Vanita Leo’s singles sound like falling asleep one night in 1994 with hip-hop station KTFM on in your bedroom and Tejano radio mainstay KTXN bleeding in from the pachanga in the next room. Credit: Courtesy Photo / Vanita Leo

With spring in full swing and the assurance of endless sweltering days on the horizon, the new single “La Cumbia Wepa” by San Antonio’s Vanita Leo might be the perfect sonic cure for the impending malaise.

Released in February, it’s the most irresistible new cumbia pop jam we’ve heard in a long time, and could find a spot on your Fiesta playlist — and maybe every playlist you make for the foreseeable future. Pro tip: it leads perfectly into Supermerk2’s “Que Calor.”

Even Rolling Stone has taken note, listing the track among its recent “Songs You Need to Know” alongside offerings from megastars such as Lizzo and Halsey.

Leo’s life has always been filled with music. Her father Marco Jaime has performed in Tejano and cumbia bands including Grupo Rodeo, and other members of her family are also involved in the regional music scene.

To be sure, her desire to be a performer was stirred by the experience of going with her abuela to watch her dad perform at Market Square.

“He would have that crowd in the palm of his hand,” Leo told the Current. “It was such an exhilarating feeling for me, and I’ve just always wanted to do that too.”

Leo attended a prestigious mariachi school, showing talent and drive from a young age — even if she hadn’t fully envisioned where she wanted her musical ambitions to take her.

Eventually, she left the school and later attended John Jay High School before switching to homeschooling, an option that allowed her to spend more time working at her family’s frutería and plotting her music career.

Leo views today’s music world as increasingly dominated by Latino cultures, “but not my culture.” She wants to change that by representing San Antonio specifically, with its unique take on both Chicano and Mexican cultures.

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In 2024, Leo began working with accomplished cumbia producer Alan Vega in Los Angeles. The pair found a quick creative kinship, banging out the song “solo tu bb” on their first day together.

That song, a dreamy, sun-soaked, cruisin’ cumbia, kicked off a hot streak of singles — five in total — of which “La Cumbia Wepa” is just the latest and greatest.

The other recent releases include “Suerte o Destino,” a stunning duet with Edgar Alejandro, “Putazos al Corazon,” a feisty track with contributions from Erre, and “Si Dios Quiere,” another candied cumbia gem.

Leo’s singles sound like falling asleep one night in 1994 with hip-hop station KTFM on in your bedroom and Tejano radio mainstay KTXN bleeding in from the pachanga in the next room. In your dreams, the songs intertwine to ecstatic results.

Except Leo, 22, wasn’t even born yet in 1994. And her music feels fresher than that anyway.

The tunes combine cumbia with elements of reggaeton, bolero, mariachi, corrido, Tejano and a cinematically huge pop polish that brings an infectious sense of joy. Her voice is versatile and powerful, and she’s as comfortable with towering emotion as with disarming playfulness.

Leo said her longing is to make music that resonates with “Mexican kids who used to fall asleep at quinceañeras” — music for “Hot Cheeto girls and Edgars too.”

“I want this to be played at quinces, at Fiesta; I want this to bring the energy of my city with it,” she said. “Being a San Antonian is one of the most important parts of me.”

Leo said she draws inspiration from the late great Selena Quintanilla and her brother A.B. Quintanilla, but not necessarily in the way many might assume.

“I am really passionate about the fact that Selena and her siblings weren’t really into Tejano themselves but were kind of pushed into it by their dad,” she said.

“They decided that if they were going to do Tejano that they would create something that’s modern and innovative, but that still your abuela can dance to with your tias and your little primos too.”

“I want to do that too,” she added. “Make music that is so good it belongs to everybody.”

In that way, Leo simultaneously comes across as a throwback and a breath of fresh air. Her drive to become a beacon both of cultural preservation and musical innovation is distinct and refreshing.

Fresh off a run of official SXSW shows, Leo will perform live at Fiesta’s Oyster Bake and La Semana Alegre. Her Oyster Bake set will take place at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 26, on the Club Car Wash Stage, while she’s scheduled to play Friday, May 2, on La Semana Alegre’s Civic Park Stage.

She also plans to release her next single near the end of April and drop an EP sometime in the fall.

For now, go blast “La Cumbia Wepa.” Like the fruit cups she slings at her family’s frutería when she’s not recording cumbia bangers in LA, this thing is dulce y picante at once — and probably good for your health too.

$30, 3 p.m. Saturday, April 26, Oyster Bake, St. Mary’s University, 1 Camino Santa Maria, (210) 436-3324, oysterbake.com.

Free, Friday, May 2, La Semana Alegre, Hemisfair Plaza Way, 600 Hemisfair Plaza Way, lasemanaalegre.com.

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This article appears in Apr 16-29, 2025.