Benny Blanco releases guest-packed Latin album 'Hermoso'

Benny Blanco has released Hermoso, an eight-track album built from música mexicana, cumbia and reggaeton folded into his usual pop-producer sound, and his most Latin-music-forward project yet. It follows 2025's I Said I Love You First, his joint album with his wife, Selena Gomez, and features Gomez again on "Te Olvido," alongside Becky G, Myke Towers, Mora, Netón Vega, Bb trickz, The Marías and Colombian producer Ovy on the Drums.

The record has drawn real criticism online, with some accusing Blanco, who was born Benjamin Levin in Reston, Virginia, of cultural appropriation. Critics pointed to the album's caricature-style cover art and to his background: "It's actually so sinister to make your entire persona a downtrodden Latino man when you're literally a Jewish guy from Virginia," one X user wrote, according to Rolling Stone. Others noted the album's timing, arriving as the Trump administration's immigration crackdown weighs heavily on Latino communities in the US.

Blanco has pushed back on the criticism. "I grew up in an area with a large Latin population, so that music has surrounded me since I was a child," he told El País, describing riding in cars where Jeanette or cumbia played throughout his childhood. In the same interview, he criticized the mass deportations directly: "They are taking away some of the best people. They are the backbone of America." Blanco's stage name itself long predates the album; he has said he settled on it while rapping in the early 2010s, inspired by the character in the film Carlito's Way.

Fans defending the album point out Blanco's Latin-music collaborations go back years: a 2019 feature on Gomez and J Balvin's "I Can't Get Enough," production work on Kali Uchis's "Moonlight" and Grupo Frontera's "Quédate Bebé," and production credits on Netón Vega's 2025 album Delirium. The Marías previously worked with Blanco on "Ojos Tristes," from I Said I Love You First. Becky G, who appears on the cumbia-inspired "Te Olvido," told Rolling Stone the song came together quickly: "I remember the day we went into the studio, again, no intention set, just kind of like, 'Let's create and let's see what happens.'"

Hermoso is out now via a Ovy On The Drums-assisted studio run, and "Te Olvido" has already reached Number Two on Billboard's Hot Latin Pop Songs chart, with its Chicano-imagery video passing 7.5 million views. Blanco's pairing with Bb trickz drew separate scrutiny, too: the Spanish rapper faced backlash last year over comments on a podcast about Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler. The album is tracked on the release calendar as part of this week's new Latin and pop releases, and follows Blanco, Gomez and Becky G's recent "Te Olvido (La La)" video release.