Album
Junior H & Gael Valenzuela - DEPR</3$$ED MFKZ
Junior H does not whisper into the void so much as lean across the table and tell you exactly how the night went, and DEPR</3$$ED MFKZ, a new joint set with Gael Valenzuela, lands like a late text that hits too hard to ignore.
Release Overview
Current chart position is #5.
Billed to Junior H and Gael Valenzuela, DEPR</3$$ED MFKZ arrives with the air of a locked room project, the kind where a tight circle builds a world from scratch. Apple Music lists it as an album and confirms a US storefront release on February 12, 2026, with previews available, a clean signal that this is meant to be lived with, not just scrolled past.
Junior H has spent the last few years turning corridos tumbados into a global conversation piece. A Mexican singer and songwriter closely linked with Rancho Humilde, he broke through with an intimate, rough edged approach that made acoustic guitars feel as urgent as a drum drop. His calling card has never been volume; it is texture, confession, and a voice that sounds like the hour before dawn.
That track record matters here. Junior H emerged in 2019 with Mi Vida En Un Cigarro and followed with a burst of releases that hardened his silhouette in the genre. Along the way, he shared space with peers like Peso Pluma and Grupo Frontera, proof that his songwriting travels well across scenes and moods. The collaborations widened the audience without sanding down the edges.
Corridos tumbados, the lane that frames so much of his output, blends the narrative spine of traditional corridos with modern cadence, hip hop inflections, and sierreño guitars. The result is a moody, street level style that lets heartbreak and bravado coexist. Minor key runs, conversational vocals, and unvarnished storytelling are not just color here; they are the architecture.
On DEPR</3$$ED MFKZ, the co credit with Gael Valenzuela signals a deliberate partnership rather than a casual feature. It reads like a creative alliance that shapes the pacing and feel at the source. Junior H tends to keep arrangements uncluttered, giving his voice and guitar figures room to bruise. Expect that economy to carry the emotional weight, every pause as pointed as a chorus.
If you have followed Junior H to this point, you know his favorite palette: close mic vocals, stark requinto lines, and percussion that feels more like a heartbeat than a battering ram. The songs gravitate toward late night honesty, tracing the shape of a memory until it hurts a little less. The new set fits that lineage, built for headphones and long drives rather than the club.
The framing around the release is clear. Apple Music flags it as an album in the Latin lane with a Pop crossover tag, and the US listing includes playable previews. That is a small but telling detail. It invites quick taste tests, then rewards a full playthrough. In other words, the platform expects listeners to sit with these songs, not only skim them.
Context is doing heavy lifting here. Regional Mexican has surged from a niche to a center stage moment, and Junior H sits near the front of that wave. He has done it not by chasing trends but by doubling down on mood and narrative. DEPR</3$$ED MFKZ extends that bet, keeping the writing intimate even as the audience widens.
For fans arriving via those high profile collaborations, this record functions as a primer and a deep cut all at once. The hooks come quiet and steady, the kind that sink in after a second listen. It is a project for people who replay voice notes, who know the sting of an unanswered message, and who understand that some songs only bloom after midnight.
Five years removed from his breakout, Junior H is in consolidation mode, sharpening his core rather than reinventing it. Partnering with Gael Valenzuela gives the album a sealed room focus and the feel of a statement piece. No gimmicks, no guesswork, just the steady burn of a songwriter who knows his lane and keeps finding new corners of it to light up.