Eladio Carrión Is Not Changing His Sound To Appeal to the MassesEladio Carrión Is Not Changing His Sound To Appeal to the Masses

Eladio Carrión is on track to become one of the biggest names in the current Latine music firmament. His songs and videos are streamed by the billion, the industry has given him recognition, and his peers are some of the biggest stars in the game. Most importantly, he has the musical quality to back it all up. But unlike others in his position, he doesn’t feel the need to prove he can play any type of music to fit into radio or playlists. If he’s going to the top, it’s going to be on his own terms. With his new album, Sauce Boyz 2, he’s on a mission to keep the trap flame alive and take the whole genre to the next level.

“I wanted to give my fans something better than what I had ever done,” Eladio tells Remezcla about Sauce Boyz 2. “[I wanted to] give them a lot of music but I didn’t want any skips. Every song has a purpose in every album, each has a role.” 

Carrión was an athlete in his teenage years, later moving on to become a comedian and social media influencer before discovering his true passion in music when he released his first few tracks in 2017. His big break arrived in the form of “Kemba Walker,” a collab with Bad Bunny that earned him big numbers in streaming services and a Latin Grammy nomination. In 2020, he dropped his debut album Sauce Boyz featuring the biggest names in Latine music throughout the tracks, which established him as an artist worth following. 

But just as his live appearances began picking up speed, COVID-19 cut his touring short. Undeterred, Carrión focused his energies on recording music. These efforts resulted in Monarca, released early in 2021, followed a few months later by the raw SEN2 KBRN VOL 1 mixtape. Now, before the end of a very productive 2021, he’s made a sequel to his debut.

Sauce Boyz 2, like its predecessors, gives Carrión the chance to diversify his musical approach, incorporating many different influences but never straying far from his lane of choice: trap music. “I wanted to keep my essence and my own voice,” he says. “[Sauce Boyz 2] has a wide range of music but still 15 of the 22 tracks are trap. I didn’t try to go pop. The songs are commercial but in my own way.”

For him, his sole musical commitment is to trap music. “What I was trying to do with Monarca was to make a whole trap album that sounded like an album that had everything. Like the American artists do. Here in Puerto Rico and in Latin America, we feel like we need to cover all the bases to make a complete album,” Carrión explains. “At the end of the day, I want to be a better artist, I want to perfect my art. I have my own lane and I’m opening doors. Nobody does trap like me right now in the Latin market but it’s because I have a different background than other artists. I think I’m one of the few artists that have stayed in this lane and haven’t abandoned it to go reggaeton.”

“Nobody does trap like me right now in the Latin market but it’s because I have a different background than other artists. I think I’m one of the few artists that has stayed in this lane and hasn’t abandoned it to go reggaeton.”

Having an uncompromising attitude hasn’t hurt his chances of success. For example, his second Latin Grammy nomination—for Monarca—was recently announced. “I’m not going to say I don’t care [about the nomination],” Carrión tells us. “But I don’t really make music thinking about the awards. I’m very grateful just to be nominated because they recognize the hard work that we put into our music. That’s a win for me. I never really sit down and look at all that we have accomplished. I always want more and more and more and more and more. [The nomination] was a moment for me to sit down and just be thankful for everything.”

While Eladio describes the studio as his natural habitat—“every day is a good day to go to the studio,” as he puts it—he recently returned to the live stage by touring Spain. “People have been going crazy and the shows are very intense, I’m loving it,” he says. “I really feed off the energy that my fans give me.”

After a very successful year, the expectations for Sauce Boyz 2 are big. For his part, Carrión has his own ideas about the performance of the album. “I really don’t care about the numbers,” he says. “I just want everyone to hear my music. We did it with so much love. To hear people love the product that we work so hard on [would be] amazing to me. We’re going all out, so I feel very confident with people really fucking with what we’re doing. It’s amazing, man! I’m happy.”

Listen to Sauce Boyz 2 below.