J Balvin

José Álvaro Osorio Balvín (born 7 May 1985), known professionally as J Balvin, is a Colombian singer. He is one of the best-selling Latin artists, with 35 million records sold worldwide. Balvin was born in Medellín. At age 17, he moved to the United States to learn English, living in both Oklahoma and New York. He then returned to Medellín and gained popularity performing at clubs in the city.

Throughout his career, Balvin has won eleven ''Billboard'' Latin Music Awards, six Latin Grammy Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards and seven Latin American Music Awards and received four Grammy Award nominations. In 2017, the BMI Latin Awards named him the Contemporary Latin Songwriter of the Year for his contribution in the Latin music industry, and has won the first Global Icon Award given by Lo Nuestro Awards, in recognition of his contribution to spread Latin music worldwide. He became the first Latino to headline world-musical events such as Coachella, Tomorrowland, and Lollapalooza. The ''Guinness World Records'' acknowledged him as a "leader of a second-generation reggaeton revolution".

Balvin's breakthrough came in 2014 with the single " 6 AM" featuring Puerto Rican singer Farruko, which peaked at number 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs chart, followed by " Ay Vamos" and "Ginza". In 2016, he released '' Energia'', which included the hit singles " Bobo", "Safari", and "Sigo Extrañándote". In June 2017, Balvin released the single " Mi Gente" with Willy William. On 1 August 2017, "Mi Gente" topped the Global Top 50 on Spotify, and later reached one billion views on YouTube. In January 2018, he released the hit single " Machika" featuring Jeon and Anitta. He collaborated with Cardi B and Bad Bunny on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number-one single " I Like It", which was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Balvin released his fifth studio album ''José'' in March 2021 and his sixth album '' Rayo'' in August 2024.

Though his music is primarily reggaeton, Balvin has experimented with a variety of musical genres in his work, including electronica, house, Latin trap, and R&B. His original musical inspirations included rock groups such as Metallica and Nirvana, and fellow reggaeton artist Daddy Yankee. He has collaborated with Latin American artists such as Ozuna, Nicky Jam, Bad Bunny and Pitbull. Despite working with many English-speaking artists such as Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, Black Eyed Peas, Cardi B, Dua Lipa and Major Lazer, Balvin continues to sing almost exclusively in Spanish, and hopes to introduce Spanish-language music to a global audience. He is also noted for his eclectic and colorful fashion sense.

Balvin received the Vision Award from the Latin heritage Awards in 2016, and in 2019 he won the Golden Artist of Latin Urban Music at the Premios Heat. In 2020 he was included on ''Time'' magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people of the world, and was called one of the Greatest Latin Artists of All Time by ''Billboard''. Balvin is the artist with the most number one songs on the ''Billboard'' Latin Airplay chart. He is also the only Latin artist to reach number one on the ''Billboard'' charts 174 times.

Life and career

1985–2013: Early life and career beginnings

Balvin was born in Medellín on 7 May 1985 into an upper-middle-class family. His father was an economist and business owner. He grew up listening to rock groups such as Metallica and Nirvana, and states that he incorporates the grunge aesthetic into his personal style, having a Nirvana tattoo on his knee. He developed an interest in reggaeton after listening to Daddy Yankee. He recalls that "I was such a fan that I was copying his style, the way he moved onstage, his flows, his raps," comparing him to the reggaeton equivalent of Jay-Z. His father's business went bankrupt, and the family lost their home and car, requiring the family to move to a poorer neighborhood. During this period of his life, Balvin notes, "When I would go to the barrio, people saw me as a rich person, but when I'm around rich people they see me as someone from the ghetto. It's all perceptions. I like moving between worlds. I feel equally comfortable in both."

When Balvin was 16, he participated in an English-exchange program in Oklahoma, but was disappointed by the experience, saying, "I was expecting the U.S. that everyone knows from Hollywood." Soon after the program, he moved to New York City to further study English and music, living with an aunt on Staten Island and working as a dog walker. During his time in New York, he became fascinated by the business savvy of New York rappers 50 Cent and P. Diddy. Balvin worked various jobs in New York, Miami, and Medellín, including working illegally in the United States as a roofer and house painter. He ultimately decided to return to Colombia and began performing at various urban clubs in Medellín and increasing his social media following. He enrolled at the prestigious EAFIT University in Medellín for seven semesters, studying international business. At age 19, he began to seriously pursue a career in music and adopted the stage name J Balvin "El Negocio", meaning "The Business" in English.

He met his DJ and business partner David Rivera Mazo in a freestyle battle on the street in Medellín. The two became fast friends and started producing and promoting their own music without a record label. Balvin's early songs were described as "basically poor imitations of commercial reggaeton from Puerto Rico," but he soon adopted a more relaxed, minimalist style in his music. In 2004, he released his first song titled "Panas". He signed to EMI Colombia in 2009 and soon after released the single "Ella Me Cautivó," which charted at number 35 on the ''Billboard'' Tropical Songs chart. He released his reissue of his mixtape, ''Real'', in 2009. In 2012, Balvin released a mixtape featuring many of his early hits in Colombia, including "En Lo Oscuro" and "Como un Animal". His first international hit was the one-night-stand-themed "Yo Te Lo Dije" and signed with Universal subsidiary Capitol Latin a year later.

2014–2016: "6 AM" success and ''La Familia''

In February 2014, Balvin released a new track entitled " 6 AM," featuring Puerto Rican singer Farruko. Balvin described the lyrical content of the song as the "Latin version of ''The Hangover''," where the two singers attempt to remember what happened during a night of partying. The song debuted at number 43 on the ''Billboard'' Latin Airplay chart in February and reached number one in May. His album ''La Familia'' reached number ten on the ''Billboard'' Top Latin Albums chart, spending 122 weeks on the chart in total.

Shortly after, Balvin released his second track in the United States, " Ay Vamos," which solidified his mark in the Latin urban market. It won a Latin Grammy Award for Best Urban Song. This was a bonus track on the deluxe edition of Balvin's album ''La Familia B-Sides''. The music video is one of the most watched Latin music videos of all time, at over one billion views, and the song became the first 1 billion views in history by a reggaeton artist. Currently having 1.9 billion views on YouTube, the song is the most watched solo Latin urban artist video. The song went to number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs chart in 2015. The remix, featuring Nicky Jam and French Montana was used in the soundtrack to the film '' Furious 7''. Balvin performed the track at the 2015 Premios Lo Nuestro and the ''Billboard'' Latin Music Awards. Balvin has been featured on remixes of " Sorry" by Justin Bieber, " The Way" and "Problem" by Ariana Grande, " Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke, "Maps" by Maroon 5, and " Stuck on a Feeling" by Prince Royce. Balvin was the first Colombian singer to record with "The Prince of Bachata" and establishing itself as an international artist.

Balvin swept the urban category at the 2015 Premios Lo Nuestro, including Urban Artist of the Year, Urban Album of the Year, Urban Song of the Year, and Urban Collaboration of the Year. On 12 February, the nominees for the ''Billboard'' Latin Music Awards were announced, and Balvin was nominated 13 times, of these nominations, eight were in the same category twice "Ay Vamos" and "6 AM," being the most nominated Colombian and the first urban artist from Colombia. Balvin won New Artist, Latin Rhythm Song of the Year, and Latin Rhythm Song Artist of the Year, where he dedicated the award to his home country of Colombia.

In June 2015, it was announced that Balvin had cancelled his performance on Miss USA 2015 to protest Donald Trump's inflammatory comments insulting illegal immigrants, saying, "During rump's presidential campaign kickoff speech last week une 2015 Trump accused illegal immigrants of bringing drugs, crime and rapists to the U.S." His live performance had been scheduled for 12 July 2015 in Louisiana, which would have been Balvin's first performance on national mainstream television.

2016–2017: ''Energia''

On 16 January 2016, Balvin premiered his new single "Ginza" from his upcoming album, at the Premios Juventud. Later that week, he premiered the music video on Vevo. The music video broke the record for the most views for a Latin music video in the first 24 hours, at over two million views. Since then, the video has racked up over 807 million views. The song reached number one on ''Billboard''s Hot Latin Songs chart for the week of 17 October 2015. The song also set a new Guinness World Record for the longest stay at number one on the chart. Balvin became the first artist to receive a diamond certification in the Latin field from the Recording Industry Association of America, denoting digital sales of 600,000 units for his songs "6 AM" and "Ay Vamos". Andrew Casillas of ''Rolling Stone'' wrote that "with its deliciously liquid beat, Ginza"among the finest three minutes in reggaetón history."

On 24 June 2016, Balvin released his third studio album '' Energia''. ''Energia'' debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' Top Latin Albums chart, signifying his first time topping that chart. It had the third-best debut sales of any Latin artist in 2016, after Juan Gabriel's ''Los Duo 2'' and Banda Sinaloense MS de Sergio Lizarraga's ''Que Bendicion''. It also debuted at number 38 on the all-genre ''Billboard'' 200. The album features collaborations with Daddy Yankee, Juanes, Pharrell, and Yandel. He launched 3 hit singles from the album, "Bobo," "Safari," and "Sigo Extranandote," which all reached the top 10 of the Latin charts. "Bobo" spent a week at the top of the ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs chart. Mario Prunes of AllMusic described ''Energia'' as "an album that knew it was going to be an international blockbuster almost a year before its release," due to the success of "Ginza". ''Rolling Stone'' ranked the album number four on the magazine's list of the 10 Best Latin Albums of 2016.

In promotion of the album, Balvin embarked on the ''Energia'' Tour, traveling with several special guests including French Montana, Zion & Lennox, Bad Bunny, and Steve Aoki, the latter of whom appeared as a surprise for fans during the last stop of the tour in Miami. That same year, Balvin featured on "Cuando Seas Grande" by Spanish musician Alejandro Sanz and American singer Sofia Carson´s "Love is the Name". He launched a partnership with SoundCloud and Buchanan's Whiskey in a project called Es Nuestro Momento, where fans can access Balvin's previously unreleased a capella vocals and create personalized remixes of his songs. Buchanan's Whisky also served as a sponsor for the ''Energia'' Tour in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.

2017–2018: International success: "Mi Gente" and ''Vibras''

On 30 June 2017, Balvin released his new single along with the official music video " Mi Gente" featuring Willy William. On 1 August 2017, "Mi Gente" became the number one song in the world according to Global Top 50 on Spotify. It soon reached 1 billion views on YouTube. In September 2017, the song was remixed with American artist Beyoncé. The remix reached number three in the United States, giving Balvin his first US top-ten single. Balvin and Willy William released six more "Mi Gente" remixes with Steve Aoki, Alesso, Cedric Gervais, Dillon Francis, Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano, and Henry Fong. Despite the song's success, "Mi Gente" did not win any awards at the 2017 Latin Grammy Awards, with many awards going to Luis Fonsi's hit "Despacito". At the ceremony, he performed "Mi Gente" as well as "Si Tu Novio Te Deja Sola" alongside Bad Bunny and his remix of "Unforgettable" with French Montana.

On 19 January 2018, Balvin released his new single along with the official music video "Machika" featuring Jeon and Anitta. His collaboration with Nicky Jam, "X," was released on 1 March 2018, and the music video received 288 million views on YouTube in less than a month. Nicky Jam stated that he attributes the success of "X" to Balvin's contribution. He also appeared on Cardi B´s ''Invasion of Privacy'' album, with Bad Bunny on the song "I Like It". It became Balvin's first number one single on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and first Diamond certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Balvin released the album ''Vibras'' on 25 May 2018. The two lead singles from the album were "Machika" and "Ahora". On 23 April 2018, Balvin announced the dates for his Vibras tour revealing the 27 cities where he will be performing. ''Vibras'' claimed the record for the most-streamed Latin album in 24 hours on the streaming platform for 2018. In the United States, it debuted at number one on the Top Latin Albums chart for the issue dated 9 June 2018. According to Nielsen Music, the record sold 22,000 album-equivalent units and became Balvin's second number-one album on the chart, following ''Energia'' in 2016. Additionally, ''Vibras'' scored the largest streaming week ever for a Latin album by an artist; its songs were streamed 16.1 million times. Subsequently, it debuted at number 15 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and became his highest-charting album on the chart.

In an interview with Ebro Darden for Beats 1 Radio on Apple Music in April 2018, Balvin described the sound of the record as 33% dancehall, 33% R&B, and 33% reggaeton. Balvin further elaborated that much love was put into the album's work and that contains different vibes, hence the name, ''Vibras'', "The real meaning of this album was what's going on with Spanish music that's going so global, the fact that we did an album that the beats are so amazing that you don't have to understand what we say, you just have to love the songs."

2019–2025: ''Oasis'', ''Colores'', ''Jose'' and collaborations

On 27 June 2019, Balvin released his new album in collaboration with Bad Bunny titled ''Oasis