Tijuana toucans are no strangers to crossing borders. They’ve been doing this for more than three decades through songs about everything from border life to stories of celebration and community, which have amassed billions of views across digital platforms. The Chonahis 1995 hit, has been reborn in recent years as a global viral phenomenon with choreographies, dance challenges and videos in TikTok which accumulate millions of reactions.
But this time they won’t need visas or amplifiers to reach their thousands of fans The Chona. The famous song that has animated dance floors and popular fairs since the 1990s has just arrived in the least expected scenario: the metaverse of Fortnite. This Friday 21 November the Mexican band led by Mario Quintero Lara will land at the next edition of Fortnite Partythe music mode launched in 2023 that mixes virtual concerts, improvisation and a logic similar to that of Guitar hero AND rock group.
Epic Games, the North Carolina giant that transformed the idea of a battle royale into a global phenomenon, confirmed the collaboration through its official networks. It only took a few hours for the ad to go viral players and lovers of regional Mexican. The same space in which users listen, play, compete and improvise will also be protagonist this week with the launch of Like Jennieby South Korean K-pop singer Jennie, an example of the diversity and ambition of the digital festival.
The virtual meeting is divided into three scenarios: a main one, where the available tracks rotate every day; a battlefield where a single player can achieve victory in a free-for-all musical battle; and a space designed to improvise with friends, mix hits and build community. There, among the avatars, skins (clothes) and digital guitars, The Chona will resonate with a new impetus, sung – or rather, played – to the rhythm of “Bravo, bravo, Chona, no one can match you”.
The concerts of Fortnite They began in 2019, when DJ Marshmello transformed into a hologram and performed in Pleasant Park in front of nearly 10 million spectators. Then came J Balvin, Ariana Grande and Travis Scott, who during the Covid-19 pandemic consolidated the video game as a refuge for a crippled music industry. All these performances are planned and pre-recorded, the artists do not perform live. The interaction is left in the hands of the players, who watch, move and participate from within the environment, transforming each show into a hybrid between concert, video game and cinema experience.
At this point it’s easy to forget Fortnite It started as a survival game. The Battle Royale mode has transformed it into a cultural juggernaut that connects millions of users and has consolidated a metaverse centered on content creators, broadcasts on Contraction and the sale of virtual accessories to customize avatars. In that mix of community, rhythm and digital identity is where The Chona found a new audience, willing to recreate the party on a pixelated stage.
The toucans of Tijuana, who have often told the story of frontier life with themes such as The Tucanazo AND The white eaglethus they enter the game where millions of people compete to survive and many others are just looking for a place to dance. And in that space without territories or visas, where just a click is enough to get on stage, The Chona returns to do what it has always done: liven up the holidays, even if this time it is in another dimension.
