Triple Stack Pancakes & NYC Bucket Listing With Santos Bravos

Santos Bravos debuted a year ago. For them, the journey has felt much longer. “It has felt like three years,” says Alejandro Aramburú, one-fifth of the Latin boy band. His statement seems to resonate with fellow bandmate Kauê Penna, whose resounding “Yes!” reverberates off the walls of our bustling brunch spot for the afternoon, Manhattan’s Empire Diner. Also seated at the table are Gabi Bermúdez, Kenneth Lavíll, and Drew Venegas, who seconds Aramburú’s sentiment. “It's been a roller coaster,” Venegas says. He goes vacant behind the eyes for a moment, almost as if he’s watching a supercut of the last 365 days behind his eyelids.

“Roller coaster” is an understatement; the quintet met in 2025 on Santos Bravos, a reality competition series on which the boy band was formed. The series followed 17 contestants all hailing from Latin America, the United States, and Spain, before culminating in a splashy series finale in which the final formation of the group was announced via a concert in Mexico City. If the show’s premise feels similar to Pop Star Academy, there’s a reason: the series was produced by the Latin division of HYBE, the K-pop conglomerate behind groups like Katseye, BTS, Enhypen, NewJeans, and Cortis. As a result, the band showcases its K-pop sensibilities through a uniquely Latin lens that honors its members’ home countries of Peru, Brazil, the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Mexico.

Venegas sums up their dynamic best, saying, “Alejandro will give a rock kind of vibe. I'll bring R&B vibes. Kauê will bring soulful vibes. Gabi… he's crazy with the old-school rocking blues vibe. And the young boy, Kenneth, with that old-school flavor of Mexicano.” His assessment is genuine and sincere, one that he delivers with the enthusiasm of a young guy just getting his footing in his career. The boys’ demeanors shift from humble to self-assured as Venegas goes down the line, clearly satisfied with the evaluation. But despite having found their rhythm, they’re still learning how to be a group. Bonds were definitely built during filming, but it wasn’t until Santos Bravos was finalized that they were able to fully embrace one another, and start viewing each other as family. “When you're in [a competition] amongst each other, we're rooting for each other, but at the same time we're kind of like, ‘I can’t trust you. I'm still fighting for my spot,’” says Venegas. “When we made it, we were like, ‘OK, you can breathe. We're safe. We can support each other now.’"

Just two years ago, these guys were complete strangers — now, they’ve been to over 10 countries together, and have a collaboration with Enrique Iglesias, an artist they all grew up admiring. The collab came about after the five-piece joined Iglesias on stage at the Monterrey FIFA Fan Fest in June, a moment that even surprised them. “Enrique was on the sidelines watching us [perform] and watching the people reacting to us, and he was like, ‘I don't want them to just stay and watch my show. I want them to stay and come on the stage with me and join me at the end of the show,’” Bermúdez says. A small gesture from an outsider’s perspective, but it really stuck with the boys: “It was a surreal moment for us,” says Bermúdez.

“This morning I saw a video — Kenneth's mom posted it. It was a video of Kenneth as a kid sitting on his dad's lap singing Enrique's song. Fast-forward five seconds later to Enrique hugging Kenneth as a 16-year-old. It was crazy,” Venegas adds as Lavíll smiles proudly to himself.

Next on their ever-growing list of pinch-me moments is their first concert in New York City, which takes place at Terminal 5 in just a few days. They’re in town for the week, but their rapidly growing NYC bucket list doesn’t exactly align with their five-hour daily rehearsals. “I want to try chopped cheese,” says Aramburú eagerly, his quiet personality coming to life. “Also, my sister's an opera singer [so] I want to go to The Met.”

Excitement mounting, they talk over one another as they rattle off their respective lists. “I wanna go see Wicked so bad,” Penna whines, his eyes lighting up with the passion of a former theater kid. “Are there places to go ice skating?” Venegas wonders earnestly. “We were planning to go to a Knicks game, but they don't have tickets anymore,” Lavíll says as his shoulders begin to hunch with disappointment. At least they had some free time the day before, which they used to explore Times Square. They made a stop at Raising Cane’s, got recognized at Top Toy (where Bermúdez bought a lucky fan a souvenir), and all commemorated their trip with a New York slice — well, everyone but Aramburú. “I ordered two slices and a man was running and he just snatched it out from me,” he says dejectedly.

It turns out, lofty goals are a running theme within the group. Penna pines for a headlining set at Rock in Rio, Venegas has his sights set on a show at the Rose Bowl, Aramburú wants to channel Freddie Mercury at Wembley Stadium, Lavíll yearns to play Mexico’s GNP Stadium, and they’re all manifesting a return to New York that ends with a performance on the Saturday Night Live stage. “We need Marcello [Hernández] to be the host. That concept will be so funny, especially in Spanish,” Venegas says, the other boys nodding enthusiastically in agreement.

Photographs by Jillian Giandurco