José Balvin remembers being 17 when he noticed an ad for a used 1997 Volkswagen Golf in the local newspaper. With dreams of driving around Colombia to sing reggaeton and sell CDs out of a trunk, he felt that the only thing he needed to make them a reality was this car.
“I didn’t have any money and my dad also was super broke. But he knew that I really loved it, and he knew my purpose with it,” said Balvin.
The vehicle, fondly named Rayo, took the fresh-faced singer to every city in Colombia willing to give him a chance. Now, seven albums and six Latin Grammys later, the 39-year-old self-proclaimed “Prince of Reggaeton” returns to his first car as the main source of inspiration behind his newest project, “Rayo.”
J Balvin poses at L.A.’s Petersen Automotive Museum.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
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Per request of the singer’s team, I meet the “Mi Gente” singer at the Petersen Automotive Museum. Shiny lowriders fill the lobby while high-end sports cars of the past and prototypes of the future fill its four floors to the brim. Inside, J Balvin spots the museum’s “crown jewel” — a 1925 Rolls-Royce Phantom — and behind his flashy chrome sunglasses, his eyes widen. The glassy black car with a seductive red interior exudes the feeling of true luxury, something the singer has become accustomed to. Dubbed “the rarest Rolls-Royce in existence” by the museum, the vintage vehicle is circled by Balvin, who takes in every small detail, from its circular doors to its reflective grill. The same teenager who was excited about a newspaper ad emerges, playfully insisting it’s the only car he wants to be photographed with.
As he continues to lap the Rolls-Royce, his silver accessories, a grill for his bottom teeth and lustrous Jordan sneakers, shine from under his all-black attire. His outfit aligns with the vision of “Rayo” — its album cover depicts a luxury-looking, metallic version of his Volkswagen with scissor-style doors.
As a unifying symbol of the singer’s beginnings and the life he leads today, his seventh studio album attempts to make these two versions of Balvin meet sonically. Turning to the pure sounds of reggaeton he has built his legacy around, “Rayo” evaluates how Balvin can distinguish himself in today’s Latin music scene.
The world first came to know J Balvin with his debut studio album, “Mi Familia.” The 2013 release helped popularize the then-fresh blend of reggaeton with current hip-hop and club-style beats. Consistent hits like his first No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay, “6 AM,” and “Ay Vamos,” the first video to reach a billion YouTube views by a “Latin urban/reggaeton artist,” put him on the frontlines of the genre at the time.
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By the end of the 2010s, his reach expanded beyond the Latin market. With the 2017 release of “Mi Gente,” Balvin became the first entirely Spanish-language song to ever top Spotify’s Global chart, which eventually garnered a remix with Beyonce. With frequent collaborations with fellow high-profile artists such as Cardi B, Bad Bunny and Rosalia, he dethroned Drake as Spotify’s most listened to artist worldwide in 2018. To this day, he still holds the title of Spotify’s second most streamed Latin artist in the world, under Bad Bunny.
J Balvin flashes his silver grill.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
As he released his sixth album, “Jose” in 2021, his reputation began to crumble. He became the subject of several controversies — a multilayered industry beef with Puerto Rican rapper Residente; the offensive nature of the “Perra” video, which had Black women dressed as dogs on leashes; and his contentious acceptance of the Afro-Latin artist of the year award by the African Entertainment Awards.
Balvin hit a breaking point, not only in his image but also in his sound.
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“Once you start doing what people want, you start losing your identity. But that’s not me,” said Balvin. “I see this point of strength where people want to keep going with the trend. It’s OK. But what makes me special is me.”
After finishing a 10-year record deal with Universal Music Latino, Balvin inked a new contract with Interscope Capitol in May. Nir Seroussi, the executive vice president of Interscope Capitol Labels Group, looks to the singer as “an ambassador of Latin music.”
“We all have our ups and downs. Regardless of what has happened, what matters at the end of the day is how you are able to get up. That’s just really been my focus [with Balvin],” said Seroussi. “The Jose I know is someone who is very mature and disciplined. He’s like a boxer getting ready to go into the ring. He’s at the top of his game for his energy, mental stamina and drive.”
Balvin says his process began to feel “calculated.” When it came to making albums, he often found himself falling into a steady routine.
J Balvin poses in front of a 1953 Cadillac Series 62.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
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“We would go in [to the studio and] say, ‘This is the mission. This is what I wanna do.’ It works with all the other [albums] that we have done. But in this case, it was so pure and so joyful and so real to myself,” said Balvin. “ This is the most fun that I’ve had with an album in a long time.”
With “Rayo,” he didn’t go into the studio with any sort of expectation or pressure.
“I went in and was just kind of freestyling, like the way I used to. I was playing with the beat and the melodies. I would even do 10 or 20 takes,” he said. “It didn’t matter because we were just having fun. It took me to the very beginning of my creative process when it was more go with the flow.”
His return to a more organic process eventually led him back to his roots in party-centric music.
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Instead of blending the popular sounds of the early 2000s into reggaeton as he once did on records like “Mi Familia,” now he turns to the more current trends of synth pop, EDM and trap beats to create a modern-day version of J Balvin. On tracks like “Swat” he pays tribute to a more belligerent version of old-school reggaeton, while on “Doblexxó,” featuring frequent collaborator and fellow Colombian singer Feid, Balvin blends an industrial electronic feeling into a classic perreo tune.
The biggest risk on the album was “Stoker,” featuring musica Mexicana crooner Carin Leon. The track starts off as a melodic ballad — a rare moment for Balvin. But as the chorus starts, an underlying Afro-beat becomes the song’s backbone. As he and Leon pass the baton between their combined individual styles, the musicians bring their worlds of reggaeton and Mexican folk together seamlessly.
“How can we do a song where Carin fans are happy and where my fans are happy without not feeling like J Balvin is a sellout? Personally, I’m not someone who likes to jump in on the hype because I have a lot of respect for their movement [musica Mexicana],” said Balvin in reference to the current popularity of musica Mexicana. “I wanted to be super cautious in the way we were gonna make the song together.”
The two initially connected at this past year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, where the lineup consisted of the most Latin music acts ever at the desert festival.
“The best thing about the song was the surprise for both of us,” Leon said. “The most beautiful thing about collaborating with Jose is the simplicity with which he approaches things. He always makes room to welcome his friends.”
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They began the process by sending each other ideas for potential songs back and forth. But upon hearing an unfinished version of “Stoker,” Balvin knew he could add something “really new and special” to the track.
“There’s a fine line between changing something to make it cooler and destroying something,” Balvin said.
When asked if he has ever destroyed any of his songs, he begins to laugh and says, “Sometimes I don’t know what happens, but I’m like, ‘What did I do?’ Most of the time, it’s worth taking the risk.”
J Balvin shows off his hand tattoos and braids for a portrait.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
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“I’m not afraid. I have proof in the years of my career. We make these switches, and we’re game changers.”
To his credit, the game — the Latin music scene — looked very different when he started than what it is today. He feels “grateful” to have started his career when he did. In the age of streaming and the current saturation of the genre, he says he’s aware of how hard it is for new artists to distinguish themselves.
Something he’s always been adamant about is singing exclusively in Spanish — refusing the idea of crossing into the English-language market. Now that Latin music is the U.S.’s fastest-growing genre, he lets a smile shine through and says, “I knew it.”
“Growing up, I would listen to Shakira and Enrique Iglesias and they were doing the same songs in English [that they previously released in Spanish]. I respect that because at that moment, the timing wasn’t right,” said Balvin. “But my language is the way I express myself and the way I express my heart.”
After all these years of J Balvin being hailed as a leader in Latin music, today “Rayo” is seen as one of the many newly released Latin albums. In the currently flourishing genre, his legacy is what he will continue to rely on.
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“It’s so gratifying. It feels like I manifested it. I had a vision of what we’re living now,” said Balvin. “We have the doors open and this is the time we have to say they are going to be open forever.”
After a half hour of Balvin posing with the glamorous Rolls-Royce, his publicist calls a wrap on the shoot. Balvin puts his chrome sunglasses back on and heads out of the exhibit. Too sidetracked by the endless rows of showstopping vehicles, he foregoes a goodbye. As his entourage of about 15 people slowly trails behind him, a member of the group stops to ask a nearby employee where they keep the Batmobile. After confirming its location on the fourth floor, he hustles to catch the elevator Balvin was headed toward. Despite having a busy day packed with press interviews and business meetings, the “Prince of Reggaeton,” who has the Batman symbol tattooed on his chest, refused to leave the museum before checking out the iconic ride featured in Tim Burton’s 1989 superhero film.
Better Man, Hollywood’s first musical biography where the pop star is depicted as a chimpanzee, works surprisingly well and has several incredible musical numbers
The Snapshot: Phenomenal music numbers bring needed fun, style and reasoning to Robbie Williams’ life story, seen through the eyes of an ape.
Better Man
7 out of 10
14A, 2hrs 15mins. Music Biography Fantasy.
Directed by Michael Gracey.
Starring Jonno Davies, Robbie Williams, Steve Pemberton, Raechelle Banno, Kate Mulvany and Alison Steadman.
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Better Man, at the very least, is the best musical biography movie with the main character depicted as a CGI chimpanzee that I’ve ever seen.
Robbie Williams’ life story is a mix of (literal) money business along with great showmanship and outstanding scenes of Williams’ music. Unlike the common knowledge of most musical biopics, it’s also enjoyable to actually learn something new about the main character and their real history.
Director Michael Gracey (best known for 2017’s megahit The Greatest Showman) has conceptualized the life of English pop star Robbie Williams in an unusual way. While it follows the expected formula of a singer’s life story as so many movies do, it quite unexpectedly features Williams through his life as a monkey.
At first, the idea didn’t make much sense. What’s the point of changing Williams’ species? What could it possibly add to the story? And how would it influence the rest of the film?
The answer is revealed early, however, and wisely reinforces the main theme. The real Williams narrates the film, describing how he’s regularly felt “othered” and misunderstood as a person through his public life.
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So the story is imagined in this Hollywood film as Williams not just living with his private self-imposed isolation, but with an obvious public one as well. Being a chimpanzee, it’s slightly familiar in his possible humanity, but as also unfamiliar with his struggle to identify with others now shown as an interspecies conflict.
Fortunately, none of this takes away from the heart of Williams’ story rising as a music superstar, nor does it overshadow the spectacular musical numbers and sequences.
I reviewed Michael Gracey’s work on his well-known The Greatest Showman, and I stand by my heavy criticism of the bad script and songs that pandered to the audience. But here, he’s got much richer and clearer writing that feels more nuanced and less stylized, which is a better match for his glamorous directing style.
Read more here: Review – The Greatest Showman is far from great
Gracey got his start as the director of music videos, and that skill is amplified here in Better Man with several truly inventive and eye-popping songs. “Rock DJ”, celebrating a new record deal, is one of my favourite scenes I’ve seen from any movie in the last year. It’s a single take of song and dance mayhem that’s gratuitously fun.
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If you can get over the barrier of seeing Williams as a large ape, there’s great songs and a compelling (if overlong) story to see here.
It’s still over-the-top, but most of it is also a lot of fun – and a great intro to a musical talent we here in North America have maybe overlooked for too long.
After battling cancer most of last year, Kate Middleton says she’s now in remission.
Catherine, Princess of Wales, who confirmed last March that she had cancer after months of speculation about her health and well-being, said Tuesday that she is focused on recovery.
“It is a relief to now be in remission and I remain [focused] on recovery,” she said in a statement posted on social media. “As anyone who has experienced a cancer diagnosis will know, it takes time to adjust to a new normal. I am however looking forward to a fulfilling year ahead. Thank you to everyone for your continued support.”
Catherine, Princess of Wales, and husband Prince William, who is first in line to the British throne, on Tuesday were named joint patrons of the Royal Marsden — the cancer hospital where Catherine received treatment last year. Since 2007, William has been president of the Royal Marsden, a position that was held previously by his mother, the late Princess Diana.
“I wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you to The Royal Marsden for looking after me so well during the past year,” Catherine said in her statement. “My heartfelt thanks goes to all those who have quietly walked alongside William and me as we have navigated everything. We couldn’t have asked for more. The care and advice we have received throughout my time as a patient has been exceptional.”
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In her new role, the 43-year-old princess said she hopes to save more lives and transform the experience of all those affected by cancer by supporting groundbreaking research and clinical excellence, as well as promoting patient and family well-being.
Catherine’s health issues and the royal missteps that followed became a global topic of discussion early last year when Kensington Palace announced that she had to take a break from royal duties after having “major abdominal surgery” in January. Rampant speculation ran amok about the princess’ retreat from the public eye, fueling months of broad concern about her condition and whereabouts.
In March, she made the cancer announcement in a poignant video message that came in the wake of reports that her medical records at the London Clinic were allegedly breached by hospital staffers. She began treatment in late February and announced in September that she had completed it, confirming that she would soon return to light public duties.
The announcement of Catherine’s patronage was made Tuesday during her visit to the Royal Marsden’s hospital in Chelsea. There, the mother of three met with patients being treated with chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
“We were honoured to welcome Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales to The Royal Marsden in Chelsea this morning, and are delighted that Her Royal Highness is now joining His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales in becoming Joint Patrons of our specialist cancer centre,” said Cally Palmer, chief executive of the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.
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Palmer said William has been “a wonderful supporter of our work for nearly two decades” and that his and Catherine’s royal patronage is inspiring for staff and patients and “enables us to shine a light on the outstanding work our staff deliver every day for patients and their families.”
During her Tuesday visit, Catherine disclosed some of the side effects she experienced after her cancer treatment, including speech issues and brain fog.
“You think treatment’s finished, crack on with that … daily tasks, but that’s still like a real challenge,” she told hospital staff, according to the Daily Mail. “And talking … the words totally disappear … understanding that as a patient, yes, there are side effects around treatment, but actually there are more long-term side effects.”
“Nahir,” a brooding, glamourized and sexed-up account of a notorious Argentine murder case, is a mystery thriller that aims for engrossing and immersive that never falls short of quite watchable along the way.
Screenwriter Sofia Wilhelmi and director Hernán Gu
erschuny take great pains — with flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks — to show us several versions of the title character’s account of what happened the fateful night in which she allegedly killed her allegedly abusive lover.
We’re treated to backstory which dissects the aloof and mysterious teen beauty who either planned a crime of lover’s revenge, carried it out and took some pains to cover up her involvement, or didn’t. Not in the ways the earliest versions of her account of that fateful night played out, anyway.
Valentina Zenera plays Nahir as a vain beauty confident in her allure, even at her (seen in a flashback) quinceañera. Nahir dreams of riding the premiere float at Gualeguaychú’s famed carnival parade and riding that to fame as a model.
Not that she says much of this out loud. Nahir is depicted as inscrutable, controlled and controlling. All the boys fancy her and no one gets more of her attention, and manipulation, than 20 year-old Federico (Simon Hempe).
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Nahir says they’re broken up. Then they’re together. As the narrative jumps back and forth from “before the crime” (in Spanish with English subtitles) to “after the crime,” we see both their torrid affair — “torrid” at least in his eyes — and her “No, we weren’t dating” way of describing it to her friends and eventually to the cops.
Because one night, Federico rides his motorbike to his doom.
We see how Nahir takes the “news” of his death. “Poker-faced” barely does that reaction justice. We watch the early questioning, the tear she tries to summon up or fake with a tissue.
And we learn that Nahir’s adored and adoring Dad (César Bordón) is a pistol-packing police officer. If there’s one thing that’s become accepted wisdom the world over in recent years, it’s the idea that police in most any country all consider themselves experts in one thing — knowing what they can get away with, and how.
When Dad says “I’ll get you out of here…I’m working on it. You’ll be home by New Year’s,” Nahir believes it. Is it because of what she knows, or what she knows that he knows?
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As we see Nahir’s (perhaps) ex-beauty queen mother (Mónica Antonópulos) primp and prep her for a pageant and for a TV prison interview, we pick up on the dynamic of the household and the narcissism of our heroine.
“No crying,” Mom insists before her interrogation. Or did she? Federico’s come-ons are punctuated with a macho “I get anything I want.” Dad wasn’t shy about showing his pistol to would-be stalkers who stare at Nahir in crowds. His icy “princesa” never betrays any emotion at any of this.
The court case reveals more than just the lovers’ exchanged “love of my life” texts. Protesters demand “justice” for Federico, but witnesses paint a more complicated picture of their on-and-off romance. And as her situation isn’t quickly resolved — one way or the other — and her “story” changes, we wonder what really happened.
I like the way the story’s jumps backwards and forwards in time to wrongfoot the viewer. We’re given just enough information to decide on guilt or innocence, and then new information is brought to light. Think again.
Now on Amazon Prime, “Nahir” was longer when it played in Argentina, and reviews of this “true” story there weren’t the best. Perhaps it’s tighter, as the Prime cut of the film is 14 minutes shorter. Or perhaps Argentines are more invested in the story and uninterested in the doubts “Nahir” suggests.
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Zenere, underplaying in ways that hint at the character’s similarities to Amanda Knox — accused because she underreacts to news of a murder — makes her character believably guilty or possibly innocent. And whatever verdict, she ensures the narcissistic Nahir is never seen with a hair out of place or eye shadow and earrings that aren’t perfectly matched, even behind bars.
Rating: TV-16, violence, sex, profanity
Cast: Valentina Zenere, Simon Hempe, Mónica Antonópulos and César Bordón
Credits: Directed by Hernán Guerschuny, scripted by Sofia Wilhelmi. An MGM release on Amazon Prime.
Running time: 1:48
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About Roger Moore
Movie Critic, formerly with McClatchy-Tribune News Service, Orlando Sentinel, published in Spin Magazine, The World and now published here, Orlando Magazine, Autoweek Magazine
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