In the VIP area there are so many young women dancing with dresses tight to their bodies without a bra that Guinness records are probably being broken. Tanned boys smile with unwrapped shirts that caress their deltoids and ivory pecs. They drink shots of tequila, they drink gin and tonics with a straw, they move happily forming a mass of excitement and glitter at two in the morning at the Pachá disco in Ibiza.
Some call him Jota and others Llei and everyone wants to take a picture with him, when J Balvin's manager finally says: "José arrives in 10 minutes." His private flight lands on the island in time to be late for the last of the six concerts he has offered at the club this summer. When the Colombian finally enters the dressing room through a back door, the VIP area, between 100 and 200 people, breaks to boil. And of all those who want to greet him, Kiko Rivera is the only cariacontecido , perhaps because it already smells that he will leave without reward even if he spends more than an hour asking around.
You can't be more king of the summer than this reggaeton singer born in Medellin 34 years ago. For five years there is no August without a mega success of J Balvin , the greatest of them all My people (2017), which adding the original version and the remix with Beyoncé singing in Spanish already exceeds 3,400 million views on their Spotify profiles and YouTube; and the most recent With height , of Rosalía , with another 830 million plays . In between, in 2018 Ilike it de Cardi B, in which he participated, which accumulates almost 1,900 million; in 2016 Safari , with Pharrell Williams ; and in 2015 Ginza , Guinness record for staying for 22 consecutive weeks in the number one of the US Hot Latin Song sales list.
His whole story could be told like this, in billions. After the discouragement of the rise of populism in 2016, the whole world seems to need relief with party music and has found the spirit of this era in Balvin . "My music does not discriminate against anyone," he sings about groundbreaking productions, cool as a sprayer, with toy sounds and padded drums, rhythms with too many nights of mischief.
At 2.45 in the dressing room of Pacha there are so many people that if someone fainted they would stand up. But in the background there is a sofa and when Balvin sits down and his manager says that the interview is going to be done, a nervous echo spreads, "an interview?", And a few remain quickly and the man who has changed the paradigm of Reggaeton asks for a coffee and smiles behind glasses of orange crystals. Needless to explain, as in his song, he lives fast and madly.
What is the key for a song to become such a huge success as 'My people' and 'With height', which have also been summer songs on half the planet? It is not planned so much. If we talk about With height , for example, it did not come out in summer, although it has ended up hitting very hard. It has only good music and then you will see how people want to adopt it and for what. People fell in love with With height , but it was organically. It is the public who decides. Now that everyone has an opinion about Rosalia, what do you think is her greatest virtue? Is that Rosalia knows her and does not know her, is like a very mysterious character. I know its essence, I know it is a good heart, and I would say that its great virtue is mystery. It's indecipherable. Do you feel a fighter to change the image of Latinos in the world? One hundred percent. We have had a stereotype like retrograde, or funny, nothing cool , and I understand that this was the look that the world wanted to offer. I don't know what part of the entertainment business did, if it went through the US, it usually always starts over there, that they create the type of character. According to this stereotype, the Latino is always Mexican and with a concrete look , and we are like that, proud, but also in a thousand other ways. I think it is important to show that we have a taste for art, for fashion, for good things, for bad things too, that we are more than that character they wanted to show. Like my case, I come from Medellin, Colombia, where they have only glorified drug trafficking, and we are much more than that. So of course I have this very present task. What message do you want to convey with your music? I do not want to convey a message with my music, I want, through music, to inspire people to follow their dream. I cannot inspire someone to be a better person with a letter that simply says "With height." That is entertainment. The purpose I have is to encourage people to think that they can reach their goals. And since I realized that I enjoy music much more. Every time I do something that changes the history of the Latin genre, maybe someone can think, "OK, so I can be the best hairdresser," or "I'm gay and I haven't left the closet , because I go out because this guy he puts on his colored hair and doesn't care what people say ». On the other hand, in my social networks I am sending messages that go beyond music, such as about meditation, about not drinking alcohol, and you are already seeing me with a coffee. I am real, and when I mean real, I am consistent with what I live. When I say that I meditate it is because I do it, when I say that I do sports it is because I do it, when I say that I read it is because I read, and when I say that I am not a saint it is because I am not a saint. When did you get this tattoo? (The letters "real" on the knuckles of the left hand). About six years ago, but I already had one that said "real" here on the back of my neck that was my second tattoo, and I did it, buf, 20 years ago. Why is it important for you to be real? Because I value the People who show themselves as they are. I have mistakes, and it's these, I have good things, and it's these ... Don't be a fraud, come on. Exactly. I prefer to be than to seem. I simply am. It's interesting because in your lyrics you sometimes show yourself vulnerable, which was not usual before in reggaeton, and that has had a strong effect on other singers. It's true, it's something I've taken care of a lot, but that doesn't Remove it so that it later makes a song full of rudeness. That's what I mean. I can't say that I don't like the trap or that I don't cheat because I love it, and I said "fuck Maduro."J. Balvin's music is essentially fun, sometimes malicious, even with enough doses of sophistication to look modern.
His artistic cusp is the album Vibras , published last year; its current status is demonstrated in the impact of the recent Oasis duet with Bad Bunny. Always faithful to his songs that turn on the atmosphere to "break the disc" and those that serve to lubricate the romance, a romance of animal instinct but that does not subject the woman to an inferior position. Because Balvin is the alpha of reggaeton, but it's not male .
Humble class? Not at all His father is an economist and businessman; he paid him studies at a paid school, an Opus Dei school, by the way, although he has clarified that it is not part of the order; and was his representative for a while, before the mother of this José Álvaro Osorio Balvín became ill with an accent on the i, yes.
The family was the name of his third album. Before publishing it in 2013 a great tattoo on the chest had already been made with the word «Family» . And also long before another was made in the right arm with the word My people .
More than half a body has it covered in ink: if you cover your eyes with your right forearm, a large tattoo with the look of a tiger overlaps your face. It is one of the four tigers it has on the skin. The tiger is his favorite animal, not because he identifies with him, but probably because he would like to have his indestructible power: Balvin suffered depression and anxiety and panic attacks in adolescence - he came in spite of 125 kilos - and has been medicated for years.
The success of Latin music in recent years has coincided with the presidency of Donald Trump in the United States and his aggressive attitude against immigration. Has there been a greater sympathy for many Americans towards Latin music as a rejection of this policy? What is happening is perfect. This summer I have been the most watched artist on YouTube globally for three consecutive weeks, the US being the second country in watched videos. The consumption of Latin music in the US is still impressive, and obviously with all this immigration issue a lot of feelings are waking up in other cultures. They say: "OK, we have to support everything that is external", or they question who they are Latinos and where they come from and what they do. Without a doubt, it is having a positive impact on Latinos and I think Mr. Donald Trump is going to feel more and more strength in front ... I am an apolitical person, but it is a matter of dignification, values and principles, and Of course I am against everything that is antihuman. Does Latin music go through the most globally successful moment in its history thanks to reggaeton? I think so. It is clear that what is happening with reggaeton is not free, it is cause and effect, and before us and that the urban genre, which is relatively new, were Celia Cruz, Fania, Héctor Lavoe ... Countless artists Spanish speaking that influenced what is happening now. Is reggaeton the new link in that chain? Exactly, because if it had not been before Ricky Martin would not have produced the globalization of reggaeton. We can not erase the work of other artists of other genres that were gradually venturing to see what is happening today. It is clear that reggaeton is now experiencing something special, but we must not demerit that it is a process of many years. But yes, now reggaeton is the strongest genre in the world after American pop culture. You show a lot of pride in reggaeton. A lot. Do you think it has been undervalued or stigmatized in the past? Yes, of course, but I've never been a person who walks in pain, I am not going to complain: «Ah, they closed the doors, they treated us badly, they did not believe in us ...». We are living such a beautiful and positive moment that bringing that past does not add up, but I am really enjoying the fact that reggaeton is the genre that is opening so many doors worldwide, being the headliner of US festivals as Lollapalooza, which had never happened in its history, being principal in Coachella last year, being global number one as a song and as an artist ... There is a very beautiful reality that is just beginning. So you think it will continue increasing the success of reggaeton? Claaaro, this is indicated by the numbers. I am a fan of studying business, I am not an artist who only makes music, I like to know what happens with numbers, with market trends. Because I live from this I have to take care of it, and the trend is getting bigger. What is happening in the US or here in Spain is a cultural change and I am simply a face, a sign that people want to listen to reggaeton. Speaking of numbers, you are one of the most important artists in the world in listening to 'streaming' . Do you think musicians receive fair money from these platforms? The word fair is very relative. What is fair to one is not fair to me, it all depends on what your negotiation was. If you are an independent artist, it may not give you as hard as these platforms pay. Without a doubt they should pay much more because without us there is no music, although without them there is no distribution. It is a mutual necessity. I will always be in favor of talent and of being rewarded as it should be, but we also need platforms to expand our music. It's like a necessary evil, in quotes (he smiles). Are you still living in Medellín? I live between Medellín and New York, I don't want to leave Medellín, which is my root and my essence. But, really, my house, what is my house ... is a plane (smiles). My home is my body, that's where I have to be at peace, but the place where I live is the plane. Undoubtedly. Always traveling. Is keeping your residence in Medellín a way to be away from the music industry? I'm always very far away. I am very connected to the networks, but I drive a very interesting distance. "Hello, how are you, good energy for everyone and ... bye" (laughs). What gives you the greatest joys? The simplest things. Dawn. The sunset. Laugh with my friends. But I also love riding a 45,000-foot plane and seeing the blessings my work brings me. I am happy with the simple and with the complex. "Easily happy," as Facundo Cabral said.Next installment of the series of the song of the summer: the First.
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