Rojo.

Some bands are measured by their awards, and others by the songs the church keeps singing twenty years later. RoJO, from Hermosillo, Sonora, belongs to the second group: it was born in 2000, when Emmanuel Espinosa — bassist, songwriter, and producer who had previously worked with Marcos Witt, Jesús Adrián Romero, and Danilo Montero — picked up again the project he had carried in his head since his teens. Alongside him came his wife Linda Espinosa and his childhood friends Oswaldo Burruel on guitar and Rubén González on drums.

Their debut came in 2001 with the self-titled album Rojo, and the sound of guitars, drums, and youthful backing vocals opened doors for them beyond Mexico: 24.7 (2003), Día de Independencia (2004), Con el Corazón en la Mano (2007), and Apasionado por Ti (2009) built a catalog that is sung at services, camps, and retreats. The Latin Recording Academy nominated them for a Latin Grammy in the Best Christian Album (Spanish Language) category in 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2010, and their trophy case also holds several Premios Arpa.

After a break of several years, the group returned in 2018 with the EP A Partir de Hoy, and in 2022 it released Alumbras Mi Vida, its most recent studio album. In March 2025 they announced ROJO25: remasters of their classics, new music, and an anniversary tour that is still on the road, with dates announced in the United States for October 2026. Out of that celebration came the single Declaro el Nombre de Jesús.

Their approach has not changed much since the first album: pop and rock in Spanish with direct lyrics about Jesus. That is why songs like No Me Soltarás, Te Amo Más Que A Mi Misma Vida, and Abres Camino rack up tens of millions of streams and sound just as fitting on a youth playlist as in a congregation's repertoire.

If your church sings any of their songs, now you know where they come from: four friends who started out playing for the youth of their city and ended up walking alongside several generations. Which of their songs marked you?