Gera MX, Christian Nodal on their genre-bending hit, Latin AMAs performance: 'Expect pure energy'

What happens when Christian Nodal, a star of Regional Mexican music, and Gera MX, an up-and-coming Mexican rapper, collaborate on a breakup anthem?

They create "Botella Tras Botella" (Bottle After Bottle) and earn the first regional Mexican single to debut on Billboard's Hot 100 chart in its 64-year history and three Latin American Music Award nominations for viral song of the year, collaboration of the year and regional Mexican favorite song.

The duo will perform their hit at the Latin AMA's Thursday, live from Las Vegas. The seventh annual awards show ceremony will air on Telemundo at 8 p.m. ET.

"Fans can expect pure energy, we're going to tear up the stage," Nodal, who will be honored with the Extraordinary Evolution Award, says of the performance.

Nodal, 23, who boasts over 8 million followers on Instagram, isn't a stranger to the star power, and Gera, 27, is well on his way — with five total Latin AMA nominations, including new artist of the year.

It wasn't long after meeting that the two musicians became friends. "I remember perfectly the day we met, I gave (Gera) my necklaces and told him, 'Brother, you're going to make it big. You need to look the part, it's only up from here,' " Nodal tells USA TODAY in an interview conducted in Spanish. The two met at a "carne asada at my house that a friend invited him to," Nodal says. "He started rapping and since then, we became friends … I consider him a brother."

Hitting red carpets, award shows and being in the spotlight is "all new to me," Gera says, grinning boyishly over Zoom. "But it's great because the song that brought us to this moment, the effort that got us here has always been organic. It has come from the heart and things happened when they were meant to happen."

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For Nodal and Gera, they are simply basking in sharing this moment together — as friends foremost.

"It happened with a great friend and everyone loved the song and it's just amazing it has transcended other heights," Gera says. "The beautiful thing apart from our friendship is that we can make music together," Nodal adds.

So as to not lose their rhythm, Nodal and Gera, who have known each other for about five years now, kept recording and writing music during the pandemic. When they wrote "Botella Tras Botella," Gera says: "We knew we had something different … something special."

Aside from charting on the Billboard Top 100, marking Nodal and Gera's first entries, the single debuted in the Top 10 on the Billboard Global 200 chart, while also debuting at No. 40 on the Streaming Songs chart and No. 3 on Hot Latin Songs.

But had it not been for Nodal teasing the song on his Twitch stream weeks before the official April 2021 release, fans might have been slower to upload a recording of the catchy "Botella Tras Botella" chorus on TikTok. Since then, the sound on TikTok is used in over 329,000 videos, those videos have amassed over 552 million views and the hashtags "#botellatrashbotella" and "botellatrasbotellachallenge" have over 514 million and 32 million views respectively.

The song's music video also has over 485 million views and five million likes since its premiere last year.

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"It's all about the energy of the song causing fans to just recommend it, none of us are paying for that type of marketing or telling them to play our song," Gera says of the virality of the "song evoking something in our fans to play it."

Nodal, whose music straddles traditional Regional Mexican music and Latin Pop, and Gera, who grew up listening to '90s Mexican hip-hop crew Caballeros del Plan G and Control Machete, simply "figured out a formula" of what worked with both their voices, backgrounds and genres.

"Meshing our worlds together was simple because he listens to rap and I listen to regional (music) and so, it just clicked," Gera says.

Whether he takes home all five trophies or none at all, Gera says the feeling of "seeing who your music can reach" is enough. "You stop thinking about winning or losing because you already won by reaching many corners of the world with your music. That's the best prize."

After hitting the Latin AMA's, Gera will kick off the U.S. leg of his Triple 4 tour next month. "I like to put on a happy and energetic show for my fans and make them feel close to me and not like I'm just another robotic celebrity performing," he says.

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What's special about Gera is his genuine intention of leaving behind a legacy that motivates future generations of young artists.

"I want artists my age, artists who started rapping in their teens, and those who haven't given up on their dream and know they have the talent — whether that's painting, singing, writing, directing – I want them to be motivated by my story," Gera says. "If the road is dark, you don't have to just stand there, you can move toward the light."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Latin American Music Awards: Christian Nodal, Gera Mx talk nominations