“We feel like we accomplished the big goal of making Mexican music global,” JOP tells Rolling Stone as the band drops “Tiki Taka Toco”
Rigid Force is riding high. The música Mexicana band performed a sold-out show at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles over the weekend, breaking the record for the highest attendance for a Latin act at the venue. And on Friday, they released their cumbia soccer-themed track “Tiki Taka Toco” to celebrate the kick-off of the Leagues Cup, which will see Lionel Messi debut with Inter Miami FC.
“Selling out the BMO in Los Angeles, especially being Mexican-American, and being the first, is the best feeling,” frontman Jesús Ortiz Paz, or JOP, tells Rolling Stone. “I feel really happy about that. The Mexican genre’s on top.”
The BMO Stadium show helped kick off the group’s Another Peda Tourwhich will see the band stop in arenas and amphitheaters across the United States. JOP says most of the shows are already sold out — a reflection of the genre’s success.
“What can I say, man, we feel like we accomplished the big goal of making Mexican music global,” he says. “Nothing to say but that we’re happy, man.”
The launch of the tour coincides with the group’s single “Tiki Taka Toco,” which celebrates the launch of the Leagues Cup, the soccer competition bringing together teams of Mexico’s Liga MX and the United States’ MLS for the first event of its kind.
Fuerza Régida’s song will be featured on broadcasts for the Leagues Cup on Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass, and also be played at stadiums prior to matches. JOP describes it as a “celebration song.” (The song is available in spatial audio only on Apple Music.)
“Tiki Taka Toco” was produced by Take a Daytrip and hears JOP singing a love song with soccer themes. “They needed a soccer song and they said they wanted a cumbia so me and my boy Armienta made it happen,” JOP says of the track.
Like with música Mexicana, JOP believes that bringing the two countries together for the Leagues Cup helps create a larger moment for the sport and culture. “It’s an awesome idea and it’s more global,” he says.
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“They chose the right group and we’re really happy about it,” JOP added in a statement. “Our relationship with MLS and Leagues Cup is that we’re from the same place, the same country. And we love soccer. That’s what it is. And now we’re doing this song. Let’s run it up.”
The new track follows the release of their song “Sabor Fresa,” their viral hit “TQM,” and “Pariente,” their collaboration with Myke Towers. “We got our feet on the ground and we’re just not going to stop from here. We got the formula already,” JOP told Rolling Stone for a profile last December. “We just have to be what [we are].”
