How J Balvin's thoughts about his first car reconnected him with reggaeton

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.”

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.

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.

“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.

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.”

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.

“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.