sexto, standard guitar, and accordion and piano — simultaneously.
Favela began writing songs at 15 and posted videos of himself playing to YouTube. These came to the attention of ICON/EBO Music, which signed him to its Gerencia 360 Music label. He recorded his first album, Favela Por Herencia, at 18. He released his sophomore album, Mujeres Tu Tipo, in 2014, placing two singles — “Es Tiempo de Guerra” and the title track — on the Mexican Regional charts. In July of 2015, he issued the single “Te Acuerdas de Tu Amiga”; it placed higher than his previous offerings. It remained on the charts for 11 weeks; likewise his third album, Tomen Nota, issued a few weeks later in early 2015, transcended the Mexican Regional charts to peak at five on the Top Latin Albums list. Its title-track single featuring Los Del Arroyo, spent 31 weeks on the chart and peaked at number one. That year, Mexico’s National Radio Awards presented Favela with its Revelation of the Year award. That July, he appeared on Univision’s Sabado Gigante and was reunited with his mother, who had remained in the U.S. after sending him to live with his grandparents.
In 2017, Favela returned with the full-length Azul Se Mira, featuring the Top 40 single “Me Llamo Juan,” while the album peaked at seven on the Mexican Regional albums list and at 20 Latin albums. The album was recorded the previous year and completed just weeks before Favela was kidnapped at gunpoint in Sinaloa. Though his kidnappers let him go, the experience affected him profoundly. Suffering from PTSD, Favela sought out therapy and re-examined his life. He began writing from his direct experiences and in 2018 released the full-length Señalado por Costumbre. It offered 11 new originals with guest spots from Enigma Norteno, Leandro Rios, Javier Rosas, Jonatan Sanchez, Omar Ruiz, and Giovanny Ayala. Though it peaked just outside the Top Ten at Mexican Regional albums, it spent 59 weeks on the chart while he toured in support. The album eventually topped streaming lists and placed inside the Top 40 at Top Latin Albums, where it spent three months and became most popular album.
After nearly 18 months of touring Mexico and Central and North America, Favela took a break to refocus. He released only one single in 2019, the hit “Miami Vibe,” in collaboration with Codigo FN. It reached number three at streaming and placed inside the Top Ten on the Mexican airplay charts, remaining there for two months. Its video registered nearly 60 million views. Though the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down in 2020, Favela issued a remastered, remixed — and partially re-recorded — version of the single “Chequen El Porte” from Azul Se Mira. He followed a few months later with “Así Tocó Mi Vida” in duet with Natanael Cano.
In 2021, Favela made up for being off the scene for most of the previous year. He issued singles with startling regularity. In January he released the macabre video and single “No Le Temo a La Muerte” in collaboration with Tony Aguirre. He followed with the hybridized mariachi/romantico/norteño single “Eres” in February. In April he issued “Al Millón” in duet with Fuerza Regida, followed in June by Adiccion, a five- track EP led by its title cut. The release showcased more sophisticated production in a fusion of folk, ranchera, and jazzy blues. While it didn’t make conventional industry charts, it went Top Ten at streaming and received the best critical reviews of his career. In August “El Bo,” Favela’s collaboration with singer El Bala, appeared. In late September he followed with “444 X Tipo Need for Speed” and a month later with “Lágrimas de Miel,” alongside a provocative video. November saw the issue of the controversial single and video for “Maldito” featuring Brandon Reyes y Elvin. In February 2022, Favela teamed with Sonoran singer Carin Leon for the upbeat duet single and video for “Con un Botecito a Pecho.” ~ Thom Jurek