Centro Journal ISSN: 1538-6279
[email protected] The City University of New York Estados Unidos Fiol-Matta, Licia Pop latinidad: Puerto Ricans in the latin explosion, 1999 Centro Journal, vol. XIV, núm. 1, 2002, pp. 27-51 The City University of New York New York, Estados Unidos Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=37711290002 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative pgs26-51.qxd 7/22/07 3:09 PM Page 27 CENTRO Journal Volume7 xiv Number 1 spring 2002 Pop Latinidad: Puerto Ricans in the Latin Explosion, 1999 Licia Fiol-Matta Para Lynn ABSTRACT The article compares the media personas and musical performances of two Puerto Rican pop megastars, the Nuyorican Marc Anthony and the island-born Ricky Martin. I argue that both artists actively perform a Latinidad that is consumer-oriented, in which Puerto Ricanness, or better put, their performance of Puerto Ricanness, is fundamental. I relate the artists’ commercial success to the general appeal to clichéd visions of local, exotic flavor, in Martin’s case, and a weak “Puerto Rican-American” hyphen in Marc Anthony’s. I also consider the impact of marketing categories on the music itself. Drawing on previous work by scholars in Puerto Rican/Latino Studies, I attempt to make a contribution toward a critique of “consumer ethnicities” and “mapping latinidad” in the U.S.