What would happen if the disobedient child of a famous singer, the heiress to a fashion empire, a poor girl with aspirations of becoming a doctor, the Draco Malfoy-like child of a powerful politician, the son of two new rich butchers ashamed of his parentage, and a young man fresh out of high school searching for his father’s murderer ever got together? You are probably one of the many people who were enthralled by the Rebelde phenomenon in the second half of the 2000s if your response was “form a band and record a run of international hits.” The renowned Mexican drama initially appeared on screens in 2004, and shortly after gave rise to a real-life pop band that, by the end of the decade, had published nine studio albums in three different languages. As of January 5, 2022, a sequel series, also titled Rebelde, will be released on Netflix, taking a bet on this cultural titan. The 2022 Rebelde, which is set years after the conclusion of its predecessor, centres on a new group of musically gifted students at Elite Way School. God only knows how eager you must be for the telenovela to end if you were a fan.
You might not understand the fuss if you somehow managed to get through the 2000s without ever even hearing the first notes of absolute bops like “Sólo Quédate en Silencio” and “An Hay Algo,” though. With its advertising for the programme, Netflix is undoubtedly bringing in a lot of new viewers; after all, who doesn’t enjoy a good teen drama? However, the history of Rebelde goes far beyond the confines of the teasers and trailers made available by the streaming service since its TUDUM event in September, and even beyond the duration of the telenovela that served as the series’ inspiration.
While Rebelde’s tale may begin with the commencement of a new academic year at the exclusive Elite Way boarding school in Mexico City, its origins actually date back to 2002 in Argentina. The telenovela Rebelde Way, conceived by writer and producer Cris Morena and produced by her own firm, the Cris Morena Group and Dori Media Group, was inspired by the popular children’s programme Chiquititas. Argentina was experiencing one of the greatest financial crises in its history when the programme premiered on Canal 9. The film featured Luisana Lopilato, Benjamn Rojas, Felipe Colombo, and Camila Bordonada as Má, Pablo, Manuel, and Marizza, students at the esteemed Elite Way School who meet during a field trip and decide to form a band under the name Erreway despite having very different personalities. The telenovela, which was directed at a teenage audience, covered issues including sex, class disparity, and the ongoing conflict between kids and their parents.
The audience that Rebelde Way was trying to reach was drawn in by this straightforward notion. The telenovela ran on Canal 9 for two seasons before moving on to América TV and ending in 2003. The fictional band Má, Pablo, Manuel, and Marizza was founded in the year after, and the movie Erreway: 4 Caminos followed their ascent to stardom.
On the other hand, Erreway was performing even better when the band was just beginning their arduous ascent to fame on screen. Lopilato, Bordonada, Rojas, and Colombo were expected to achieve popularity as actors and singers, performing as a band with the same name as the one started by their characters, in a manner reminiscent of Disney Channel shows.
Rebelde Way was created in 2004 as a platform for the four band members, who had all collaborated with Morena on Chiquititas when they were younger, as Morena herself revealed to Billboard. Additionally, because Chiquititas was a musical, it was assumed that the young actors would also sing. Therefore, it may be concluded that everyone participating in Erreway was well aware of what they were doing. With three studio albums released between 2002 and 2004 and a reunion album in 2021, the band performed virtually as well as its parent show. Without Lopilato, Vuelvo was recorded in 2007, after the band had already disbanded, yet it took more than ten years for the album to be available for purchase and streaming. Due to the popularity of the Telenovela exported by Telefe Internacional, the band’s debut album, Seales, achieved triple platinum status in Argentina. The band also performed in Israel and Eastern Europe as a result of this success.
Rebelde Way not only sold well in 39 nations, but it also sparked a number of regional remakes, each with its own band. In 2004, India released REMIX and Remix Gang; in 2006, Brazil released Rebelde and RebeldeS; in 2008, Portugal released Rebelde Way, which was followed by the debut singles of RBL; and in 2009, Chile broadcast Corazón Rebelde, which gave rise to the band CRZ. The Mexican remake of Rebelde Way, which aired on the Las Estrellas network from 2004 to 2006, was the most watched of all the remakes.
Rebelde, which was created by Televisa and loosely based on its Argentinian equivalent, was written by Pedro Damián. Three seasons and 440 episodes made up the entire run. It had six main characters instead of four: heiress M. Colucci (Anah), her irate rival Roberta Pardo (Dulce Mara), politician son Diego Bustamante (Christopher von Uckermann), vengeful Miguel Arango (Alfonso Herrera), poor, innocent Lupita Fernández (Maite Perroni), and unconfident Giovanni Mendez (Christian Chávez). The six children, whose personalities couldn’t be more dissimilar from one another, meet while attending the same boarding school, the elite Elite Way. The best friend of Má, Celina Ferrer (Estefana Villarreal), the school’s head Pascual Ganda (Felipe Nájera) and his daughter Pilar (Karla Cosso), as well as Josy Luján (Zoraida Gómez), a young orphan whose tuition is covertly covered by an unidentified donor, round up the cast of the show. The affair between Ma’s father Franco Colucci (Juan Ferrara) and Roberta’s mother Alma Rey (Ninel Conde), as well as the questionably moral behaviour of an exclusive secret organisation known as La Logia, or The Lodge, pose serious threats to the safety of scholarship recipients like Lupita.
Four performers from Rebelde’s core cast—Anah, Dulce Mara, Herrera, and Chávez—had previously collaborated with Damián on Clase 406 (2002–2003), where they displayed their singing abilities, much like the members of Erreway and Morena. Thus, the real RBD was releasing its debut album and embarking on a tour at the same time that the fake RBD was playing on TV shows for amateur artists and in bars. Rebelde was released in 2004 and includes three of the telenovela’s opening themes: “Rebelde,” “Sólo Quédate en Silencio,” and “Sálvame.” Four other studio albums with original songs were published after it, including Nuestro Amor (2005), Celestial (2006), Empezar Desde Cero (2007), and Para Olvidarte de M (2009), which was released just before the band disbanded.
The band and the telenovela were both huge global successes. Although it’s difficult to locate reliable sources on how many nations Televisa marketed Rebelde to, the programme broadcast in both the US and all of Latin America. RBD recorded Portuguese versions of three of their albums in order to meet the enormous number of Brazilian fans. In 2006, they also made an album in English with the name Rebels. The group performed a 32-city American Tour that same year. Italy, Turkey, and Japan were among the nations that benefited from their success, and the band sold more than 10 million CDs globally. Celebrities from the world of popular music, like Hillary Duff, Lenny Kravitz, and Gorillaz, appeared in the soap with Ma, Roberta, Lupita, Diego, Miguel, and Giovanni. Even official Barbie dolls and a board game were available from Rebelde and RBD.
A sitcom starring members of RBD premiered in 2007 on the Canal 5 network and then on the Mexican cable channel Sky. RBD, la Familia, which had just 13 episodes, depicted a fictionalised version of Anah, Dulce Mara, Perroni, Herrera, von Uckermann, and Chávez’s lives. RBD ultimately made its back catalogue available on Spotify in 2020 in response to demand. In addition, they came together for a virtual concert called “Ser O Parecer: The Global Virtual Union” (without Dulce Mara and Herrera), which, according to the band’s official Twitter account, was viewed by more than 1.5 million people in less than 12 hours. All of this simply demonstrates that RBD’s popularity hasn’t diminished over time. There is no better time for Netflix to release a new Rebelde.
According to Netflix’s teasers, trailers, and other promotional content, Rebelde is a continuation of the well-liked drama, not a reboot as some fans had initially thought. In her role as Celina, who is currently the administrator of Elite Way School, Estefana Villarreal will return. As Pilar Ganda, Karla Cosso is also repeating her role. The official trailer features references to The Lodge, which seems to have resumed operations after years away from the school and shots of the original RBD’s records and uniforms. One of the characters, Luka Colucci (Franco Masini), is related to M.
Netflix’s Rebelde will once more extend the franchise’s principal cast. Eight protagonists will take the place of the previous six: in addition to Luka, there will also be Jana (Azul Guaita), Estebán (Sergio Mayer Mori), MJ (Andrea Chaparro), Andi (Lizeth Selene), Dixon (Jerónimo Cantillo), Sebas (Alejandro Puente), and Emlia (Giovanna Grigio). At least two of the main characters are from other parts of Latin America: Dixon is from Colombia and Emlia is from Brazil. It’s a fantastic method to appeal to the numerous viewers the original serial attracted outside of Mexico as well as draw in viewers from these two additional sexes.
But this strategy isn’t brand-new. With the release of the teen telenovela LIKE, la Leyenda in 2018, Pedro Damián attempted to emulate Rebelde’s success. LIKE followed a group of teenagers attending the international school Life Institute of Knowledge and Evolution. It was filmed at the same Bosque Real Country Club where Elite Way School was located. Like their Elite Way peers, the kids are able to get past their differences and form the popular band Like. In addition to Mexico, Televisa cast the telenovela in Chile, Argentina, Peru, Brazil, and even Japan, where one of the show’s most popular characters, Keiko Kobayashi, was portrayed by Japanese idol Anna Iriyama. However, despite all of this work, LIKE only lasted 96 episodes and was never as successful as its predecessor.
Of course, the Netflix show has completely different circumstances. LIKE had Damián’s name tied to it, but it lacked the well-known brand of Rebelde and the timing of the streaming platform. Even before more specific information about the Netflix adaptation began to surface, there wasn’t as much talk about Rebelde and RBD as there is today, despite the fact that fans of the soap and band were undoubtedly still active in 2018. The new Rebelde appears to have struck a fair mix between novelty and nostalgia, paying homage to those who came before while also bringing in something new, judging by the teaser and the “Rebelde” music video. It appears to be a show that may satisfy both longtime and new viewers. The only thing left to do is wait until January to find out if Netflix will be able to add its own chapter to Rebelde’s extensive history.
