LATIN EXPLOSION

One day at the studio, Vincent asked me
“You are Latino. Why don’t you do music in Spanish?”
I never thought about it, but yes. I could do songs with some lyrics in Spanish.
I answered “Yes, but I don’t really know the Latin market.”
“There is only one way to find out,” Arthur said.

I wasn’t sure if this would work out. I had no experience in the Latin side of the industry, but apparently they could see something that I wasn’t aware of. In the past, most Latin artists had to do a crossover into the “Anglo Market” to be able to reach audiences worldwide, but over the last years, the Latin market started growing exponentially. With the appearance of social media and the streaming platforms, the way that music was being consumed changed its entire course.

I went to Miami and met some Latin artists to start working on a single, “LA MUSICA”. This was the most experimental project that I have ever been part of. We played with genres, rhythms, bringing some classical Latin sounds, re-introducing them with a dance and modern vibe. We created an anthem party! What I liked most about these songs is that we broke every possible rule and stereotype that could possibly exist in genres.

La Musica was released at a turning point in time and space, when an upcoming wave of Latin artists singing in Spanish was becoming a trend around the world. So it helped the song to perform even better. I thought that I had reached my artistic peak years ago with “King of the Nilo”, but La Musica was the second most streamed song of 2017. It put me as the #3 artist on Spotify, and the video reached 100.000.000 views in two days. This was something huge, not just for me, but for the Latin culture.

At that time, I did not realize what was going on, and how important to the hispanic culture that was. Latinos were getting noticed, spanish music was praised and appreciated by the world. Madonna wanted to sing in spanish. Latin artists didn’t have to chase Anglo artists anymore, it was the other way around.

Vincent threw a party to celebrate the success of La Musica. It was a huge fancy party with a pool, fancy appetizers and drinks.
He came close to me and said “We might get a Grammy nomination.”
I went pale and said “What?”
“Dance/Electronic Record of the year” he said.
“A Grammy?” I asked, perplexed.
“A Grammy!” Arthur exclaimed.
Tears came out of my eyes like a river, and I just hugged him.

I went to the toilet to take a line of cocaine and cried like a kid, a guy came close to me and hugged me. He asked “Are you OK?”
“Yes” I said.
“Nice to meet you” he said.
“I’m Chris” I answered as I extended my arm.
“J Balvin” he continued as he shaked my hand.

I had an immediate connection with this soul. We partied that night and exchanged some ideas. I met one of the greatest artists in the world that night.