Regional Mexican megastar Christian Nodal opens up about carving his lane in the genre, challenging the norm, collaborating with artists outside of the genre, fatherhood, new music, stepping into new creative endeavors and more on the cover of Billboard.

Christian Nodal:
Well, he was a young kid with a guitar, I think of all the genres …

Off Camera:
OK, let’s wait a little bit.

Christian Nodal:
It’s just we’re invading their home.

Yes, it was always on my mind that I wasn’t satisfied with what Regional Mexican music was doing. I always envisioned it with the potential to become bigger and mainstream, it’s just no one had tried. We have great musicians, great songwriters, great arrangers, great singers, great everything, and I felt I had been typecast in a stereotype of an audience as well, and I wanted to break through everything, and something I was taught was that love can break through everything.

I consider myself an important part of what’s going on now because of all the changes I was bringing into this genre — they weren’t well-received. I remember when I started getting tattoos or when I started wearing clothes that were a different style or my music videos, which weren’t the typical video of the genre resembling a soap opera. As I started making all those changes, I think that opened doors for new talents, and it’s very nice, but it also feels weird, as they’re the same age as me and they tell me, ‘I used to listen to you when I was in junior high or high school,’ and it makes sense. When I was that age I didn’t present my mom with a high-school or college diploma — I was presenting her with Grammys.

Watch the full interview above!