Cumbia pop
Cumbia pop, also known as Cumbia cheta, is a music style that blends cumbia with pop and Latin pop. It started in the 2000s around the Río de la Plata region, which is Uruguay and Argentina.
Early pioneers like the Uruguayan group VI-EM and the Argentine group Agapornis mixed cumbia with pop on YouTube. At first it didn’t become very popular because other subgenres, such as cumbia villera, were bigger.
Around 2013–2014, cumbia pop went mainstream with Montevideo bands Rombai and Márama. They created danceable songs about love and youth life, mixing pop and electropop to shape the genre’s sound. They became very popular in Uruguay, Argentina, and other Latin American countries.
Because the bands’ members were mostly young and from upper-middle or upper-class backgrounds, their songs and videos often showed luxury and parties. This helped the subgenre be called Cumbia Cheta, a slang term for the upper class.
Cumbia pop moved away from the traditional image of cumbia tied to working-class life and aligned itself with pop and Latin pop. Other popular groups include Toco Para Vos, Canto Para Bailar, and Dame 5 in Uruguay, and Pijama Party in Argentina. Typical instruments are guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, keytar, accordion, güiro, and vocals.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:15 (CET).