It's no easy feat to be as fearless and uncompromising as Villano Antillano. But for one of Latin rap's first transgender artists, it's a necessity.
Villano has been carving out a path for herself and other queer artists in Latin rap, making music that brings her challenging, raw, unfiltered experiences to the forefront in a time when queer people still face so much adversity. And now, she's also one of Spotify's first GLOW artists.
Spotify GLOW is a new global music program celebrating and amplifying LGBTQIA+ artists and creators. It's our latest initiative through our Creator Equity Fund to support people of this historically marginalized community of voices and reassert our commitment to equity in audio. It ensures that queer creators, and their contributions to music and culture, are heard and honored year-round.
Born in Bayam n, Puerto Rico, Villano generated early buzz with hard-hitting tracks such as Pajara, Culo, and Mu eca -the last of which was recorded with non-binary rapper Ana Macho.
In 2021, Villano enjoyed viral success with her feature in the single Vendetta, and went on to be on Bizarrap's Bzrp Music Session, Vol. 51. This past December, she was a featured artist for Spotify RADAR US, and at the 2022 Latin American Music Conference, Villano was named one of its 2022 Wonder Women of Latin Music. She closed last year with the release of her debut album, La Sustancia X, a project that embodies the beauty and horror of growing up queer in the Caribbean.
For the Record sat down with Villano to talk about her music, her life as a trans woman, and what makes her GLOW.
Can you tell us a little about your journey into music? It's been a long development. As a trans woman and a queer person, I didn't really have access to this world until I paved my way into it. I was just in the trenches for the longest time, so I feel like my chances for opportunities were maybe lower than they would have been for people that aren't queer because we're just shunned out of all these places. So, now I feel like I can actually get things like people on demand, or a team and resources, and I'm just getting freaky with it now because I'm much more comfortable. But it took me a while.
Growing up, did you have any queer artists who influenced you? No, because they didn't exist in the public lens. We now know the story of Cristina La Veneno, who definitely changed the trajectory of my life when I found her on YouTube. But otherwise, I have very, very foggy memories of some slightly famous trans women who were public figures because they were so sexed up. I remember reading about them in the newspaper sometimes, but it was never treated with respect and dignity. There was no way they could have just been anything but a mockery on television and radio over here.
I would say, however, there were cis-het females who went above and beyond because they really f*cked with the queer community and the queer public. Those two would be artists like Iris Chacon, who was the pillar of everything aesthetic and one of my biggest references. I feel like she's one of Puerto Rico's biggest artists. And Ivy Queen, of course, because I feel like she really took it upon herself to give the community space within her crowd and her music.
How is music used to empower queer communities? I feel that art is a mirror of society. Since the advent of civilization, music has always been present, and it's tied to the art of storytelling and how culture is kept alive through tradition. So, I feel like those things are of very fundamental importance to humanity.
Music is also a mirror of our own experiences. I make music that makes me and other queer people feel empowered, and I created that feeling for myself because I needed it. I feel like we [the queer community] are a very empowered collective globally right now and we're growing. Regardless of whatever is happening, we're forcing people to take us into account. We're here and you're going to have to deal with it. I'm glad we're moving so far away from the patriarchy because it was about time!
What makes you GLOW? Wow. A lot of things. You know, I feel like I take joy and find beauty in the little, ordinary things and in being at a point in my life where I can take a step back. Before I had access to this life and before I was a cemented and fully realized figure, I was just a poor girl from Bayam n trying to stay alive. I didn't even have access to the minimal and limited resources we have here. So the power for me to obtain these things makes me GLOW. My community makes me GLOW, my friends make me GLOW, and the fact that I can give them a life that we never thought we could achieve before makes me GLOW.
If you had one thing you'd want listeners to take away from your music, what would it be? Fearlessness. I'm very into sci-fi and am reading the Dune novels, and I really just come back to that fear is the mind killer line. Because fear is the mind killer, and nobody should have the power to make me feel fear because nobody holds absolute power over me, you know? And I feel like I communicate that fearlessness into my music.
I feel like the life expectancy for trans people, specifically trans women according to the study, is around 35 years old. I'm 27. How, or why, would I let that limit me? It's a fact none of us can escape, so I feel like, in a way, it's what you do with that information. And what I'm going to do is not buy into this idea or narrative that there's something wrong with me or that I'm f*cked up or erroneous.
I feel like as a trans person who has medically and socially transitioned, nothing has gotten me closer to my consciousness than the fact that I have actually had to feel my existence from all spe
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
It's no easy feat to be as fearless and uncompromising as Villano Antillano. But for one of Latin rap's first transgender artists, it's a necessity.
