Billboard - 29.02.2020

the usually affable J Balvin seems preoc-

cupied. He’s barely speaking, quietly

answering questions from a small crew

of assistants and distracting himself

with a round of Pac-Man. He systemati-

cally pulls the lever on a vintage arcade

machine inside his sparsely decorated

trailer at the Hard Rock Stadium, located

just outside of Miami proper, while wear-

ing a black hoodie emblazoned with the

words “Made in Medellín.” Come Sunday,

when the Colombian reggaetón star will

perform his global hit “Mi Gente” during

an explosive set by Shakira and Jennifer

Lopez that’ll be watched by over 100 mil-

lion people, he’ll wear the same one — a

billboard for his own success.

The door to the trailer opens. “They’re

here,” says Matt Paris, the young Colom-

bian singer Balvin just signed to his new

label, Vibras, which Universal Music

Latino — Balvin’s main home — is in talks

to distribute. Balvin, 34, opens a nearby

Nike box and pulls out a pair of rainbow

Air Jordans that he designed, which will

be widely available this summer — the

first time the sports brand has collabo-

rated with a Latin artist on a shoe design,

he says. “This is a big cultural deal,” he

adds, and suddenly it’s as if the clouds

in his head have parted. He starts to grin

as he affixes his logo — a yellow smiley

face with thunderbolt eyes — to his heel

before popping over to the trailer next

door, where he shows off his footwear

to his pal Bad Bunny, also slated for a

halftime-show cameo. Balvin ambles to

the field, shaking hands and waving at

Lopez’s young dancers, who whisper his

name and giggle when he passes. Just as

Shakira begins to rehearse, the artist born

José Álvaro Osorio Balvín — who has,

until now, never been to an American

football game in his life — turns around

and tightly hugs his longtime co-manag-

er, Fabio Acosta.

To have a place at one of the most-

watched TV events alongside the biggest

names in Latin music is the kind of suc-

cess Balvin has been after for some time.

He says that while growing up in Medel-

lín, “one day I realized that in Colombia,

Shakira is the face of pop, Juanes is rock,

Carlos Vives is vallenato” — a kind of

traditional Colombian folk music — “but

we’re missing the urban genre. From that

moment, I decided to do this. I said, ‘Let’s

take on the world.’ ”

And he did. In 2017, “Mi Gente” (which

also features French singer-producer

Willy William) became the first Spanish-

language song to top Spotify’s Global 50

chart. It also rose to No. 3 on the Bill-

board Hot 100, thanks to a remix featur-

ing Beyoncé. The following year, Balvin

hit No. 1 with “I Like It,” his bilingual col-

laboration with Cardi B and Bad Bunny.

Then, in 2019, he became the first Latin

act to headline Coachella and was the

second-most-viewed artist on YouTube

in any language (behind Indian singer

Alka Yagnik, whose music soundtracks

many Bollywood films). He currently

ties fellow Latin star Ozuna as the artist

with the most videos in the billion-views

club, with eight videos as both a lead or

featured artist.

In achieving all of this, Balvin has

helped reshape Latin popular music as

urbano — the catch-all term for more

rhythmic-leaning Latin music, predomi-

nantly reggaetón — has become its domi-

nant force. Reggaetón, the mix of dance-

hall, hip-hop and Caribbean rhythms that

came out of Puerto Rico in the mid-1990s,

first hit the Billboard charts around 2004

but has become ubiquitous in the past

few years thanks to artists like Balvin

and Ozuna. In 2019, 23 out of the top 25

songs on Billboard’s year-end Hot Latin

Songs chart were reggaetón or reggaetón-

inspired, and eight of the top 10 Latin

artists that year fell under the urbano

umbrella. Balvin, who ranked at No. 3 on

the list (behind Bad Bunny and Ozuna,

respectively) is one of the de facto lead-

ers of the movement.

But the halftime-show gig, which of-

fers huge streaming, sales and tour boosts

to even the most well-known stars, is

still something of an introduction to

mainstream U.S. audiences for Balvin,

who despite his chart successes is not yet

a household name — and not shy about

wanting to become one. Last fall, after

amicably parting ways with longtime

manager Rebeca León, he joined Scooter

Braun’s SB Projects, where he’s now

managed by both Braun and Acosta.

With Braun’s help, he renegotiated

his Universal Music Latino deal, which,

sources tell Billboard, is worth hundreds

of millions — commensurate with what

a major pop star would get and one of

the most lucrative contracts ever for a

Latin act. As Balvin prepares to release

his ambitious new album, Colores, in

late March, he’ll also benefit from a new

global priority program at Universal Mu-

sic Group (see story, page 47) that’s avail-

able to only a handful of artists across the

“One of my great dreams is to be a

billionaire. Not because of the money

— it’s not like you can fly two private

jets at the same time. It’s about

making a statement.”

—BALVIN

SET DESIGN BY EMMANUEL PIMENTEL. GROOMING BY SUSANA BETANCOURT USING DIOR BEAUTY. ON-SET STYLING BY STEVEN GILLMAN. PRODUCTION

ASSISTANCE BY ED HUMAR.

A few days before

the Super Bowl,

A few days before

the Super Bowl,

FEBRUARY 29, 2020 • WWW.BILLBOARD.COM 43