Blue Rojo Is A Musical Volcano Of Queer Desire

By Lucas Villa


Blue Rojo is leaving an eye catching mark on Latin pop music. Because the Mexican-American singer keeps it up and continues to take the genre to new places by fusing seemingly disparate elements of electronic and punk with reggaeton, he also lyrically pushes boundaries as an openly gay musician. Seeking to find himself immediately after a couple of years of fleeting fame, Blue's authenticity as an artist led him to sign with Universal Music Categorize last year. Right after releasing an album about being in love with a straight man, he keeps it up and continues to stay true to himself with his latest single “Soy Tu Payaso Papi 3000.”


"It's a dream to sing about gay love," Blue tells MTV over Zoom from his house in Mexico City. "It's so hot. It's super enthusiastic. It makes me feel alive. It's what I am. I'm singing about what I am."


Before becoming one of Mexico's freshest new voices, Blue Rojo was place on Earth Santiago Ogarrio in San Diego, California. As a child, he grew up in the border town of Tijuana, where he was able to embrace the pop culture of both the United States. And Mexico. Blue cites MTV's TRL because the structure of his musical influences. "I was super inspired by MTV, the full top 10 countdown," he recalls with a smile. "I watched it all of the time." Among his preference artists were Britney Spears, Evanescence, Avril Lavigne, and Korn. On the Latin side, he was listening to the campy categorize Kabah, Spanish pop star Belinda, and electro-pop trio Belanova. "I love all of the pop glam of what a pop artist is," he says. "It's pretty and it's plastic-y, and I like it."


Blue moved to Mexico City with his family member at age 11, and he later noticed his first possibility to create his dreams of becoming a musician come true. Immediately after The Voice became a ratings juggernaut in 2011, international franchises sprang up around the world, including in Mexico. In 2013, he tried out for La Voz. For his first unaired audition, he says the producers forced him to sing Juanes's "Me Enamora," which resulted in zero celebrity coaches selecting him for their team. Once Blue was invited back to audition again three days later, he told them, "Sure, however I'm going to pick my song." His acoustic version of Don Omar's reggaeton classic "Salio El Sol" won over Puerto Rican duo Wisin y Yandel.


Despite making it far in the competition and enjoying the experience, Blue says he couldn't really be who he was while appearing on television. "I was already out with my family member although I was still sort of scared of saying it on the show," he adds. Blue also noticed that his beginning fame, boosted by La Voz, had to do more with being a recognizable face on TV than with his actual talent. He left Mexico City for Guadalajara soon after a friend invited him out there. "I got sort of depressed," Blue admits. "It was like a shock for who I am. I began doing an introspection with myself to begin to know who I actually am and what I want to mention. That's where I began my artsy creation of Blue Rojo."


With a fresh perspective from spending per year in Guadalajara, he returned to Mexico City to create Blue Rojo a reality. "I'm this misunderstood, super mystical gay boy in my fantasy," he says about the concept in back of his moniker. (The Spanglish name reflects his bicultural influences from Mexico and the U.S.) In 2019, Blue began independently releasing music that delved into queer identity through euphoric electro-pop tracks like "Niñaboy" and "Bebé." The reggaeton-infused "Soy Tu Payaso Papi" was his most emblematic video as he turned into a clown over his crush on a straight man. "I aspire to be free with this project," Blue says. "I love homosexuality. I think it's a pretty thing. In each sense, I think each person has to love who they are. I love that and I want to sustain that for myself because life is short."


"Soy Tu Payaso Papi" caught the eye of Mexico City-based A&R Diego Urdaneta, who assembled a team of musicians like Venezuela's Ulises Hadjis and the Dominican Republic's Diego Raposo to work with Blue on his debut album, Solitario. Across the 12 tracks, Blue further delves into the pain and rejection of his unrequited queer crush on this straight guy. Urdaneta shopped the album around with different labels before Universal signed Blue. "You have to trust your instinct as much as you could Blue says about making the album. "You have to believe in yourself. You gotta risk it also. I felt really good that they fancied the album. That was a dream."


In November 2021, Universal released Blue's Solitario just because the label execs heard it before they signed him. His operatic voice soars across every genre that he's blended into the LP. On "Después de la Pandemia Volví a Ser Católiko," Blue reconciles his religious upbringing with a magnetic crush. By way of the surging electronica, he whines out to God, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary for guidance. In the swaggering reggaeton standout "Eslabón de Bonbón," Blue is feeling himself as a "puto," his reclamation of the Spanish-language queer slur. "I like the word and I routinely hope to use it," Blue says. "I felt like I was on fire If I was singing that song, like a volcano."


Earlier this year, Blue lived out one of his high school fantasies through his music video for "No Te Kiero Olvidar." On the soccer field, he sings the synthpop anthem with eyes for the team captain. Right following the two get cozy, they share a kiss on screen. "It was very cathartic," Blue says. "It was also a method of healing. In school, I was very shy and kept to myself. I was very depressed, so doing this makes me let it go. Right now I know I put it out there. I expressed what I felt."


In addition to releasing a revamped "Soy Tu Payaso Papi 3000" this month, Blue previewed his next single “La Foto x Whatsapp,” due out in July. In the dembow-driven dance track, he sings about discovering through Whatsapp that the guy he's seeing has a girlfriend. "This song is more fun," Blue says. "I like the pop drama." Toward the end, a trial of Belanova's "Por Ti" emerges. "I was one of these kids listening to Belanova, and right now having them on my song, it's super cute he adds. In the forthcoming futuristic music video, Blue rides around the city holding onto a motorcyclist. A reference to Rosalía’s Motomami, perhaps? He says with a laugh, "Super Motopapi vibes."


and also Rosalía, Blue would love to collaborate with artists like Frank Ocean, Charli XCX, Grimes, Bad Bunny, Karol G, Björk, and, obviously, Britney. With plans for more singles to come this year, he's already hard at work on his second album. "I love being Blue Rojo from right now at this point in my life," he says. "I aspire to prepare a little bit of a controversial album with a pop concept. I'd like to be an artist that has a voice. I'd like to keep talking about concepts that are very personalized nevertheless that also matter in society."