On this week’s Billboard Cultura Clash episode, presented by Bacardi, Chilean singer-songwriter Francisca Valenzuela, journalist Nick Huff Barili, and former Fifth Harmony star-turned-solo singer Ally Brooke took center stage to discuss the term Latinx.
“To me personally, it’s a term that I came to know and become familiar with in the U.S.,” Valenzuela says to kick off the conversation. “I do use the x as an inclusive term in terms of gender, whether it’s female, male, nonbinary. And I consider it to be a broad, inclusive, inviting concept that I think seeks to open and challenge what we know as the Latin identity in the U.S.”
Brooke, who will soon release her first Spanish-language album under Duars Entertainment, agrees: “I got familiar with it recently. It’s beautiful that we’re wanting to educate ourselves further and wanting to be more inclusive.”
“I love the meaning behind Latinx, I don’t necessarily love the word because I think there’s a lot of layers to the conversation,” Barili, founder of Hard Knock TV, notes. “I think we all agree in terms of the need for there to be a language that is not strictly male/female gender because we want to be inclusive of a community that’s gender-fluid. I think what term we use is still up to debate in our community.”
During the conversation, the guest speakers also expressed how they describe themselves. Valenzuela identifies as Chilena above all, Barili feels that he has one foot in one culture and the other in another culture, whereas Brooke identifies with Hispanic, Mexican-American, Latina and Latinx “for different reasons.”
Billboard Cultura Clash premiered live during 2021 Latin Music Week, where artists Kany Garcia, Yotuel Romero and Chocquibtown’s Goyo and Tostao, had a conversation about social justice.
Executive produced by Billboard’s Shira Brown, Lee Schneller, and Leila Cobo, and produced by Jessica Roiz, Griselda Flores, Lesley Corral and Jordyn Rolling, Cultura Clash will include singers, songwriters, producers and actors as guests on the show and will feature Ally Brooke, Kali Uchis, Paloma Mami, Elena Rose, Jimmy Humilde, Ovy on the Drums, Banda MS manager and founder Sergio Lizárraga and more.
A new episode airs every Wednesday on Billboard.com, social media, and on Billboard’s YouTube channel. Watch this week’s episode above.
