Billboard’s Head of Latin Content Leila Cobo Says Yailin La Más Viral ‘Did Her Homework’

Yailin La Más Viral, often caught in the current of internet ridicule or distractions irrelevant to the craft, has arrived with a presence in the music industry that no longer leaves room for dismissal. Her name now sits among the “22 Latin Artists to Listen to in 2025,” a list compiled by Billboard, though the path to that line was paved in silence and skepticism.

The Work That Spoke Louder Than the Noise

At the Billboard Workshop held during the Heat Festival celebrations, Leila Cobo, the respected voice behind Billboard’s Spanish-language content, addressed what many have avoided: effort has its own sound. “Yailin did her homework,” she said in response to why the artist earned a spot on that coveted list. “Yailin has been around for a while and what we felt with her is that the woman did the homework in the sense that, beyond the videos, beyond the things with Tekashi, etcetera, she set herself to the task of ‘I’m going to do this well.’”

Those words were neither generous nor performative. They came with the weight of someone who has seen artists disappear before the second chorus and others rise only after being left for cultural dead.

Ingrid Fajardo, the person behind Billboard Latino’s social media strategy, noted that “La más viral” has built something few predicted: a loyal and vocal audience of single mothers. “She has worked a lot. We see it through her concerts and there is no way to deny that. Whether you like the lyrics or not, not everything is going to be the same (…) she is not trying to be a romantic artist,” Fajardo said. That difference, that refusal to soften herself into someone else’s taste, has drawn the very people who know what it means to be left out.

Yailin Refuses to Fit the Mold

Yailin has never molded herself to make others comfortable. She has become that rare type of artist whose presence alone invites polarizing reactions, though neither applause nor dismissal seems to alter her pace. The internet may have made her famous but it has not kept her there. Her live shows and packed crowds have started to erase doubts even from those who once scoffed from a safe distance.

No song of hers pretends to be a lullaby. No video cleans itself for broad appeal. She never asked for permission. That may be the very reason her performances feel earned.

Medellín Awaits What Comes Next

On May 29 and 30, Yailin will take the stage at the Premios Heat and the Heat Festival, both unfolding at the Coliseo Iván de Bedout in Medellín, Colombia. These appearances are for the people who have been buying tickets and repeating her lyrics since long before Billboard took notice.

Yailin has never apologized for who she is or how she moves through a world that tried to reduce her to a headline. She has never needed to explain what her art means to those who find pieces of themselves in it. And now, with the eyes of a changing industry turned in her direction, she stands with proof that work speaks louder when no one expects it to.