The corrido is a living musical form. As in the past, corrido composers today deal with themes of immediate interest to their public: immigration, social inequity, poverty, political corruption, and so on. The corrido has a journalistic purpose, and composer Paulino Vargas (d. 2010), accordionist of the group Los Broncos de Reynosa, believed that creators of this genre should be considered reporters, even if they sometimes exaggerate contemporary events. Corridos present a history from the popular viewpoint, not that of the official record. Vargas’s “Las mujeres de Juárez” (The Women of Juarez City), recorded by música norteña group Los Tigres del Norte on their 2004 Pacto de Sangre (Blood Pact) album, for instance, condemns the murder of innocent women in the northern border city, many of them factory workers: “Humillante y abusiva la intocable impunidad / los huesos en el desierto muestran la cruda verdad / las muertas de ciudad Juárez son vergüenza nacional” (Humiliating and abusive, the untouchable impunity [the government’s failure to act] / The bones in the desert show the raw truth / The dead women of Ciudad Juárez are a national shame). Vargas also wrote “La crónica de un cambio” (The Chronicle of a Change), charging Mexican President Vicente Fox to effect real reform during his term of office (2000–2006), and “La banda del carro rojo” (The Red Car Gang), about crossborder drug smuggling (a 1978 film of the same title recounts this story).

Los Tigres del Norte is one of the leading popular groups performing corridos today. However, they have been criticized at times for their performances of narcocorridos (corridos that may glorify drug culture) such as “Contrabando y traición” (Contraband and Betrayal), one of their most famous songs. The group also recorded Enrique Franco’s “El corrido,” whose lyrics sum up the essence of the form: “Como la corriente de un río crecido / que baja en torrente impetuoso y bravío / voz de nuestra gente un grito reprimido / un canto valiente eso es el corrido” (Like the current of a gushing river / That flows turbulently, impetuously, and bravely / Voice of our people, repressed cry / A courageous song, that is the corrido).