It’s 12:15 AM and I’m trapped outside the Dickies Arena’s loading dock because Ivan Cornejo’s fans have surrounded the perimeter in hopes of seeing him leave on his tour bus. 

What the hundreds outside don’t know is that Ivan has already left the area discreetly in a black Escalade, but even when told that he’s gone, the crowd refuses to leave. 

It takes the combination of local law enforcement and the arena’s security staff combined to get everyone to leave, but it just goes to show how diehard fans are for the 20 year old Mexican American from Riverside, California. 

At a young age, Ivan began to create music, but it was when he started uploading covers of Ariel Camacho and more on TikTok that he began to gain traction. He would eventually release “Esta Danada” and so began his path to stardom. 

When FAME meets up with Ivan, it’s in Ft Worth, Texas where he’s just performed to a crowd of 14,000 fans who screamed and sang along to songs like “Vuelve”, “Baby Please”, and more. 

His management boasts that they could've sold out three shows if they wanted to, but Ivan wants to explore more of the country this time around. 

His MIRADA tour has taken him all over the country through stops in Miami, Nashville, and Boston. Cities that don’t really hear from the Musica Mexicana hitmakers have been attracted to Ivan’s blend of regional Mexican music and alternative rock vibes. 

In its first week, MIRADA had the highest first week sales for a Regional Mexican album since 2020, which just goes to show that there is a large demand for him and the project. 

As one of Musica Mexicanas biggest stars, we felt that it was necessary to stop by the show and talk to Ivan about the success of the project and the tour across the US. 

FAME: Just a minute ago you were doing small shows, but you've surpassed that by so much in about a year. Why do you think that's happened at such a rapid pace? 

Ivan: Regional music has been exploding throughout the years. These past five years have been insane for us and I'm just really glad to be a part of it and to be able to just keep making music.

FAME: What's tour life for you? You're like halfway through this thing so far. I saw the bus outside, so I know you're going city to city with the whole band and everything. What do you do when you have your free time? Are you making music or are you just chilling out? 

Ivan: I feel like whenever I have time to explore the city, I always love to. I love seeing what the city is about. I'll typically rent out the little scooters, the electric scooters, with me and the boys and we'll just ride around town and try different foods from all parts of the country.  It's really fun. It's a blessing to be able to be doing this for a living. I'm super grateful for that. 

FAME: And now to be running around doing like MIRADA on tour, you could tell from the fans reaction that it's super well received especially during songs like “Donde Estas” and “Vuelve”. Cause I'm not going to lie. My ears are really totaled right now.

Do you ever get used to how excited people are to hear your music live for the first time?

Ivan: I’m so happy every time I do a show, even though some people might think “Oh, he's used to it” or I’m doing this so often that I become a little bit numb to it.

But no, when I'm on stage, I remind myself always that these people are here for me and that they're, paying for a ticket, working seven days a week, nine to five or whatever to see me. So that’s enough to make me happy to do this. 

FAME: And do you still get anxious? Like before you get on stage, do you still get nervous? Cause like you've played the Houston Rodeo which is 70,000 people, but do you still get nervous before you hop out on stage?

Ivan: Definitely.. Like the first two songs are always where you break the ice with the crowd and it's the start of the show that is always a bit nerve wracking for sure.

FAME: Another thing I wanted to know, did you purposely make the last song before you hop on stage 505 by the Arctic Monkeys?

Ivan: Yeah, for sure. I always want people to get a taste of my musical background. My inspirations and we'll switch it up every other show. Tonight was 505 by Arctic Monkeys. I feel like I grew up listening to the Arctic Monkeys a lot. Listening to them throughout my whole childhood. And they're a big inspiration of mine. 

FAME: I remember last time we talked, I was asked if you are ever going to go a little more like rock-esque or a little more alt vibes. Now in this show, you have the guitar solos and other elements throughout. 

It's like you're leaning into it a little more, do you ever think about doing a 505 cover or something like that?

Ivan: Oh man, dude, I'd love to just mess around and record a little English cover.

FAME: Yeah, because before you got on the stage, your fans were singing 505 to the top of their lungs. 

Ivan: Right? Yeah, I feel like a lot of my fans since they like my music. They'll like and understand my inspirations. So that's really cool to hear. 

FAME: I'm one of those people, when the tour starts, I look at the set list just to see what's probably going to be on there. And I was hurt because “Herida Abierta” was not on there. And that's my favorite song off the project.  Then halfway through the tour, a couple of shows ago, you added it and I was like, let's go.

What was your response? Were you like just seeing it in your comments a lot or something?

Ivan: I would see it a lot in the comments, so I decided to finally add it and yeah. I just wasn't sure how the fans were gonna receive.

FAME: Really? 

Ivan: Yeah. And so there's always that song that you're just like a little skeptical. But, seeing the comments really reassured me to have it play during the show. 

FAME: Of course man, and then just like MIRADA as a whole.  I feel like the experience this time is very big in scope and I really love it. The stuff you do with the galaxy and the astronauts stuff like where's like the inspiration for that come from?

Ivan: I feel like my music really feels like you're floating in space. It's very spacey and echoey and just isolated I'd say. Another thing is one of my favorite movies is Interstellar, so I combined the two, and just made it into this world. This very stargazy world, cause that's even a genre, and I'd consider some of my music being part of that, so it all came together. I'm a big fanatic of sitting outside and just looking at the stars.

There's so much out there. I feel like you're just looking at so much when you just look at the stars.

FAME: One of the things I really liked about Mirada, now that you dropped not only the tour, the album, and the visualizers and all that, you've really nailed this very warm, hazy, fuzzy feeling of just nostalgia.

Ivan: Yes, even with the actual show itself, some of the visualizers feel very like a world. It puts you in a mood for the sunset by the beach, but in a very, not so party vibe, but just nostalgic.

There's nights where you go out to the beach and or when it rains, and those nights where you can see the stars and it all just feels very euphoric in a way. Very vibrant colors.

FAME: You as an artist, being on stage you've evolved. From what I've seen You give me this vibe where you remind me of the more traditional singers like Luis Miguel and Juan Gabriel  instead of the other guys doing musica mexicana who are running around on stage. They tend to be very rambunctious, while you're more traditional and gentleman-like.  Do you do that on purpose or is that just how you're comfortable being on stage?

Ivan: Yeah, it's just me slowly getting comfortable on stage. And I feel like moving around helps with hyping up the crowd as well. A little bit of both. 

FAME: I remembered when I was watching your show I was like, dude, this reminds me of those early Justin Bieber concerts. 

It's just the funniest thing. Cause you have this really young crowd. When I noticed I was just warped into a different time period. I noticed that the fans around me and my family were definitely like 15-17 ish, around that age. What do you think that’s about? Why are these groups of kids in this age group really attached to your music? 

Ivan: I feel like they're the craziest, they're going through high school and I think those were really crazy years for me and I think for everyone and their emotions. When you're younger you are just way more enhanced and you feel everything more vividly. 

I remember when I was going through my high school breakup. I felt like I was dying. So I'm sure they're also feeling like they're dying from sadness. Yeah a little bit of both. It's that first heartache, so I'm sure some are very excited and happy and some are going through their emotions and going through their first heartbreak.

FAME: I saw someone throw you the little astronaut. I thought that was very cute. As for fan interaction, do you ever read the signs that the people make for you? 

Ivan:  I try my best to read all of them because they bring a lot, but sometimes I’m singing and they're like, they're shaking it like for me to read it. I'm like, I can't read that.

Yeah, I saw one while I was singing, I forgot what song I was singing, but it said do a flip.  I laughed a little bit mid verse. I laughed because I can’t even do a backflip. I can do a frontflip on a trampoline, but that's about it. Ha-ha. 

FAME: So what are the plans like after the tour? Are you just gonna take a break, or are you gonna go back to the studio? I know you mentioned to me that you did have this alternative rock vibe that you didn't put on Mirada. Are we ever gonna hear that song?

Ivan: Yeah, there's definitely a lot of songs that we've been working on, and after the tour I'm already gonna take a little two week break.

Two weeks and then yeah getting back in the studio for a bit and then doing another tour.

FAME: Another tour? 

Ivan: Yeah, hitting the bigger markets now.

FAME: You’ve been seen with artists like Eslabon Armado and DannyLux recently, are you guys going to collaborate any time soon? 

Ivan: With me, I feel like it's always about the right song and the right timing. It's been in the talks for sure, making music together again, because people loved my first collaboration  with Eslabon.