J Balvin is the first to admit he was in a dark place a few years ago. In 2022, the Colombian star postponed a major tour, beefed with rapper Residente, and faced intense criticism about his song with Tokischa, “Perra,” just to name a few incidents. So he decided to pack his bags and take some time off, opting instead to spend time with his wife Valentina Ferrer, and their now-3-year-old son Río. “Maybe, that’s what I needed,” he tells Rolling Stone. “After you hit the floor for some reason, you bounce back.”
He says he asked himself one question: “Are you going to stay on the floor or are you going to use this as a trampoline?”
J Balvin will tell you he’s bounced back. On Friday, he dropped his seventh studio album, Rayo, which pays homage to the first car he owned in his pre-La Familia days, back when he was a young artist simply excited about being able to make music.
“It’s the nostalgia I had of when I was in the studio for the first time. Sometimes you get so caught up in the business that you start just thinking about the business and not the music purely,” he admits. “So in this case, it was like when I was a kid.”
The album hears him tap some promising voices in Spanish-language music, including Spain’s Saiko and Bad Gyal, along with Feid on “Doblexxó” and Dei V on “La Noche.” It’s all part of introducing a “new season” of Balvin, and comes just months after he performed a career-spanning, headline-worthy set at Coachella.
On Monday, Balvin sat down with Rolling Stone to break down Rayo. During the interview, he also explained why he chose Will Smith as a guest for his Coachella performance and revealed the story behind the random photos of him and Maluma with Britney Spears last year.
How are you feeling now that your album is out?
I’m great, man. I think I’m at a great point of my life where I feel that I don’t have anything else to prove and just have fun. I’m so energized. This album was made for my true fans, but also to connect with the new generations and just elevate my sound. The first time I went to the studio was me doing music for fun. It was just full of joy. I wasn’t expecting like, “Oh, I hope this is going to have numbers or this is going to have streams.” I did this album in the name of my inner kid just having a blast.
I went through a dark moment in my career and I was like, “I need a break.” That helped me to be more mature enjoy a new season of my life, and be more aware and more grateful than I used to be. Once you have those down moments and hard moments, that’s when you learn.
When I listen to the album, I have no complaints. It’s just a new season of J Balvin where I just want to keep elevating my sound and keep reaching different audiences. I love “Swat” with Luar La L. I was missing that type of malianteo, like Hector “El Father” and big strings. I remember being in New York at that time making the song and I was just so happy. Luar is super dope. This one is heavy reggaeton that tastes like the streets, and it makes you feel tough.
I wanted to ask you about the song with Carin León. You didn’t step into música mexicana. He stepped into Afrobeats with you. Was that intentional?
One thousand percent. I don’t like to be predictable because I know Mexican music is having its biggest moment, and it could be just the beginning. I didn’t want to just jump into that because there’s a hype with it. We sent him some songs but then he sent me this one, “Stoker,” and I loved it. He’s super open-minded. He’s such a music addict. He listens to every type of music. He’s big into country, but he also knows a lot of old-school reggaeton. And it’s not common when you do a reggaeton for someone to be so open. That’s what I love about “Stoker.” People don’t see it coming. It starts his flow and then like, “Oh, what happened here?” That’s what I wanted. Not be predictable. People were like, “Okay, they’re going to do a regional.” No, we didn’t. We did an Afrobeat.
Would you do a música mexicana song?
I was talking about that with Maluma a couple of months ago at his house. I have so much respect for different genres that I have to be so precise in the moves that I make. It’s like the fact when you are a musician, it doesn’t mean that you’re a good actor. I would love to collaborate with regional, but by doing different sounds… Because that’s the way I have always been. I never want to just jump on the hype. I want to create something new. I don’t see myself doing it yet. I have regional songs recorded because I wanted to check how my voice sounds.
How many albums did it take to get to Rayo?
I just think that the best way to start a new season is to drop Rayo first. Why? When I started making the album that I made before Rayo, I felt pressure. And it’s still great. I love the album and it will be dropped at any time. But in this case with Rayo, I just went to the studio to have fun without any pressure. I felt that it was more authentic.
You’ve always emphasized mental health and have talked a lot about meditation in the past.
I took a lot of bullets for that, but I just felt that I had to do it. The power of music is not just the music by itself, it’s the way you can connect with people through different ways. I went through a really dark place and I think we saved a lot of lives speaking on it. This is a genre where everybody wants to be the most macho man, showing no weakness. But I’m a human being and that’s who I am. I’m happy that I speak out about it.
Has having your son Rio changed things for you?
You learn a lot about patience. And now, I understand my mom. Now I’m like, “She was right.” He’s only three years old. He says some words now. It’s beautiful because it gives you another reason to enjoy life. When you’re an artist, you’re just so focused on music that you forget about the rest of the world. It teaches you how not to be selfish, and how to think about someone else.
Earlier you said you weren’t thinking about the accolades and accomplishments with this album. How has your relationship with awards changed?
My mom used to tell me that I should be like the graveyards. You say something good to them, but no one answers. You say something bad, no one answers. I’m grateful that people give us compliments and things like that, but it’s more like a personal challenge. I already know what I have done for the culture in the most humble way but I still think I have a lot of things to do, man.
You brought your music to some of the biggest stages. I mean, we can go to the Super Bowl, we could go to Beyoncé at Coachella, but we could also go to your own Coachella performance this year.
Yeah, it was beautiful, man. I’ve been surfing the different waves through these years and not trying to fit in, just learning and checking how everything goes. Going way back, I started working with Nicky [Jam] or Farruko, and then with Bad Bunny and different artists. I learned how to swim in different waters and connect with different generations, and that helped me make a statement. I just followed lot of Daddy Yankee’s moves, and how he stayed so relevant for so many years. He was supporting the new generations and doing great music. But moments like Coachella and things like that, that were moments that are breaking points in history, not just for Latinos. The Coachella performance with Beyoncé was out of this world.
What a way to come back by bringing out Will Smith at Coachella this year.
Will Smith has always been one of my biggest idols. Period. I feel really connected with him. You cannot judge a person for some mistakes. A mistake cannot define who you are because if it’s like that, we all are bad. So what happened with Will Smith, I felt his pain because I was going through a similar situation when I felt that some part of the world was against me for mistakes. That’s when I took my time to just think about humanity. When I was doing the Coachella show, I was like… We are doing an alien-themed show. I think if there’s someone that has been through darkness and light publicly at this moment, it’s Will Smith. My inner child was screaming to have him in my show because there was no one better than him.
I called him, I took the risk. The worst thing is he’d say no. I told him my vision. He said, “Give me a week.” And I kept pressuring, man. I kept sending him pictures of me praying, until he called and said he was down, and it was a beautiful moment to see us together, man. I was watching one of my idols with me performing Men in Black, you just can never forget that. And I’m happy right now for his new season, too. As I’m having a new season, he’s having his new season, and I salute that.
What do you have left to accomplish?
Not everything in life is music. I want to accomplish being a great dad. I want to accomplish to be a great businessman doing the right moves to be, one day, the Latin Jay-Z. There’s always going to be just one Jay-Z. There’s going to be only one J Balvin, but I follow a lot of the people that I look up to and how can I apply it in my culture. Also in fashion, you see Pharrell. He’s been a mentor to me since we did “Safari.”
I want to be a creative director of a luxury brand house. I love to design houses, so create hotels. There’s a lot of ways that I want to express myself through clothing, through furniture. I want to keep elevating my creative side not just in music. I want to unlock a lot of Asia. We were in Jakarta, the first time they have a reggaeton show. I have this mission also to keep unlocking different places around the world. We’re going to Egypt real soon. India is also a new focus. My question is “When was the last time you did something for the first time?” So, that’s my mission.
Who are some of the new voices that you’re eyeing right now?
You know Judeline from Spain? She’s amazing. I always check the reggaeton, but I like to check things outside. There’s a girl, La Gabi from Dominican Republic. There’s a bunch of new artists in Colombia, man. After this album, I just want to be so focused and give a lot of life to the people from my country. I also love Latin Mafia, too. I love the fact that they’re different. I listened and I’m like, “Oh, wow. Who are these kids?”
This is random, but there’s a photo of you with Britney Spears from a few months ago. How did that happen?
It was beautiful, man. My wife, Maluma’s wife, Maluma and I were just catching up and talking about life. And suddenly, Britney just passed by, and we got all starstruck because we grew up with her. She sent us a drink and then we’re like, “No. Come here. Stay with us and let’s talk.” She’s a woman that I have so much respect for, man. Through all the darkness that she went through, and still here and doing the book that she did, being so honest and so vulnerable. That’s what I love about artists when they open up, when you see that they’re just like me. Like, “Oh, bad thing happens to them just like the way it happens to us.”
Could you see yourself writing a book?
Definitely, yes. I think I need a couple of more moves for some really great chapters, but I have a lot of stories to tell, man. Remember, I come from Colombia. This genre is not from Colombia, it’s from Puerto Rico. I’m the outsider. So to me, to break into this game was a really hard task. I knew it was going to be really hard. I knew it was going to be a nightmare for a couple of years. But also, it was having fun and swimming through those waters because I knew where I was heading. I had already manifested it.
What’s your relationship like with some of these artists you worked with early? Say, Bad Bunny? Say, Karol?
I feel they were going to make it no matter what because if I sense it, I smell what they were cooking, it’s because they were doing good. I’m not saying that I’m the tastemaker, but it definitely seems like I have a good A&R vision. Karol G, she’s from my city. We didn’t grow up together but have a really beautiful bond. And it was beautiful for me to guide her if she had any questions or needed any advice. And now, it’s beautiful because when I see her, I ask her, “What do you recommend? What do you think is the right move for me in my new season?” It’s part of the circle of life. I feel so proud of Karol G, man. To me, “Oh, that’s our new queen.” As Latinos, we needed our Beyonce. Like, Selena Quintanilla. I don’t see Karol as just reggaeton. To me, she’s a super pop star. And I feel so proud of it. I just knew they were going to make it no matter what. And it’s not because of me, it’s because of them. But I can smell it. I can smell the success.
Is J Balvin happy?
Yeah. I think that this is the most happy moment in my life. I can’t deny that it was such a risk for me to take time off because this is a business where everything goes so fast. But I knew also that I have done so many things for the culture… Like Jordans are always out there. People were connected with me in some way. I needed to leave. And maybe in this moment when I’m the happiest and more secure than before, let’s see in seven months how I’m going to feel.
