Louis Vuitton
suit and shirt.
VER SINCE HE RELEASED
2017’s “Mi Gente”
— which became
that summer’s most-
listened-to track on
Spotify, even before
Beyoncé jumped on a remix —
J Balvin and his music have become
recognizable around the world.
He ended 2019 as the fifth-most-
streamed male artist on Spotify
and the second-most-viewed on
YouTube overall. In 2020 he’s poised
to expand his reach even farther,
thanks to a renegotiated deal with
Universal that makes him a global
priority for the company — even
as he remains signed to Universal
Music Latino and delivers his fourth
all-Spanish album in March.
Though Universal and Balvin’s
team declined to share the terms of
the deal, Scooter Braun (who man-
ages Balvin in partnership with Fabio
Acosta, a member of the artist’s pre-
vious management team) says it “will
have us all in business for a very long
time.” (Sources tell Billboard that the
deal is worth hundreds of millions,
around what a major pop star would
get.) Universal Music Latin America
and Iberian Peninsula chairman/
CEO Jesús López says Balvin is no
longer co-managed by Universal
Music Latin Entertainment’s Global
Talent Services (GTS) division, which
handles management and live
bookings. Instead, López calls him a
“partner” with the label, which will
share income with some of Balvin’s
ventures. And perhaps most signifi-
cantly, Universal has selected Balvin
as one of a small number of artists
in its new marketing and promotion
program designed to develop selectacts as global priorities. The program
was launched last year with Billie Eil-
ish as its first artist.
“Balvin is inside a marketing
and promotion system that is very
groundbreaking, and he’s the first
Latin artist to be there,” says López.
“There are very clear economic
objectives in every country in the
world and very clear targets. It’s very
important to me that a Latin artist be
able to compete economically with
any [other] act.” He adds that his goal
is “to double both [Balvin’s] penetra-
tion and his music sales” and “to
increase not just consumption, but
also revenue.” For example, although
Balvin has over 56 million monthly lis-
teners on Spotify, López says there’s
still a “margin for growth” on other
platforms in different regions, such as
Apple Music in the United Kingdom,
Canada, Australia and Japan.
Though Latin acts typically shift
to mainstream labels within their
companies when they become
global priorities or release albums
in English, Balvin wanted to stay on
Universal Music Latino. “And that
goes to José’s sense of loyalty,”
says Braun. “When he told me that
even though he speaks in perfect
English he will always sing in Span-
ish, I respected that. This ‘Latino
gang’ he talks about, he lives and
breathes it.” And with Balvin a
member of the global priority
program, Universal’s Latin label can
directly coordinate with company
headquarters, even as Balvin re-
mains a “Latin” act in contract.
“It’s a global approach, coming
from a Latin label,” says López.
“We’ve improved the sum of the
two worlds.” —L.C.FEBRUARY 29, 2020 • WWW.BILLBOARD.COM 4 7BEST OF
BOTH WORLDS
AS PART OF UNIVERSAL’S NEW GLOBAL
PRIORITY PROGRAM, J BALVIN IS
EXPANDING HIS REACH — WITHOUT
LEAVING HIS LATIN LABELvisuals are though, Balvin notes that the ac-
tual music is not particularly edgy — it’s “easy
to understand,” as he puts it, so it can reach
as many people as possible. (A collaboration
with Nigerian artist Mr Eazi also suggests a
bid for greater international appeal.) When I
point out that on the Colores track “Negra” it
sounds like he’s talking about hitting some-
one during sex, he immediately corrects me
and starts annotating his lyrics on the fly: “No,
no! Not hitting! She wants mischief. She has
a devil hidden inside. That’s sensuality. What
woman doesn’t like a little palmadita when
she’s intimate? That’s reality!”
Underneath all that color and sensuality,
though, is something a little darker. About six
months ago, Balvin started opening up on-
stage and on social media about his struggles
with depression and anxiety. They began in
his early 20s, when he started to experience
debilitating panic attacks while on the road
touring those high school shows. “I didn’t
know what was happening to me,” he says.
“I thought I was going crazy. A panic attack
comes out of nowhere and you feel like you’re
in imminent danger — your heart speeds up,
you think your heart is going to burst.”
While the conversation about mental health
in music is louder than ever, with both pop
stars (Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Halsey)
and rappers (Kanye West, J. Cole) talking
about their experiences, it’s not so widely dis-
cussed in Latin music, especially in countries
like Colombia. Balvin, who takes medication
and meditates daily, hopes his openness will
help reduce any remaining stigma.
“I want to erase that line that has been
drawn in the entertainment world that paints
artists as a perfect person with an abso-
lutely fantastic life. It’s not like that,” he says.
“There’s a human being behind the character,
and he has feelings. He suffers, he has friends,
he has enemies, he has problems. My great
vision as an artist is to humanize. It’s saying,
‘I’m like you.’ ”
Things looked pretty perfect for Balvin at
the Super Bowl — there he was, singing in the
language of his choice, wearing clothes he
helped design, shouting out his “Latino gang,”
bouncing up and down as Lopez shook her
booty against him. But even global megastars
have to deal with nerves, says Balvin. So just
before taking the stage, alone in his trailer,
Balvin turned off the lights, put on his favor-
ite reggaetón songs and some funky glasses,
and danced till showtime — just as 12-year-
old José would.J Balvin will appear at the 2020 LatinFest+
by Billboard and Telemundo, held in Las
Vegas April 20-23. For registration and
ticket sales, go to latinfestplus.com.BEST OF
BOTH WORLDS