At parties and hangouts across Medellín, electronic music is becoming harder for young people to ignore. Genres such as house, techno and Afro house, once unfamiliar to many teenage listeners, are becoming a more common part of what they play, share and discover with friends.
For young DJs like Pablo Correa Senior at TCS, the change has become visible from behind the decks. “I started noticing it mostly at parties,” Correa said. “Before, electronic music was something only a few of my friends were really into, but now I see way more people our age actually knowing the songs and asking who the DJ is.”
As that interest grew, Correa began noticing not only more young listeners but also a change in what they recognized. “The crowds have definitely changed,” Correa said. “I feel like there are more younger people now, and they don’t just want the really popular songs anymore. Some of them actually know different types of house and techno.”
That growing familiarity has also affected Correa personally as a young DJ. “For me as a DJ, there are more opportunities because more people want this kind of music at parties,” Correa said. “Even with my friends, I get asked to play more often than I did when I first started.”
While Correa sees the trend from behind the decks, Simon Sanchez Sophmore in TCS, has experienced the same change from inside the audience. “I first got into electronic music because of my friends,” Sanchez said. “They would play it when we were hanging out, and at first I didn’t really understand why they liked it so much, but after a while I started finding my own artists.”
What began through a few friends eventually became something Sanchez noticed across a larger part of his social group. “A year or two ago, I had maybe two or three friends who actually listened to electronic music,” Sanchez said. “Now it’s pretty normal for someone to put house or Afro house on when we’re together.”
But friends are not the only way electronic music is reaching new listeners. “Social media has definitely influenced it,” Sanchez said. “Sometimes I’ll hear a song on Instagram or TikTok and then look for the full version, but my friends are probably still the biggest reason I discover new music.”
Emiliana Rojas’s, a senior at TCS more recent experience shows the same process Sanchez describes happening from the perspective of a new listener. “I used to listen to reggaeton and pop mostly,” Rojas said. “Electronic music was always there, but I didn’t really choose to listen to it myself until more recently.”
Her shift happened gradually through the people around her. “One of my friends started playing Afro house a lot when we were together,” Rojas said. “At first it was just background music for me, but then I started saving some of the songs and listening to them on my own.”
For Rojas, that personal change reflects something she now notices happening around her. “I definitely notice more people listening to it now,” Rojas said. “It’s not like everyone suddenly only listens to electronic music, but it feels way more normal than it did before.”