Éxodo

Éxodo is the fourth studio album by Mexican singer Peso Pluma, which was released on 20 June 2024, through his own record label, Double P Records. The album was first teased during a cover story with Rolling Stone, becoming the first Mexican artist to do so, where he explained that Éxodo would show his "dark side" and would be a response to critics.

Released as a double album, regional Mexican tracks and elements of corridos tumbados are found on its first disc, while its second disc explores trap, Latin trap, reggaeton and electronic dance music genres. Lyrics heard within the album explore themes which include luxury, organized crime, breakups, escaping reality, and partying. The album and its title, biblically, follow his third studio album Génesis (2023), in which Peso Pluma stated is a new era for him.

Production for Éxodo was handled by the singer himself and his long-time producer Ernesto Fernández. Other producers who contributed to the album include Andrew Watt, Charlie Handsome, Chris Jedi, Cirkut, Dímelo Flow, DJ Durel, Edgar Barrera, among others. Guest apppearances in the first disc include Junior H, Eslabon Armado, Luis R. Conriquez, Chino Pacas, Iván Cornejo, Natanael Cano, Gabito Ballesteros, among others, while Rich the Kid, Cardi B, Quavo, Arcángel, Anitta, Ryan Castro, Kenia Os and DJ Snake contribute to the second disc.

Upon release, Éxodo received generally favorable reviews from critics, with most of them praising the album's production and Peso Pluma's versatility. A commercial success, it debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 with 64,000 album-equivalent units, becoming his second top-five album. To support the album, eight singles were released, including "Bellakeo", "Rompe la Dompe", "La People II", "Peso Completo", "Teka", "La Durango", "Gimme a Second", "Vino Tinto" and "Tommy & Pamela". Peso Pluma embarked the Éxodo Tour in support of the album.

Background
Peso Pluma rose to major prominence at the start of 2023, when he released singles such as "PRC" with Natanael Cano, "El Azul" with Junior H, "Ella Baila Sola" with Eslabon Armado, and "La Bebé" with Yng Lvcas, which have appeared on the Billboard Hot 100. He announced his third studio album Génesis in May 2023, and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 with 73,000 album-equivalent units after its next full tracking week, making it the highest-charting regional Mexican album on the chart. In 2024, the album received the Grammy Award for Best Música Mexicana Album (including Tejano) at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, becoming the singer's first time accomplishing this. Thereafter, a video of him with another woman in Las Vegas spread around social media, abruptly ending his relationship with Argentinian singer Nicki Nicole.

During a cover story with Rolling Stone, where he also became the first regional Mexican artist to be on the cover of their magazine, he revealed his next album title as Éxodo while regarding the rumors about his breakup with Nicole, to which he did not want to talk about. In the aforementioned interview, recording is suspected to have taken place at Lab Studios in Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida, with American producer Edgar Barrera and fellow songwriter Alexis Fierro, known as El Chachito who wrote the singer's hit single "Lady Gaga", appearing in the process. The singer explained to Rolling Stone that his third album Génesis showed his "superhero side", while Éxodo shows "his dark side" and that the album is a direct response to critics who "focus more on the negatives than the positives", likely referring to his music. He also confirmed that there would be experimentation within the album, aside from his main genre of regional Mexican music, stating he wanted it to be a "surprise" for everyone and that he has "liked doing things to get out of [his] comfort zone".

The album's first planned release date was confirmed by Peso Pluma at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards, where he won the awards for Regional Mexican Song (for "Ella Baila Sola" with Eslabon Armado) and Regional Mexican Artist of the Year, which was set for release on May 2024. Pluma, who is managed by George Prajin, would later sign a global distribution deal with Creative Artists Agency where he planned on distributing the album from. He would then announce the official release date for Éxodo on 8 May 2024, though a teaser featuring Irish professional mixed martial artist Conor McGregor. Its track list would also be revealed on 24 May 2024, later revealing on Instagram that he cut his signature mullet haircut off, on a story which showed excess hair on the floor, which was also suspected to be his "new look" for the album. An image of him with his new hairstyle, which appears to be a taper fade or side-part, surfaced around social media, which was later confirmed to have been created with artificial intelligence.

Composition
Éxodo is a double album of 24 tracks. The first disc of 16 tracks is characterized as regional Mexican music with corridos tumbados tracks. Instruments used within it include the tenor horn, the requinto guitar, and the tololoche. The album and first disc's opening track, "La Durango" with Junior H and Eslabon Armado, is a corrido tumbado that lyrically talks about how "beautiful" women are in a Dodge Durango, which alludes to the title; he also makes a reference to the tequila Don Julio 70. Transitioning into the second track, "Me Activo" with Jasiel Nuñez, it features Peso Pluma "shift[ing] his voice into a serenade-like tone". The fourth track, "La People II" with Tito Double P and Joel de la P, is a sequel to the former's track with the first mentioned singer "La People" and contains lyrical elements to that of a narcocorrido; it is an apology for organized crime and features references to El Nini, El 27, and El Piyi, who all have connections to the Sinaloa Cartel. Its fifth track, "Sr. Smith", is a corrido bélico in which both Peso Pluma and Luis R. Conriquez sing about hustling for a lush lifestyle. "Rompe la Dompe", the album's sixth track with Junior H and Óscar Maydon, is a corrido tumbado where its lyrics revolve around having a party, forgetting about a lover, and opening a bottle of Champagne, specifically the Dom Pérignon brand.

The title of the album's eighth track, "Belanova" with Tito Double P, makes a reference to the Mexican pop band of the same name, and a possible "follow-up" to the former's song "Rosa Pastel", which may inspired to the Mexican pop band's song of the same name. On "Bruce Wayne", which is titled after the alter ego of Batman, it opens with a "left-field" piano, with Peso Pluma "chang[ing] up his vocal approach". "Hollywood", the album's 10th track with Estevan Plazola, is an alternate version of Plazola's 2020 self-written song of the same name, which contains lyrics directed at Mexican politician Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Leaping into the 11th track, "Reloj" with Iván Cornejo, it is a sad sierreño song which features lyrics possibly surrounding the aftermath of Pluma's breakup with ex-partner Nicki Nicole. The album's 12th track "Ice", is a corrido bélico which starts with a quote spoken by American wrestler Ric Flair. "Santal 33" with Óscar Maydon, in which its title is a reference to the cologne of the same name, features a verse by Peso Pluma where he sings about high life in French. "Vino Tinto", the 15th track and third collaboration between Natanael Cano and Gabito Ballesteros, begins with a synthesizer possibly transitioning into an "EDM-corrido", instead transitioning into a corrido tumbado. The final track of the album's first disc, "14 - 14", features "suspensful [and] organ-like keys" with an "echoing sound of gunfire".

The album's second disc contains hip hop, Latin trap and reggaeton tracks. Commencing the disc, "Gimme a Second" with Rich the Kid is a trap song, with its lyrics revolving around a rags to riches theme. "Put Em in the Fridge" is a Spanglish corrido-trap song with a horn sample, where both Peso Pluma and Cardi B rap about transporting cocaine. "Pa No Pensar" with Quavo is an emo trap ballad where its lyrics revolve around escaping reality. "Peso Completo" with Arcángel, which translates to "heavyweight", is a Latin trap song that was produced by Dímelo Flow where Arcángel mentions the neighborhood of Condado, Santurce. "Bellakeo" with Anitta is a reggaeton song where its theme revolves around being flirtatious, including a reference to reggaeton duo Plan B. "Mala" with Ryan Castro is a reggaeton song with a "hypnotizing [and] hip-swiveling" drum beat. "Tommy & Pamela" with Kenia Os is a titular reference to American musician Tommy Lee and Canadian-American actress Pamela Anderson, where its lyrics are about "recreating" the mentioned partners' sex tape. The album's closing track, "Teka" with DJ Snake as a producer and secondary artist, is an electronic dance track where Peso Pluma sings about dancing in a discoteca (discothèque), interpolating lyrics from Farruko's 2011 single "Pa' Romper la Discoteca".

Marketing
Éxodo was first available for pre-save on Spotify on 24 May 2024, with the album's cover art being revealed earlier the same day, which depicts a "distorted inverted-color" image of Peso Pluma holding the peace sign with both hands. The album's title, Éxodo, translates to "Exodus", while the album itself follows his third studio album Génesis (2023), creating a reference to the Bible's second book Exodus following that of Genesis. Two days before the release of Éxodo, Peso Pluma announced that he would host two free-access listening parties for the album in Mexico City, titled The Éxodo Experience, in partnership with social networking app StoyCo. Peso Pluma's label, Double P Records, released Éxodo for digital download and streaming on 20 June 2024. Within its first 24 hours, it amassed over 29.8 million streams on Spotify, making it the highest album debut for a Mexican artist on the platform. All of its tracks debuted on Apple Music's Top 100 chart in Mexico, with 10 of the tracks appearing simultaneously within the chart's top 10, with "Vino Tinto" being at number one. The album also reached atop the US Apple Music albums chart.

Éxodo was released four hours before 22 June 2024, the next tracking period for Billboard charts. As a result, it debuted at numbers 41 and 19 on the US Top Latin Albums and Regional Mexican Albums charts on the issue dated 29 June 2024, respectively. On the same issue date, "Put Em in the Fridge" would become the first track off Éxodo, without becoming a post-single, to appear on a song chart before the rest of the tracks, debuting at number eight on the US Latin Digital Song Sales chart, making it Peso Pluma's 27th and Cardi B's seventh top-10 single on the chart. In its next full tracking week, it peaked atop both charts with 64,000 album-equivalent units, which only consisted of 87.51 million official streams in the United States within all 24 tracks, becoming Peso Pluma's second number-one album on both charts. It also debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200, becoming his second album to debut within the chart's top five, after Génesis (2023) debuted at number three in July 2023. 20 of its tracks were also charting simultaneously on the US Hot Latin Songs chart, with only three of its tracks appearing on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Global 200: "Reloj" (69 and 130) "Vino Tinto" (91 and 96), and "La Patrulla" (99 and 164). In Spain, it debuted at number 68 on the albums chart published by Productores de Música de España.

Touring
The Éxodo Tour was announced as Peso Pluma's second headlining concert tour in February 2024, set as the album's supporting tour. It was also announced to have an "all-new show, inclusive of a fully reimagined set design and setlist, featuring his remarkable live band". Promoted by Live Nation Entertainment, the tour was set to begin on 26 May 2024, at the Sueños Music Festival in Chicago, Illinois, which ended up getting cancelled before the singer's performance started due to severe weather. Several North American tour dates were also cancelled, including shows in Miami, Nashville, New Orleans and Oklahoma City.

During his 9 June 2024 performance at the 2024 Governors Ball Music Festival as part of the tour, where he also invited Rich the Kid and Jasiel Nuñez as special guests, he fractured his foot on stage and would keep performing instead of ending his show, later confirming on Instagram that he fractured his ankle. He would then confirm that surgery for his ankle was a success and assured that he would continue touring. The tour was originally set to conclude on 11 October 2024 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Montville, Connecticut, but was changed to conclude on 18 October 2024 at the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, through an update on tour dates due to "high demand".

Singles
Before any announcement regarding Éxodo was confirmed by Peso Pluma, he would release "Bellakeo" with Brazilian singer Anitta on 7 December 2023, which serves as the lead single from the album. Its music video, which was filmed in Madrid, was also released simultaneously and features multiple dancers in black clothing throughout the video, who also appear performing a ritual on a man. It became a hit single in other countries, peaking atop the song chart in Bolivia, becoming both singers' first number-one on the chart number 16 in Chile, number six in Mexico, number 59 in Spain, number 53 on the US Billboard Hot 100 where it stayed on the chart for 14 weeks, number three on US Hot Latin Songs, and number seven on the Billboard Global 200. It received significant airplay in the United States, peaking at number 18 on the US Rhythmic Airplay, number 21 on Latin Airplay, and number eight on Latin Rhythm Airplay. It was also certified Diamond in Brazil by Pro-Música Brasil for selling over 160,000 units in the country, and also received a Gold certification in Portugal (5,000 units) and Spain (30,000 units). Three weeks later, on 28 December 2024, he would release "Rompe la Dompe" with fellow singers Junior H and Óscar Maydon, as the album's second single The song peaked at number four in Mexico, number 80 on the US Billboard Hot 100, number 12 on US Hot Latin Songs, and number 51 on the Billboard Global 200.

Prior to the tour announcement, he would post a random date on X (formerly Twitter), 21 March 2024, along with the text "solo mi deber ejecute..."; it was speculated that his next album would be released on the exact date. The text is a lyric from the song "La People II" with fellow singers Tito Double P and Joel de la P, which would instead be released on the posted date as the album's third single. Its music video was also released simultaneously, which was filmed in Coyoacán, Mexico and was directed by Fernando Lugo, and it peaked at numbers 69 and two on US Billboard Hot 100 and US Hot Latin Songs charts, respectively. It would also reached peak positions of number four in Mexico and number 61 on the Billboard Global 200. "Peso Completo" with American rapper Arcángel would be released on 11 April 2024, as the fourth single from Éxodo, after it was announced that Pluma would release a Latin trap song. Both singers performed the song at the 2024 Latin American Music Awards and it peaked at number 42 on US Hot Latin Songs. Following the announcement of Éxodo, "Teka" with DJ Snake was released on 17 April 2024 as the album's fifth single. It peaked at number 36 on US Hot Latin Songs, number 22 on US Latin Rhythm Airplay, and number 11 on US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs.

Eslabon Armado and Junior H shared an image of a cropped car on Instagram Stories with a song playing, along with Peso Pluma, possibly leading to a collaboration with all three artists. It led to the release of "La Durango" on 9 May 2024 as the sixth single from Éxodo. The single was also announced in a trailer featuring McGregor. Peso Pluma later performed it with Pedro Tovar of Eslabon Armado on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, while Pluma was also the show's special guest where they discussed Éxodo and its tour. The song peaked at number five in Mexico, number 75 on the US Billboard Hot 100, number 2 on US Hot Latin Songs, and number 83 on the Billboard Global 200. Through other teasers, it was also confirmed that Pluma would collaborate with Rich the Kid, where they both later released "Gimme a Second" on 25 May 2024 as the co-lead single from the latter's album Life's a Gamble and was also set to be included on Éxodo. "Vino Tinto" with Natanael Cano and Gabito Ballesteros was released on 26 June 2024 as the album's eighth single. Weeks later, "Tommy & Pamela" with compatriot singer Kenia Os was released as the ninth single on July 18.

Critical reception
Upon release, Éxodo received generally favorable reviews from critics. According to Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received "generally favourable reviews" based on an weighted average score of 69, from four critic scores.

Steve Forstneger, in their review for Beats Per Minute, said that "Peso Pluma's calling card is his raspy vocal[s] and he uses Éxodo almost like a shop window to showcase its possibilities (or limits)". Andrew Sacher of BrooklynVegan stated that the album is "a lengthy undertaking that functions as a great snapshot of just about everything Peso Pluma's capable of". Alicia Civita of The Latin Times praised the album's production, as well as Peso Pluma's attempt on experimentation, "even if it doesn't fully deliver on the promised 'darker' [...] music". At Jenesaispop, Gabriel Cárcoba was dissatisfied with the album's second disc, stating that his attempt in being versatile does not work and does so "instead of looking for fusion within regional Mexican music".

Writing for NME, Lucas Villa applauded the first disc of the album, stating that the songs within it "are more fiery, fearless and bélico ('badass') than before", and that "he certainly doesn't turn his back on [corridos]" on the second disc. On Suzy Exposito's review for NPR, they stated that "[Peso Pluma's] vulnerable corridos remain his strongest works on Éxodo" and that "Pluma offers listeners a sampler of his budding potential as a multi-genre star". Isabelia Herrera of Pitchfork wrote that Éxodo is "a bona fide attempt to cement Peso Pluma's versatility" but stated that "his ability to shapeshift across genres and flows" has "some convincing to do". Rolling Stone's Tomás Mier commented that the album "presents a Peso Pluma we've already met, perhaps with a bit more experience and angst, but still struggling to take the extra risk".