LemonGrass

Lore & Background

LemonGrass was conceived by Ari Borovoy of OV7 on his show 'Plan B' after casting over 900 children, selecting seven for their talents in acting, dancing, and singing. The group made its official debut on August 12, 2015, with the single 'Mi Mundo Gira Contigo,' which reached the Top 10 of the iTunes General Chart and garnered over half a million views for its lyric video. They opened for OV7 and Kabah in Monterrey on October 9 and at the Auditorio Nacional on October 23, and performed showcases in commercial plazas in Mexico.

In 2016, the group participated in the album 'México Se Pinta De Luz,' a tribute to El Papa Francisco, performing the songs 'LUZ' and 'Mi Estrella Guia' alongside other artists. Their debut album LemonGrass was released on June 10, 2016. A deluxe edition followed on April 21, 2017, containing four new songs and a DVD. The group toured various Mexican cities starting in March 2017.

In 2019, member Jelissa Hernández departed on July 25. The group announced a tour of Mexico, Spain, and the USA, and released the single 'Pensando en Ti' on August 27, which Sophie described as having a deep meaning of love, marking a transition from childhood to teen themes. A holiday single, 'Navidad Lemongrass,' was released on November 29, 2019.

Reader's Guide

LemonGrass represents a modern continuation of the OV7 legacy, targeting a younger audience with urban-influenced pop. Their formation through a televised casting process and early success on digital platforms reflect the shift in music promotion toward online metrics. The group's participation in the tribute album for El Papa Francisco highlights their role in broader cultural events in Mexico. Their evolution from children to teens, as noted in the single 'Pensando en Ti,' illustrates the challenges of maintaining a youth-oriented group as members age. The departure of several original members and the subsequent touring plans indicate the fluid nature of such ensembles. While their discography remains limited to two albums, their early chart performance and international tour announcements suggest a growing footprint beyond Mexico.

Did You Know?

• Their debut single 'Mi Mundo Gira Contigo' reached the Top 10 of the iTunes General Chart.
• Member Jelissa Hernández departed the group on July 25, 2019.

Formation & Origins

LemonGrass emerged in 2015 as a Mexican co-ed vocal group, assembled from seven young singers and dancers who were discovered by Ari Borovoy. From the outset, the group was positioned within the long tradition of Mexican "grupos mixtos," the mixed-gender bands that have been a distinctive feature of the country's pop landscape for decades. The group's stated ambition was to carry forward the legacy of OV7, one of Mexico's most celebrated mixed-gender acts, and establish itself as that group's successor. By bringing together both male and female performers in a single ensemble, LemonGrass placed itself squarely in the lineage of Timbiriche, Fresas con Crema, Kabah, RBD, and Garibaldi, all of which had previously defined the sound of Mexican teen pop. The group's initial period of public visibility saw them performing their first single, "Mi mundo gira contigo," marking the opening chapter of their musical identity and setting the tone for what would follow.

Early Discography & Musical Direction

LemonGrass's earliest public-facing material centered on the debut single "Mi mundo gira contigo," which the group performed during its initial period of visibility following the 2015 discovery. The next notable release arrived in 2016 with "Vértigo," a Spanish-language adaptation of the Korean track "Bar Bar Bar" originally performed by the girl group Crayon Pop. This choice of material is significant on multiple levels: it placed a Latin American co-ed group in direct dialogue with the Korean pop scene, and it demonstrated a willingness to cross-pollinate between the global K-pop wave and Mexico's own "grupos mixtos" tradition. The fact that the source material was a single-sex girl group performance while the adaptation was delivered by a mixed-gender ensemble further underscored the group's position at the intersection of two distinct pop lineages. Together, these early singles framed LemonGrass as an act looking both backward to Mexico's mixed-band heritage and outward toward international pop currents.

Lineage Within the Mexican Co-ed Tradition

Mexico has long been the Latin American country most strongly associated with the "grupo mixto" or "banda mixta" format, a tradition in which mixed-gender teen ensembles have been a recurring and commercially viable feature of the pop market. Before LemonGrass, the most prominent examples of this format included Timbiriche, Fresas con Crema, Kabah, OV7, RBD, and Garibaldi, each of which carved out a substantial audience during its active years. LemonGrass explicitly positioned itself as the successor to OV7, signaling a desire to inherit that group's cultural space and fan base rather than start from scratch. The group's 2015 emergence placed it in what has been described as a new generation of Latin American co-ed acts, a cohort that also included MIX5, the winning band of the 2016 reality show "La Banda." This generational framing suggests that LemonGrass was not operating in isolation but was part of a broader, if still modest, resurgence of mixed-gender teen pop across the region.

Market Challenges & the Global Co-ed Landscape

While LemonGrass found a receptive home in Mexico's established "grupos mixtos" tradition, the broader global market for co-ed teen groups has historically been difficult. Industry analysts have observed that mixed-gender groups are hard to market to the pre-teen and teen girl demographic that typically drives teen pop sales. Music writer Jake Austen argued that girl groups are marketed as role models while boy groups are marketed as objects of desire, and that combining the two appeals creates "unnecessary confusion" for young listeners. Slate contributor Dann Halem added the complication that it is difficult to convincingly sing about teenage yearning while harmonizing with the very object of that affection. In Asia, sociologist John Lie attributed the scarcity of co-ed groups to the "accentuation of gender archetypes" that has solidified single-sex group formation. LemonGrass's existence, then, stands as a counterpoint to these prevailing trends, sustained by Mexico's unique cultural appetite for mixed-gender teen pop.

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