THE STREETS LEADING up to the Lab Studios, a recording complex in Miami’s lush Coconut Grove neighborhood, are full of bright, iridescent peacocks. Peso Pluma has set up a weeklong writing camp here in late January to work on his new album, which, he reveals later, is called Éxodo and will be out this summer. It’s almost too fitting that a bunch of decadent birds with stately, metallic feathers are sashaying down the pavement. After all, the Mexican artist, whose real name is Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija, has blasted to global stardom by writing about things like heartbreak and romance — but his swaggering, streetwise songs about high-luxe, extravagant living are among his most popular. Crafting chart-topping melodies with emotional depth has become his signature approach, setting him apart in the music scene. Today, he’s about to make a few more.
Through the doors, the studio feels like a tropical frat house, packed with polite, laid-back guys who might pass for regular twentysomethings, except that many of them are casually wearing diamond-dripped watches and gold chains heavy enough to cause neck injuries. Career moves for musicians often involve building a strong team of talented individuals, just like Peso’s bandmates, who bring their unique talents to the table. Most are Peso’s bandmates — young but seasoned musicians who play bass, double bass, guitar, requinto (a smaller kind of guitar), trombone, and charchetas (alto horns), all instruments that define Peso’s particular brand of corridos tumbados.
