The Search for Miami’s Sound is On
Miami is lots of things.
It’s cafecitos on every corner. Bikini straps sticking out from under a cocktail dress.
We have traffic that somehow gets worse every year, cataclysmically bad weather that’s more unpredictable than your teenage self, and entire music genres that were basically spawned here — or, at the very least, perfected somewhere between Calle Ocho and a nightclub in Wynwood at 2 a.m.
What we don’t have, surprisingly, is an official anthem.
Sure — we have songs people associate with the city. Miami has plenty of those. Too many of those, if we’re being honest. But a real, formally adopted anthem — the kind cities like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco can point to and say that one.
That’s who we are.
Yeah, the 305 doesn’t have that.
But a new initiative launching ahead of the city’s annual 305 Day celebration is aiming to change that.
“Elevated Tracks 305,” a global songwriting contest organized by Elevate Miami and Guitars Over Guns in collaboration with the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, is inviting artists with a connection to Miami to write what could become the city’s first official anthem.
Yes — the world is now being asked to soundtrack Miami.
Submissions opened March 4 and run through March 30, and the competition is open to just about every genre you’d expect from a city whose musical identity is physically incapable of staying in one lane: Latin, hip-hop, pop, jazz, R&B, electronic, fusion and pretty much anything else that captures the city’s rhythm.
Which, if we’re being honest, is a pretty tall order. How do you sum up Miami in a single song?
Miami isn’t a one-sound city. It’s a place where reggaeton spills out of car windows, jazz drifts through hotel lounges, and DJs remix salsa classics somewhere in Brickell at 1 a.m. while we’re trying to ignore the situationships blowing up our phones. Trying to capture all of that in a single song feels a little like trying to describe Miami weather in one sentence.
Regardless, the people behind the contest are serious about the idea.
The project is backed by music industry names with deep Miami ties, including Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Rico Love, singer-songwriter Jon Secada, and producer Rudy Pérez. The judging panel will also include leaders from the Frost School of Music and the nonprofit Guitars Over Guns, which has spent nearly two decades helping young artists in Miami find their voice.
And that voice matters here.
Part of the contest is specifically designed to elevate young musicians, with both adult and youth categories. Six winners total will receive prizes, including a $10,000 first-place award, along with citywide and national promotion in 2026.
Because in truth, this isn’t just about picking a song to sum up our sun-soaked city.
It’s about asking a bigger, all important question: what does Miami actually sound like?
Is it Latin pop and horns echoing through Little Havana?
Is it bass-heavy hip-hop rolling through downtown?
Is it electronic music bouncing off the walls of a South Beach club?
Or maybe — just maybe — if this contest works the way organizers hope, it’s something entirely new. Something entirely Miami.
Either way, Miami might finally get the anthem it never officially had but always deserved.
And if the right artist somehow nails it, the next time someone asks what Miami sounds like, we won’t have to guess or hesitate over a plate of pastelitos.
We’ll just know.
Submissions open March 4, 2026 and close March 30, 2026.
Winners will be announced in early May. Learn more at: www.elevatecities.org/miami/elevatedtracks305/
Songs may be submitted at elevatecities.submittable.com