JOTDOG Wants to Break into the US Hispanic Market

by Gladys Rios | February 15, 2012

Jorge “La Chiquis” Amaro and Maria Barracuda, members of Latin Grammy nominated, Mexican pop duo, Jotdog, paid a visit to the City of Angels to promote for the first time in the US the new single “Lluvia de Estrellas”, from their second album Jotdog II: Turista de Amor.

With Los Angeles being their first stop, the duo has a full calendar of visits to other states with big hispanic presence, like Texas and Illinois, and are also proud to have been invited to have their debut concert at the festival South by Southwest in Austin, TX on March 14th.

Jotdog was born out of the social media world, in a musical experiment that paid off, opening a MySpace profile in 2004 with just a band name, three songs and a rag dog picture. Virtually anonymous to the world, including some of their closest friends in the music business in Mexico, Jotdog built a loyal fan base with exactly what they know how to do best, good music.

“Jotdog is about being in the music industry for the right reasons. Feel good about the music we make, have fun and let the rest happen. The greatest reward an artist could have is a song that, after thousands of years, the public is still listening, and remembering you,” said Chiquis.

In total silence, with all her notebooks spread on the floor, Barracuda writes because “everything inspires” her. She explains, “I’ll combine my personal experiences with anything else I hear, and with my environment. I never know what the song is about until I’m done writing it.”

“To return to the pop-art era of Andy Warhol, where he took an ordinary cultural element and made it a work of art” is the reasoning behind the band’s name, Jotdog. Both artists are big fans of science fiction and take inspiration from it for their look, and the concept of some of their songs and videos.

Jotdog is a total collaborative project, they “exchange lots of ideas” constantly. Chiquis will do a musical arrangement that Barracuda will return with melody and lyrics, and/or viceversa. “It’s a lot of fun. We really have fun doing this,” added Chiquis.

Chiquis wants their new fans to “give themselves the opportunity to get to know them and their music, to request the song on the radio and watch the video.” And Barracuda thinks that this album is “anti-artist, anti-heroes. Most of the songs, the lyrics, targets all the people that suffer in silence and think that nobody else is going through the same thing. To let them know that we all go through the same thing and they should face it with good humor.”

Jotdog: II: Turista de Amor hit stores in Mexico during the Fall of 2011 and is now available in the US.