Los Mocochetes Member Jon Rubio Releasing New Single, "Fan Girl"

First-generation Mexican-American artist Jon Rubio is a master of mixing genres. Since the release of his first single, "Swerving," a collaboration with artists Yugs and Miniscuz that was released in 2020, Rubio has created a unique musical niche, blending Latin beats, hip-hop and pop to form danceable tracks with traces of emo grit.

But Rubio didn't find his sound right away. He grew up learning the piano — starting at only four years old — before teaching himself the guitar and drums. He even studied jazz drums at Denver's Metropolitan State University before leaving school to join the popular local Chicano-funk band Los Mocochetes in 2018.

"I love playing instruments, singing, writing songs," Rubio says. "As far as hip-hop goes, it was like two lanes, two different parts of my life. I was more of a fan of [hip-hop], and I didn't really play along to songs or anything." It wasn't until after high school that Rubio started writing rap songs, merging his music theory and instrumental education to produce his own beats.
That isn't the only genre that pulled him in. Latinos were heavily influencing the hardcore scene in the 2010s, an era marked by the conception of popular Mexican metal bands such as Upon a Burning Body. Rubio remembers being teased for listening to emo and metal music, but now loves blending the soundscapes of his Mexican heritage with those metal elements, paying homage to the soundtracks of his childhood. He leaned into what he calls "Midwest emo influences" for his newest single, "Fan Girl," produced by Gore Ocean.

"I was like, 'Okay, what if I take some of the vocal styles of emo, but I put some of my Latino-rap stuff in there?'" he recalls. "So it was just cross-genre blending and culture blending and integration — that's how it went down, at least internally."

"Fan Girl" is an eclectic blend of electronic, pop, punk, trap and Latin music that makes for an extremely catchy summer anthem. But the track is about more than the immersive blend of sound, and Rubio highlights the importance behind the song's lyrics. "I want people to know the responsibility that we have as artists with platforms," he explains. "I can sit here and make this song about drugs, money, women and violence that's usually in the hip-hop stuff, but what is that really doing for people?"

Instead, Rubio is using the track as a "thank you" to his listeners. "I care about my listeners, I care about people who come across my music, even if I've never met them," he emphasizes. "I want them to know that they're not alone."

The new single isn't his only project. Rubio is in the process of writing and producing beats for his first album, and like "Fan Girl," it's all about good vibes. "It's more about motivating people and...just letting them know they can accomplish whatever they want," he says.

He's also working on a remix of Linkin Park's "Crawling," in celebration of that band's twentieth anniversary of its second studio album, Meteora. Chester Bennington, Linkin Park's former lead singer, who committed suicide in 2017, was a big inspiration for Rubio. "Growing up, especially as a teenager, listening to [Bennington's] music really helped me through a lot of things, and I just wanted to make that song," he says. "It's about anti-suicide and mental health awareness, but also a tribute to Linkin Park and Chester for the legacy that they left behind for fans and people like myself that grew up listening to them."

Rubio plans to pair the remix with a video collage of Linkin Park as a memorial for Bennington. The release date is set for July 20, the sixth anniversary of Bennington's death. "As a man, it's like we were taught to not show emotion, and this song is catering to people and just telling them, 'Hey, it's cool to feel things, it's okay to express yourself,' and as artists, we do so much, and it's good to take time and be able to express ourselves honestly."

In the next year, Rubio hopes to focus more on marketing and get the album he has spent the last two years creating in the right hands. "It's like watering a plant," he says. "You just gotta water it daily, or however much you have to, and if you don't it'll dry out. That's exactly how it is to be a musician."

Rubio's "Fan Girl" will be released on all major streaming platforms on Friday, June 9.