Edmundo Gómez Moreno (born 17 February 1991), better known by his stage name Raymix, is a Mexican musician and aerospace engineer. Nicknamed El Rey de la Electrocumbia ("The King of Electrocumbia"), Raymix started his music career in the early 2010s, when he joined a trance project called Light & Wave with two other Mexican musicians. Their song "Feeling the City" was featured on the Armin van Buuren radio show A State of Trance. In 2013, Raymix was invited to work in a NASA educative internship, where he helped to develop a satellite.
Edmundo Gómez Moreno was born on 17 February 1991, in San José El Vidrio,[1] a community located in Nicolás Romero, State of Mexico.[2] Multiple members of his family are musicians, including his grandfather, his cousin,[3] and his father is a grupero musician.[4] When he was a child, Gómez learned to play the keyboard, and his father taught him Los Tigres del Norte songs.[4] Additionally, he learned singing and to play the drum kit, the guitar and the organ at a church.[4]
On his 18th birthday, Gómez was given a MIDI controller, with which he started to compose trance songs.[4] Between 2011 and 2012, Gómez joined two other Mexican musicians and they created Light & Wave. Their song "Feeling the City" was featured on two episodes of Armin van Buuren's radio show A State of Trance.[4][5] Around this time, Gómez was studying aerospace engineering at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, in Mexico City, for a space systems degree.[4] In 2013, Gómez joined a NASA education internship, where he helped to develop an education satellite.[4][6] During his time there, he listened to cumbias and, in 2014,[1] he composed "Oye Mujer". According to Raymix, Alberto Pedraza (composer of "Guaracha sabrosona") borrowed him his loudspeakers, and with two cellphones and 3,000 pesos he recorded a music video for the song.[4] In 2015, Gómez was unable to get a job in the US despite his academic accomplishments and qualifications.[7]
A 17-second sample of "Oye Mujer". Oscar Adame wrote for WARP Magazine that it has an "innovative instrumental base" and compared it with the sound of Celso Piña and Chico Che.[8]
In April 2018, a remixed version of "Oye Mujer" was released as duet with Colombian singer Juanes.[6] In the United States, "Oye Mujer" topped the BillboardTropical Airplay and the Regional Mexican Airplay charts,[15] where it stayed for 11 consecutive weeks on the former chart.[16] "Oye Mujer" ended the year as the most-performed song on both charts.[17][18] It also charted at 7 on the Hot Latin Songs,[19][15] and 6 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100.[20] In Mexico, the song it peaked atop the Top 20 chart,[21] and it reached number 9 on the Airplay chart.[22] On 25 February 2020, the RIAA certified "Oye Mujer" 14× multi-platinum (Latin).[13]
"Dónde Estarás" was released as the follow-up single in March 2018.[23] It charted at 3 on the Billboard Regional Mexican Airplay,[15] and at 28 on the Hot Latin Songs.[19] On 25 February 2020, the RIAA certified "Dónde Estarás" 2× multi-platinum (Latin).[13] Other releases off Oye Mujer include "Perdóname", "Ángel Malvado", and "Primer Beso";[24] all of them received an AMPROFON certification.[14] "Oye Mujer" became the 99th most-listened song of 2017 in Mexico.[25] The remix of "Oye Mujer" and "Dónde Estarás" became the 12nd and 33rd most-played songs of 2018 in Mexico, respectively.[26]
2019–present: Fake Lover and non-album singles
In 2019, Raymix released his extended play (EP) Fake Lover.[24] "Tú Eres la Razón (Electrocumbia Remake)", originally by la Arrolladora Banda El Limón, was launched as the lead single[27] on 29 March.[28] Raymix joined Georgel, Esteman, Celso Piña and Mexican Institute of Sound (MIS) with a remix of Juan Gabriel's "El Noa Noa",[29] released on 11 October 2019.[30] "Te Fuiste" was published as the second single off the EP on 30 October.[31] In March 2020, Raymix joined with Mexican pop singer Paulina Rubio in the song "Tú y Yo",[32] In the US, it reached number 3 on the Tropical Airplay chart,[33] 16 on the Regional Mexican Airplay chart,[15] and number 39 on the Latin Airplay chart.[34] In Mexico, it peaked atop the Mexico Top 20 chart,[35] the Mexico Popular Airplay chart,[36] and the Mexico Airplay chart.[22]
In May 2020 Raymix released the song "Olvídame Tú" as a duet with Mexican sonidero ICC.[37] In June, he worked with Karla Vallín in "Te Quito la Pena".[38] The next month, he collaborated with Juan Solo in "Masoquista".[39] In early August 2020, he co-published the song "Y Se Dio" with the Spanish musician Juan Magán.[40] By the end of the month, the single "Llámame" was launched, which Raymix described as an autobiographical song as it tells the story of his first relationship and how it ended.[41] The music video was directed by his brother[41] and the song peaked at number 3 on the Tropical Airplay chart.[33] On 9 October 2020, Raymix released a remix of Esteman's song "Solo".[42] Two days later, during the National Coming Out Day, he performed at the OutMusik Fest, a festival featuring multiple LGBT musicians and their allies.[43][44] In December of the same year, he remixed "Prisionero" by Chilean singer Gepe; the result was titled "Prisionero (De la Cumbia)" and had a record production by MIS.[45]
Artistry
Raymix defines his music style as a mixture of electronic music subgenres (trance, house, chill-out, and ambient) with cumbia, which he calls "electrocumbia".[3] His stage name is a combination of a nickname, "Ray", and "Mix" because of his interest in electronic music. A friend of his coined it while at college.[3] Raymix is also known as "El Rey de la Electrocumbia"[46] (Spanish for "The King of Electrocumbia").[47]
Personal life
On 5 June 2020, Raymix released a video where he came out as gay,[47] saying "Today I am freer, happier than ever because now I know that I can express myself as I really am", and added that some acquaintances advised him to not do so because they consider that people are not prepared for a gay regional or cumbia musician.[48] After the publication of "Llámame", Raymix commented that he was young when he had his first relationship, but the other party was not interested in a serious relationship.[41] After their break-up, he came out to his dad.[41] Raymix also said he wrote the song because he wanted to base his career on his truth.[41]
^"Historia de San José EL Vidrio" [History of San José El Vidrio] (in Spanish). San José El Vidrio Official Website. Archived from the original on 7 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
