{"id":9430,"date":"2026-03-15T00:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T00:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/junior-h-sad-boy-interview-panel-billboard-house-sxsw-1236199334\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T00:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T00:32:10","slug":"junior-h-sad-boy-interview-panel-billboard-house-sxsw-1236199334","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/junior-h-sad-boy-interview-panel-billboard-house-sxsw-1236199334\/","title":{"rendered":"Junior H Talks Embracing Vulnerability, Disney Obsession at SXSW: \u2018You Could Say I\u2019m the Godfather of Sad\u00a0Kids\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tAfter making waves with his most recent album, DEPR<\/3$$ED MFKZ<\/em>, his fifth release to reach No. 1 on the Regional Mexican Albums chart, Junior H<\/a> joined the Billboard House @ SXSW on Saturday (March 14) to talk about vulnerability, his chart success and his future ambitions. The event \u2014 held at Mohawk Austin as part of the South by Southwest festival, where he sat down with Billboard<\/em>\u2018s co-chief content officer Leila Cobo \u2014 served as a prelude to his headlining concert at the Moody Amphitheater for THE STAGE x SXSW, presented by Billboard<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Junior<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tJunior H Is Taking Corridos Tumbados to Stadiums \u2014 and Standing Up for Mexicans: \u2018I\u2019m an Immigrant\u00a0Too\u2019\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tJunior kept things laid-back, donning a striped, red-and-white long sleeve shirt paired with white sneakers, exuding his signature \u201csad boy\u201d charm. \u201cA \u2018$ad Boy\u2019 is practically the meaning behind all the music we\u2019ve shared,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m sad all the time, but that\u2019s how my fans identified me\u2026 That\u2019s how they made me, how they labeled me. You could say I\u2019m the godfather of sad kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat melancholic but honest identity has captivated fans across borders, making Junior H a voice for a new era of Mexican music. Yet fame did not come easy for the young artist. He recounted how his journey started in solitude, in his childhood closet, where he would record music unbeknownst to his busy parents.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI worked, went to school, was busy all day, and still managed to save up some money to buy my first guitar, which I learned to play through YouTube. There are no excuses [\u2026] If you don\u2019t put yourself out there, if you don\u2019t do it, nothing will happen. You have to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSince those days of secret closet recording, Junior H\u2019s music has become a very personal form of creative expression. He shared that many of his songs function as an emotional \u201cdiary\u201d \u2014 reflections of his own experiences, an ode to love and heartbreak, and stories of those close to him. \u201cI write and sing for myself. They are events that have happened in my life, my friends\u2019 lives, anecdotes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe artist has become a prominent voice in conversations around vulnerability and masculinity in modern Mexican music, breaking away from the traditional \u201cmacho\u201d stereotype often associated with the genre. When Cobo asked about the impact of his songs, Junior H was candid about the messages he receives from his followers. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI feel like my fans have a strong connection with me. They open up, they share personal stories with me. There are a lot of people who need support. But the beautiful thing is seeing them embrace these kinds of feelings. There\u2019s nothing wrong with feeling. Just because you\u2019re a man, there\u2019s nothing wrong with crying, you know. We all feel, we\u2019re not made of plastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAside from his \u201c$ad boy\u201d identity, Junior H showed off his lighter side during the conversation, shedding light on a surprising obsession: Disney. \u201cI\u2019m always watching Disney, I\u2019m a Disney fan. My favorite character is Mike Wazowski,\u201d he revealed. \u201cA lot of people think I\u2019m emo\u2026 but if they knew how I am with my close friends, I\u2019m very cheerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile he\u2019s busy leading $ad Boy Records and launching Gael Valenzuela\u2019s career, Junior H remains laser-focused on his own artistry. With vaults of unreleased music \u2014 particularly corridos currently shelved due to government restrictions in Mexico \u2014 Junior H sees his career as fluid and adaptive. He also teased several possibilities for his next release, from a solo album to collaborations or even a covers project. \u201cI have so much music saved [\u2026] about two albums, they\u2019re practically aging, but I\u2019m also working on new things. Very interesting new projects are coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to panel conversations all weekend, Billboard House is also hosting daily performers, with Karina Galicia, EddyJae, Mosmo, Oscar Ortiz, Lena Dardelet, Sofish, BrunoOG and Hermanos Espinoza taking the stage on Saturday\u2019s day 2. DJ Cortez also provided daytime sounds for the space.<\/p>\n

\n\tRead Billboard<\/em>\u2018s Junior H recent cover story here<\/a>, and catch Junior H\u2019s full conversation with Leila Cobo at the Billboard House @ SXSW in the video above.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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After making waves with his most recent album, DEPR<\/3$$ED MFKZ, his fifth release to reach No. 1 on the Regional Mexican Albums chart, Junior H joined the Billboard House @…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105,497,96,1249,5614],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genre-latin","category-latin","category-music","category-sxsw","category-sxsw-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}