Why The Sorry Papi Tour Is Throwing ‘All Girls’ Reggaetón Parties

There’s an all-woman music collective going around the country right now, blasting reggaetón at its “all girls” parties. The founders wanted to create fun and empowering environments without the possibility of sexual harassment commonly experienced at clubs. It’s called the Sorry Papi Tour.

“We wanted to create a space where women can feel safe as partygoers and also an opportunity where women can showcase their talents,” Miriam Stefany Paz, also known as DJ Miriam, said. She deejays at each show and co-founded Sorry Papi alongside Jaqueline Terrazas, project manager at the Chicago-based event company V5 Group.

The group brands its tour series as an “all girls reggaetón party,” with a focus on woman attendees and performers. Pink-clad photo booths sit ready for guests to get an attention-catching social media shot while Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” might play right after Karol G. This year marks the group’s second tour, which kicked off in Mexico and is still adding cities. The inaugural tour began in April 2022 and spanned 44 cities.

But Sorry Papi has been years in the making.

“The concept came to us before COVID. It was during that ‘Yo Perreo Sola,’ Bad Bunny era,” DJ Miriam said, referencing the Puerto Rican rapper’s 2020 YHLQMDLG album that explored gender, transphobia and women’s empowerment. “A lot of women can’t really unwind and let loose at a regular nightclub event or when they go out. I’ve always noticed that… so we were just like, what if we create like an all-girl party?”

When the pandemic and lockdown took hold, the founders couldn’t launch the event series. While this felt like a challenge, DJ Miriam said, it also created an opportunity to better plan and strategize the idea.

“People didn’t understand the concept… people didn’t believe in it,” the leading DJ said of the planning process, noting that many venues didn’t think the event would be financially viable. Instead, she said, venues assumed that “guys are the ones who buy everything. They didn’t think that they would money.”

Since its April 2022 inception, the 10-person team recorded over $2.5 million in ticket sales and over $200,000 sold in merchandise.

Like other categories of popular music, reggaetón has a reputation for being overly machismo and presenting women in a hypersexualized manner. Songs often have a woman’s voice saying sexualized phrases or “papi” in between lyrics. The group’s name—Sorry Papi—inadvertently toys with that tendency.

The tour may offer a “girls night” out, but it also aims to create opportunities for women in the music industry. DJ Miriam—who grew up in Chicago—said that oftentimes behind the scenes in music, which is notorious for issues with gender inequality, “men kind of just don’t take you seriously or try to take away your voice, your opinions.”

At shows, it’s intentional that an all-woman cast is performing, like in Chicago where reggaetón pioneer Ivy Queen, Young Miko, Bella Dose and Lexy Panterra joined on stage.

“Ten years ago, this was not something that’s normal,” social media manager Lia Monroy said, who runs the group’s TikTok and Instagram pages. “Now and in this generation, that’s what we’re going for. I think Sorry Papi is just the beginning of it, of being able to go to your own party, of being able to pay for your own bottle service.”

“Today, it’s very important to have a really strong social media presence because that’s how people find out about things. I remember we were talking earlier on in the tour, like people don’t really google things anymore. They TikTok things,” Terrazas continued, noting the importance of using social media to woo attendees.

DJ Miriam said the collective is currently developing plans to incorporate philanthropy, like donating $1 per ticket sold in 2023 to a yet-to-be-named nonprofit. The DJ said she’d like to host a benefit concert at some point, too. The team is already planning for 2024.

The most popular names associated with reggaetón are men’s: Bad Bunny, Daddy Yankee and Zion & Lennox, for example. While the Sorry Papi set list includes male artists, the group is working to change the culture of reggaetón by celebrating woman artists more, creating safer spaces to party and reaching the next generation of listeners to the fast-growing genre.