38 BILLBOARD • FEBRUARY 20, 2021
HVME:^ JESUS^ SALINASH
UNKERED DOWN
in Bogotá, Colombia,
Latin pop star Camilo
is in crunch mode for
the release of his second
album, Mis Manos,
out March 5 on Hecho a Mano Music
(HAMM) and Sony Music Latin.
Mis Manos comes only 11 months af-
ter his debut, Por Primera Vez, helped
him land seven Latin Grammy nomi-
nations, including album of the year.
It also debuted and peaked at No. 5 on
Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart and
at No. 1 on Latin Pop Albums. Come
March, he’ll compete at the Grammy
Awards for best Latin pop or urban
album alongside Ricky Martin’s Pausa
and Bad Bunny’s YHLQMDLG, among
others. Yet the most surprising part of
these rapid accomplishments is that
Camilo hasn’t strayed from his specific
strain of humble, often spiritual pop
while achieving them, breaking from
the reggaetón sound currently domi-
nating the all-genre and Latin charts.
“He is completely different from
anyone else,” says Alex Gallardo,
president of Sony Music U.S. “While
his colleagues are talking about
Ferraris, he says, ‘If we don’t have air
conditioning, I’ll use a fan.’ There’s
a purity to his proposal that filled
a void.” Adds his manager, Jorge
“Pepo” Ferradas: “Camilo uses the
oldest strategy in the book: to be as
real as possible and make the best
songs possible.”
That devotion to authenticity is
exactly what led Camilo, 26, to begin
working on his next album so soon,
and during a global pandemic, while
in lockdown with his wife, actress-
singer Evaluna Montaner. “The most
beautiful things come out of the most
complex moments,” he says. “Frustra-
tion invokes a lot more creativity.”
A modern-day troubadour whose
rhythmic pop fusions are the canvas
for his sincere lyrics, Camilo says Mis
Manos is “an exploration of all sides
of my identity.” Of his second album’s
11 tracks, many dip into different
rhythms, from cumbia (“Vida de Rico”)
to bachata (“Bebé”) to sultry reggaetón
(“Ropa Cara”).
But for as confident as Camilo’s
sound has become, it was only discov-
ered a few years ago. As a rising artist
in Colombia, he was paired with Mon-
taner at a 2015 event as a co-presenter.
He fell for her fast, and while foster-
ing a long-distance friendship while
she lived in Miami, he composed and
shared a whistling love song for her ti-
tled “Medialuna” (which later became
the opening track on Por Primera Vez).
She showed it to her father, veteran
Argentine-Venezuelan artist Ricardo
Montaner, who believed Camilo had a
bright career ahead of him. “He started
seeing things in my music that I didn’t
see before,” says Camilo of his now
father-in-law.
Camilo moved to Miami in 2018 at
age 24, and Ricardo swiftly signed him
to his HAMM label. Soon after, Camilo
scored an invite to record guitar during
a session for Ricardo’s sons, acclaimed
duo Mau y Ricky. “Just being there
made it possible for a lot of singer-
songwriters to know me,” says Camilo.
He continued to build his network,
composing on Becky G and Natti
Natasha’s track “Sin Pijama” and co-
writing Bad Bunny’s “Si Estuviésemos
Juntos.” By 2019, Ricardo helped
Camilo secure a recording contract
with Sony Music Latin (in partnership
with HAMM), and that spring, hereleased his tropipop debut single, “No
Te Vayas.” Ferradas (who formerly
managed Shakira for Latin markets)
later signed on to manage Camilo.
“I describe Camilo’s team as a train
where the engine is his songs,” says
Ferradas. “Without a good song, we
can’t do anything.”
Social media also plays an important
role in Camilo’s skyrocketing career,
especially TikTok, where he has
amassed over 21 million followers —
surpassing J Balvin last fall to become
the most-followed Latin artist on the
app. Going all-in on dance challenges
and collaborating with other popu-
lar TikTok stars, such as actress FefiOliveira and artist Rauw Alejandro, has
enabled Camilo to rake in his follow-
ers so quickly. Even more crucial to his
career, though, is his wife. “Her smile
is the thermometer that tells me if the
song I’m writing is good or not,” says
Camilo. More broadly, he says being
part of the talented Montaner family
has inspired him to challenge himself
to never get too comfortable heading
in any one sonic direction.
“My creative ambitions are born
from my thirst to share what I have
within,” he says. “We’re talking about
Mis Manos right now, but I’m already
writing my next album — and I have
the following one in my head.”BEHIND THE HIT“GOOSEBUMPS”
WHEN THE ONGOING
pandemic forced global lock-
downs in 2020, Spanish DJ
HVME (pronounced “hume”)
decided to do a virtual crate
dive through some of his
favorite records in search
of inspiration. He landed on
the Travis Scott hit “goose-
bumps” — a track from
Scott’s 2016 album, Birds in
the Trap Sing McKnight, that
peaked at No. 32 on the Bill-
board Hot 100 — and gave
it a deep house rework thathas since changed his life.
“It was a mixture between
Travis and the harmony as
far as what inspired me to
produce it,” says HVME.
“I think there’s harmony
between the voices of hip-
hop and deep house. Some
of the songs are brilliant
and [lend themselves to]
excellent remixes.”
HVME’s remix hit digital
service providers in June
through Lithuania HQ with
licensing rights to Germany-
based B1 Recordings, a
Sony Music Entertainment
company. The ominous
rework caught on in Spainover the summer and grew
throughout Europe until, by
the end of the year, Scott
himself heard it and informed
HVME’s team he was inter-
ested in lending his vocals
to an official remix. “I was
told he had listened to my
song and loved it,” recalls the
24-year-old DJ with a smile.
“I was speechless. I was on
a high — and I still don’t
believe it, to be honest.”
The Scott-assisted
“goosebumps (Remix)” ar-
rived Jan. 15, not only giving
HVME his first major industry
co-sign but his first chart suc-
cess, too. In early February,the remix peaked at No. 2
on Billboard’s Hot Dance/
Electronic Songs chart and
cracked the top 25 of the
Billboard Global 200. (As
for the original, despite its
relatively low Hot 100 peak,
after nearly a half-decade
since its release, “goose-
bumps” has over 1.3 billion
total on-demand streams in
the United States alone, ac-
cording to MRC Data, second
only to Scott’s 2018 Astro-
world smash “Sicko Mode.”)
Says HVME: “I couldn’t have
thought about this [happen-
ing] two years ago.”
—MICHAEL SAPONARAHVME