Vibras! How J Balvin took on English-language pop – and won

Balvin was a minor Colombian artist who became the fifth most streamed on the planet without using English, showing how embracing national pride can be a force for cultural good

• The decade in music: read all the essays in the series

If I had to make a personal playlist for the past decade, J Balvin’s 2012’s early reggaeton track Tranquila would make the cut because of the nostalgia it conjures up around sunshine, good food and dancing with cute Colombian boys. That year, I was living my best life in Bogotá, and Tranquila blasted out of nightclubs, bodegas and Blackberrys up and down the country. Its rather corny music video was shot in Cartagena, far away from the touristy colonial city, and presented a skinny Balvin covered in tattoos – but any bad-boy image that he might have had was undercut by his bouncy dance moves, fresh face and cheeky smile.

At the time, few could have predicted that Balvin would ensure Colombia claimed its space not just in the world of reggaeton, which has traditionally been dominated by Puerto Rico and Panama, but beyond Latin music, seeping into the bloodstream of music scenes across the globe.

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from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/35Cg4y5