Original subtitles

Oh my god!

Again!

Again!

And today we're joined by Becky G.

She's a global force in pop music, racking up nine Latin American music

and a spot on the Time 100 since breaking into the industry as a

Her documentary, Rebecca, is on Netflix now.

Eskina, the latest album. And check out her new single, Marathon. But you know

what? She can't outrun the wings of death today. Becky G, welcome to the

Thank you so much. Wow.

What an intro.

What's going through your head as you prepare to take on the Hot Ones

I understand you are somewhat of a spice fiend. I definitely am a fan of spicy

food.

But spicy enough where you can still enjoy it. And I feel like after wing one

when the misery, you know, starts. Yeah, the party stops. Exactly.

Do you like smell it first?

Yeah, sometimes. Like wine?

Oh, that's good.

I'm loving this.

I might go back to that one.

Are we allowed to do that? Of course. You make the rule. There are no rules.

Okay, cool. We have a format, but there are no rules.

So it actually is kind of rare for us to have a bonafide spice connoisseur on

the show. What stands out in your memory as the spiciest food experience you've

ever had? Like, have you ever tested the outer limits of your tolerance?

Okay. So I remember being, I want to say I was about like seven years old, and I

was like triple dog dared by a family member to bite a cheetah and rub it

my lip for 30 seconds.

So ask me what kind of chile it was. I don't know.

But a fresh, like raw chile straight from the garden of my grandma's got to

something really spicy.

And at seven years old, I was like, yeah, for $10, I'll do that.

And so I did it. And my lips got so big. And I feel like I definitely had a

reaction of sorts.

But I got my $10.

And that's what matters. You know, I almost ate a Carolina Reaper, the

pepper in the entire world. And you know what? I don't think Chris gave me a

dime for it, you know? That was just for the love of the game.

I love that.

I think it's a little bit more hot than my Scandinavian cousins.

Eggplant. A little skeptical.

A little bit.

I'm not really like a big eggplant fan.

Oh, just your skin.

This one's also kind of good.

I'm going to take a good bite of this one.

That was going up.

That was good.

Okay, eggplant.

Can never judge a sock by the label, as they say. No, I guess not.

That was good.

So as a bilingual singer, I'm curious, does that duality ever bleed over into

songwriting? Like are there ideas or emotions that are easier to express in

Spanish than English or vice versa?

I started with, wow, that was so good. My mouth is like salivating. Hold on. I

was really hungry, I guess.

I started with pursuing like English music as a rapper and I got discovered

of like a cover video when I was 14.

And it was cute because like my grandparents would always be super

very encouraging.

But they didn't understand anything I was rapping about.

My grandma would always be like, Ay, mija, pero por qué tan enojada?

Like, why do you sound so angry?

And I'd be like, because grandma got shit to say.

Because I really did.

And so as the evolution of my career continued, it was always like the both

always a source of inspiration.

But when I transitioned into professionally singing Spanish music, I

soulful shift as an artist.

The whole concept of 50 -50 never really cut it for me.

So I was like, I'm 100 % proud to be from Inglewood, and I'm also 100 % proud

be Mexicana.

And so Spanglish has literally always been the way for me, and I think I

have arrived to a place in my music where it's like a happy medium of the

Feeling really good.

Feeling like Bidi Bidi Bamba.

Okay, she's a little bit more saucy, but this is number three, so that's my

lucky number. I think this is going to be good to me.

Oh, hell yeah.

As someone who's been performing since childhood, do you remember how old you

were when you first gained confidence in your voice? Like, is there a moment

that you can pinpoint recognizing something different in you?

So there is this very embarrassing video that my mom has of me at about

five years old.

Being at, like, a family Super Bowl carne asada and watching the main

the night, like, sing the national anthem and it being this really grand,

vocal moment and me thinking, like, yeah, like, I can sing the national

I don't know who I thought I was. It was, like, a combination between

Britney Spears, and if Christina Aguilera and all them just kind of,

together and had a baby.

And, um, but at five.

So, like, my version of that, you know?

And, um...

My mom is recording, and behind the camera, you can hear her laughing. I'm

trying to hold it back, and the camera's shaking like this.

And I'm like, it's not funny.

And I would start all over again from the top of the song.

My mom could not stop laughing, and so I never got through the national anthem.

But I was very young with a lot of confidence and very much a lack of

a strong desire to be a pop star, for sure.

This one might be my favorite one.

Okay, Black Eyed Susan.

Working for you.

Mm -hmm.

What is pound for pound the greatest Selena banger, in your opinion?

Ooh. I mean, all of them.

I love, love, love, love her mariachi songs, but because, of course, our

traditions run deep, and I think that there's a sense of pride for us,

we are pochas.

I would say pocha power. Do you know what a pocho is?

Put me on game. Okay, so they refer to, like, Chicano kids or, like, Mexican

-American kids as pochos when we don't speak, like, perfect Spanish.

So I would say, like, that pocha power was, like, her secret sauce because she

would just slay in Spanish any genre she'd do. It was amazing.

Have you ever done this with tacos?

No, but the possibility. Did I just give a spin -off?

Guys.

I mean, hey, we'll talk after. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll trade notes.

Yeah.

Wait, actually, Scorpion?

I'm not from that part of Mexico.

Wait, can you, like, purchase these afterwards?

You know what?

We're going to pack them all up for you, all right? You don't leave hot ones

empty -handed.

This is science.

And this, I think, is step up. Mm -hmm. You know, I think it's... It's starting

to get serious for us, but still in your comfort zone. It's still really good,

though.

What's your most vocally challenging song to perform live, and what makes it

that way?

There's one that's just vocally, I think, shows off a different side of my

voice. It's my mariachi song called Por El Contrario.

There's just an emotion and a tonality that it demands of your voice, and so I

would say that one.

A step above that would be my song Querido Abuelo because it's emotional

And it's a song that I wrote about my grandfather who I gained as an angel in

heaven. I grew up with all four of my grandparents being super present in my

life. And he was the first one to kind of, you know, start watching over us

above.

I just, yeah, I remember that kind of what catapulted me into wanting to do

those albums.

It felt like a calling and it felt like something really important.

And yeah, I did that song called Querido Abuelo. And every time, even talking

about it right now, I'm getting a little emotional.

Oh, this is a hot one. Special.

When you say tropical, is it because it's got like a sweetness to it?

Exactly. A little sweet heat action on it. Like a pineapple?

You guys should just hire me.

Oh, my God. This is amazing.

You're not just saying that?

I'm still eating this one. This one's good.

Here we go.

So I've heard you sing that you might get down with a little red lipstick, but

you bleed Dodger blue.

What are your earliest memories of going to Dodger Stadium?

Was there something about the experience that made you fall in love with

baseball? Well, in full transparency, it's been a long time since I've been to

Dodger Stadium.

If you're an L .A. native, you know what's up.

Obviously, being Chicana, like, it was one of the two.

You either grew up playing in, like, the baseball Little League team or...

The AYSO, you know, soccer club. And I loved both.

And I played up until I decided that I wanted to be a singer. So sports are

much still, like, a really big part of my life. And I always say my favorite

team in all of L .A. is actually Angel City.

You're an investor at Angel City.

Yes, I am. You were kind of early on that wave, you know? You want to know

real tea on that? Yeah, yeah, hit me with the real tea. All right, the real

is that...

When there was whispers about the team coming to L .A., I called every single

person on my team.

Literally, I was like, I can be an equipment manager.

I can host post -game, you know, interviews on the side of the pitch. You

by the way. You definitely could, by the way, yeah. Like, whatever we got to do,

you know, just like, how can I get in on this?

And I spoke to all the ones that I needed to speak to at the right time.

And I'm really, really, really...

Happy and proud that I made that first round. And I'm right there alongside so

many other badass women that invested into this club and believed in the

And also the right now of women in soccer.

Yeah. Or what I like to call the real football.

Gonna come humbly on this one.

Asian spices are usually where I get a little scary.

A little Cetron action can be a problem.

A little bit.

We've all made a little bit of that, you know, wasabi mistake.

I'm like, oh, it's avocado. No, it's not.

Now this one you're skeptical because it has like a sugary kind of molasses -y

thing up front.

And the action on the other side, yeah.

I don't know, but I still like it.

Oh, my goodness.

Guys, I got to say, wow.

Do you curate the hot sauce with yourself?

Not me, personally, by myself. It's a collaborative experience. But we do take

it bizarrely seriously, though. I mean, I'd imagine.

It comes through, right? You can see the experience as a guest over here.

I can. It's worth the hours, yeah.

It definitely is. It's so good, though.

So you're not just an L .A. native. You were literally given the keys to the

city of Englewood in 2023.

If you're picking up a snack haul at Placido Alvera in downtown L .A., what

the first Mexican candies inside the bag for you?

So there's these things called saladitos.

And they're like dried pits of I don't know what fruit.

But they're so salty.

And actually, my tíos, when they would be drinking their beers and throwing

back, I would sneak and grab them from the bag because they would have that

their beers.

And then sabritones, those are really good. I love those too.

Is Kelso Ranch Market still the best place for a plata de sandia after a long

day of hitting the book at Oak Street Elementary School?

Yeah, the amount of research that you do for this is crazy.

Absolutely. Kelso Marque, I still hit up all the time.

In full transparency, like, I remember shooting the Becky from the Block music

video there and thinking I was hot shit. Great video, by the way.

You had J -Lo in that video.

Yo! Yeah, that's crazy. Hello, like, from Inglewood to Hollywood and

to Inglewood. Like, it's the coolest, coolest thing I think I've ever done

still, till this day. And also because, like, my whole family is in that music

video. Kelso Marque, as a kid growing up, was like... The spot.

Yeah, that's the best.

For the uninitiated, what's the perfect order at Bravo's Charburger?

You're hitting all the spots.

So they got everything you need, to be honest.

You can get tortas there. You can get a great charburger.

Extra charred is what I like when I'm getting, like, a regular, like,

cheeseburger there.

Or a cheese charburger, technically.

Their french fries, chef's kiss. Love them. And also their ice cream cones.

Does Marisco's Guillen and Hawthorne, do they still serve the best spicy, what

is it, agua chile? Agua chile, yeah. In L .A. County?

You should just come over to my grandparents' house.

I feel like you need to try all these places firsthand.

Like, we need to take this on the road. Yeah.

We have a spinoff. Yeah. And then we also have a travel series.

Yay! We're, like, building out, like, a whole programming flight right now. I

love this.

Yes. Well, you love it now. You might not love it.

With the next wing. This is the bomb beyond insanity.

You're nodding along. This one always stays, right? The bomb is like...

into the table here.

Is it a good smell?

No. Oh, God.

So don't smell it. All right, I'm just going to go for it. Fuck.

Just jump in. Oh, I didn't ask if we could say a bad word. Yeah, you can let

fly. Oh, wow. Okay. Fuck.

After. It's not like a bad actor.

According to you.

It's definitely there.

Yeah. Well, you're a liar. I can feel it traveling.

Yeah. Yeah. You can trace every step.

GPS through the hole.

Digestive tract here.

So I've heard you talk about how the sounds in regional Mexican folk music,

they all carry a different emotional weight, right? Like, Banda might be

different than Norteño, which hits different than mariachi. So what I want

is give you a handful of coming -of -age moments, life situations, and then I

want you to assign a sound to them, okay? Like, for example, a breakup.

Is that Banda, is that Norteño, or is that mariachi music?

I would go mariachi.

For sure, the violins, the horns, just, and banda, to be honest. Banda's also

heartbreak, too, which is crazy, because you can be at, like, your highest

moment, and then also, like, by the end of the night, be like, oh, my God,

again, otra vez.

How about when you finally get the job?

Ooh, okay, I would say, like, I really love, like, Mexican cumbias.

For that situation? Yeah, that's like, that's giving like, ooh, we're going to

start on Monday, our new job. So Sunday's like my clean day, get

ready. So the cumbias are playing.

How about you step into the party and you look incredible?

Ooh, I'm not going to lie. I really love like tamborazo.

It's like a lot of like...

It just exactly what it sounds like. Like a lot of drums, kind of chaotic.

like when everybody walks in, like everybody's just like with this energy

it's just very contagious.

What about revenge?

Oh, any of them.

OK, let's do it.

Am I allowed to see the ingredients?

Yeah. Oh, God damn, that one's spicy.

My eyes are watering.

It's all normal.

Long leash on this show.

Okay. You got some Reaper in there? Yeah.

You got some habanero in there?

Mm -hmm.

Smoked paprika.

A lime juice?

You know, usually when we pack these up for people, they're like, these ones you

guys can just keep, but not you. You'll be like, give them all. Hand them all

over. Oh, no, I'm going to share them with my grandma. She's going to love it.

What makes the Fresh Prince of Bel -Air theme song such an elite example of

technical songwriting, in your opinion?

Oh, I just love that you go on a journey with them.

Like, that was my inspo for Becky from the Block.

You literally go from where he starts.

The journey, and then where he ends up.

Oh, it's building up. Whoa.

Creeper. The cumulative effect, too, you know?

Yeah. It shouldn't be Carolina Reaper. It's a creeper.

Mm -hmm.

My nose is running. So you know something's happening.

I wasn't kidding when I said this is my Super Bowl. I was so excited for today.

This is like a monumental moment in my career. Now it's time to bite that ball

in the end zone, yeah.

Yeah.

I'm scared.

Can I like lick it first?

If you want.

I should bite it, huh? I would bite it. I bit all of them. I should bite it. God

damn it.

And with that.

The wings of death are behind us.

You can't even enjoy that.

I'm so sorry. That is... Wow.

And it'll grow on us.

But the good news is, the hot one's gauntlet, you've conquered it. You're to

end. You've taken on every hot sauce, lived to tell the tale, and to close

things out.

I know that your family is from Jalisco.

the birthplace of mariachi and you'll sometimes even wink at that history with

the traditional mexican grito during your performances i know that this is a

to ask under the circumstances throw it on fire lips ablaze but can you teach me

right now how to do a grito like is there a right and wrong way to do it or

it really just more about committing i like i want to do it but okay so

A part of it, yes, is like the... One second.

Yeah, take your time.

A part of it is like... I wish the last dab was

actually a shot of tequila.

Because that also really helps.

I don't know if it would help with the spice actually, but it would help with

the grito. So it's the commitment.

And it's also like from the belly and from the heart.

So you got to start like kind of low.

I'm going to try it and then you can try after. Yeah, yeah. Yeah?

Okay, so it'll go.

That sounded like Coco.

I'll take it. And look at you, Becky G, taking on the wings of death, living to

tell the tale. And now there's nothing left to do but roll out the red carpet

for you. This camera, this camera, this camera, let the people know what you

have going on in your life.

Well, guys, I feel like I just conquered Hot Ones.

That's all that really matters right now to me.

You know, man, I'm just happy to be here. I'm happy to be here with you.

This has been something that I've wanted to do for a really long time, but had

to build up the courage to do. And it's just like divine alignment because this

is the most fun that I've had in my musical career in this phase of my life,

having done it for so long.

And this was so fucking fun.

So, like, if this was fun, I'm like, wait till you guys hear the music.

It's giving spice and all things nice.

And, yeah, that's how I would describe it after having so much hot sauce.

Yay!

Okay, everybody, a grito. Ready?

One, two, three.

Super Bowl moment right there. Yeah, man.

Wow.

I'm a little dizzy.

Thank you so much. Thank you. You did great. Thank you.

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