Ivan Cornejo is a native of Riverside, California, who began his songwriting career while he was still in middle school, and watched YouTube videos to learn how to play the guitar. The classic “La Bamba” by Ritchie Valens was the first thing he learned. He cites T3r Elemento, Natanael Cano, and Grupo Los de la O as influences. The three are involved with Regional Mexican music.
As the name implies, Regional Mexican music refers to subgenres of national music found in various regions of the country. Subgenres include mariachi, Tejano, Sierreño, country en Español, Tierra Caliente, Duranguense, banda, and Corrido Tumbado, the genre he is associate with most closely.
Cornejo released “Alma Vacia,” his debut album, in 2021, and followed that with “Dañado” in 2022, and “Mirada” in 2024. Each album charted higher than the earlier one, and “Dañado” was rated 5x Platinum by the RIAA. In 2021, the New York Times named “Alma Vacia” one of the year’s best albums, and one of the singles on the album, "Está Dañada", charted on the Hot 100, only the second time a regional Mexican song has done so. In 2021, Billboard named Cornejo to the “Artist on the Rise” list. A review called him:
“A superstar in the making . . .”
Ivan Cornejo will be at the Toyota Center in Kennewick on June 8. Organizers often use poster printing to create advertising for events like this.