J Balvin Will Return With a ‘Super Updated’ Album That’s ‘Easy to Digest’
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J Balvin is in his comeback era. On Monday, he spoke to Nylon for an interview about his return to the spotlight two years after releasing his album Jose. The singer revealed he’s made an energy-filled album featuring new sounds like EDM and pilita, a Dominican take on electronic music.
“The album is very advanced, but it’s easy to digest,” he told the outlet. “The flows, the deliveries — all of this is super updated.” The LP also features old-school reggaetón and Afrobeats, which Balvin has experimented with in the past, according to the outlet.
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The upcoming album’s lead single, “Click, Click, Flash,” is described as a “gritty dembow riddim” filled with paparazzi camera sounds. There’s also a song titled “Dientes,” which samples and reimagines Lil John, Usher, and Ludacris’ “Yeah!” He got permission from Usher — who is also featured on the song — during Paris Fashion Week.
“DJs are going to say, ‘Thank God, J Balvin, you made it easy for me,’” he joked. “Like, ‘Great, I’m going to play those two [songs] so I can have a beer or something.’”
As for other new music on the way for the reggaetonero, Balvin revealed he has a collaborative album with Ed Sheeran, with whom he’s released two songs in the past, that he plans to drop in 2024.
“It came about in an organic, natural way. We met; we had coffee; we’d run into each other at the same gym, at the hotel,” he said of working with Sheeran. “That’s going to be another album that will offer a lot to talk about, because it’s like merging two worlds.”
Balvin also revealed that he signed with Roc Nation’s management and takes notes from Jay-Z. “I want to be like him but in the Latin market,” he says. “He touches on culture where it matters, influences beyond the music.”
Balvin also reflected on the controversy surrounding his 2021 video for “Perra,” which featured Tokischa and Black models resembling dogs. At the time, he took down the video, directed by Tokischa’s manager, from YouTube and apologized to “women and Black communities” on an Instagram story.
“I didn’t really analyze that the concept wasn’t going to be taken well,” he told Nylon two years after the controversy. “It’s something that I had to learn as an artist, the responsibility I have to analyze those little details more… You got to be man enough to say, ‘OK, yes, I was wrong.’”
Balvin has released numerous collaborations this year, joining Omar Courtz and Quevedo for “En Alta,” singing “Toretto” for Fast X, and performing with Burna Boy on “Rollercoaster.” Balvin released his last album Jose in September 2021.
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