J Balvin

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. 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 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. The song debuted at number 43 on the Billboard Latin Airplay chart in February and reached number one in May. 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. saying, "During [Trump's] presidential campaign kickoff speech last week [June 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 Billboards 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. 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. 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. Rolling Stone ranked the album number four on the magazine's list of the 10 Best Latin Albums of 2016. That same year, Balvin featured on "Cuando Seas Grande" by Spanish musician Alejandro Sanz and American singer Sofia Carson´s "Love is the Name". Buchanan's Whisky also served as a sponsor for the Energia Tour in honour of Hispanic Heritage Month. 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. 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. 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". 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. The record was released overnight and was deemed a "surprise" release. The two artists first met at a Balvin concert in Puerto Rico, when Bad Bunny was working on releasing music on SoundCloud, and then collaborated on the 2017 track "Si Tu Novio Te Deja Sola". The chemistry between the two was so strong that they came up with the idea to release a joint album. and topped the Billboard US Latin Albums chart. The album was nominated for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album at the 2020 Grammy Awards and was named one of Rolling Stone's Best Latin Albums of 2019. In August 2019, Balvin and Bad Bunny headlined the Uforia Latino Mix Live concert series to raise money for victims of the shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas. The concert series consisted of two performances in Texas, one in Dallas and one in Houston, and featured openers Wisin & Yandel, Reik, Sech, Ozuna, Natti Natasha, Pedro Capó, Sebastián Yatra, Tito El Bambino. The song received positive reviews from critics and Billboard ranked it 5th on their list of 100 Best Songs of 2019. Balvin was a guest performer in the Super Bowl LIV halftime show headlined by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. He also collaborated with Major Lazer and Dominican dembow singer El Alfa on the single "Que Calor" in September 2019. The album contains influences from dancehall, R&B, and electronica, and features Nigerian afrobeats artist Mr Eazi on the song "Arcoíris". The album artwork was created by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. In 2021, Balvin released José, his sixth studio album. Later that year Balvin released a new song in collaboration with Pokémon for their 25th anniversary. Balvin also contributed a remix of the Metallica song "Wherever I May Roam" to the charity tribute album The Metallica Blacklist, released in September 2021. In December 2021, Balvin earned his 33rd No. 1 on the Billboard Latin Airplay Chart with "Una Nota", breaking the record for the most No. 1s on the chart. On 25 March 2022, Balvin collaborated with the English singer Ed Sheeran in the songs "Sigue" and "Forever My Love". On 22 June 2023, Balvin released the song "En Alta" with Omar Courtz, Quevedo and YOVNGCHIMI. Produced by Mambo Kingz & DJ Luian, it marked his return to music after a 10 month hiatus. On 9 August 2024, he released Rayo, his seventh studio album. The album featured collaborations with Feid, Luar la L, Chencho Corleone, Ryan Castro, Blessd, Saiko, Bad Gyal, Dei V, Carín León and Zion. On 5 February 2025, Crunchyroll announced that he would voice an "important role" in Solo Leveling, which would later be revealed as Kargalgan. In 2024 he had his first acting role in the Canadian crime drama film Little Lorraine, which premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. ==Artistry==

Musical style and influences In an interview with Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, Balvin stated that he felt encouraged to pursue a career as a reggaeton artist after seeing that Daddy Yankee was of a lighter complexion and not Black, as he had assumed while listening to his music. Critics have contrasted Balvin's musical style from the first internationally popular wave of reggaeton led by Daddy Yankee. Marlon Bishop of The Fader described his vocal delivery as a "gentle drawl", differing greatly from the rapid-fire, aggressive delivery of earlier reggaeton acts. Describing his music's production, Bishop writes, "Instead of the hard-edged, maximalist beats of the first wave, Balvin's tracks are moody and spaced out". He has been credited with popularizing a new style of reggaeton based in Medellín, along with Maluma and Puerto Ricans who have relocated to the city to become involved in the reggaeton scene, such as Nicky Jam and Farruko. He has also described Ricky Martin as a "teacher" and credited him as an artist who "opened the doors" for him. In 2018, he referenced Martin's hit "Livin' la Vida Loca" on the song "Reggaetón" since Martin "gave as clear a depiction of his actualized artistic dreams". The singer says his collaboration with Beyoncé on the remix of "Mi Gente" was a crucial step in his career: "I think it was a really good cultural move. People see me with Queen Bey, so they feel that if she's working with me, it's because I'm an important artist. She doesn't work with everyone. All the other collaborations are really helping me to continue to spread the Latin vibe that I want." Pop singer Camila Cabello has cited Balvin as a musical influence. Puerto Rican singer Residente has criticized Balvin's musicianship. In a viral video post, he explained: “I have to admit from my heart that you have a talent, you have the talent of not having talent and make people believe that you do.” The remarks came after Balvin called for a boycott of the 2021 Latin Grammys due to the alleged lack of nominations for urban music artists. Colombian artist Lido Pimienta has also argued that Balvin is more of an entertainer than an artist. Balvin has also been accused of cultural appropriation, which noted reggaeton historian Katelina Eccleston references in an interview for Paper Mag, specifically the song, "In Da Getto." According to Eccleston, "This track highlights the issue of Black Latinos being spoken for without consideration of their plight." Public image and lyrics His public image was described by Bishop, saying "J Balvin's not a bad boy, he's a good guy with a well-tended naughty side." He also refrains from singing about his country's violent past, saying that doing that exacerbates stereotypes about Colombians and that the country has made vast improvements since the days of Pablo Escobar. Despite being fluent in English and frequently collaborating with English-speaking artists, Balvin plans to only sing in Spanish. His goal is to make reggaeton a globally popular genre without having to sing in English to attain crossover success. but later on, Balvin called for help for his country from his Instagram and Twitter accounts and shared posts about many events in his country. He tagged world-famous artists such as Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry in the photos he shared to make the voice of his country and people heard in foreign media. In this way, many European and Asian followers of Balvin learned about the events in Colombia. During the 2021 national strike, Balvin was also accused of using images from the protests to promote his autobiographical documentary film, which was set to premiere later in the summer. Balvin's support for protests in Cuba via the hashtag #SOSCuba also drew criticism from Colombians who felt that Balvin had not commented on protests in Colombia in a timely fashion. Balvin's 2020 interview with journalist Vicky Dávila stirred controversy when he referred to current president Ivan Duque and former president Alvaro Uribe as "cool guys" despite both men being accused of significant human rights abuses. Balvin, who also gave an interview during the protests in Colombia. "I know what's going on in my country, people are right to beg for help on many issues, it's so painful but is it my fault? no it's not. I've never seen J Balvin's name on the ballot." In response to the widespread George Floyd protests, Balvin tweeted out #EveryLivesMatter and #LatinoLivesMatterToo. After the ensuing outrage Balvin stated, "After taking time to speak to those close with me, I am educating myself on the deep significance and horrifying history that is the root of the #blacklivesmatter movement." However, Balvin would again face accusations of anti-black racism upon the release of the music video for his song, "Perra," which featured Balvin walking with two Black women on leashes. Balvin later made a lengthy statement in which he apologized. He apologized to all women, especially his mother, and said that this song is about sex and sexuality, and that sex slavery is a reality in the world. He deleted the song from YouTube, stating that he didn't want anyone to feel humiliated and bad because of this song. In yet another incident, Balvin accepted the award for "Afro-Latino Artist of the Year" from the 2021 African Entertainment Awards USA. The news provoked strong reactions on social media, including discussion around Balvin's global success as a non-black artist profiting off a genre of music primarily created by Black artists. The name of the award was changed to "Best Latin Artist of the Year" and Balvin, who is not black, deleted his original Instagram post. also on his Instagram story, "I'm so misunderstood about this, I'm not afro Latina but I have accepted this award for my contribution to the genre thanks to my collaborations with afro Latin artists". At the same time, many Balvin fans argued that the problem was not with Balvin but with the awards ceremony. Fashion Balvin has called fashion "his life's passion, on the same level as music." The collection was inspired by the colorful, bright aesthetic of his 2018 album, Vibras. In January 2019 Balvin launched another Vibras-inspired clothing campaign with the Guess x J Balvin clothing collection, becoming the first Latin man to collaborate with the brand. Balvin explained that he "grew up with the Guess brand" and "always respected and identified with the Marciano brothers' history of taking influence from the country and culture of their heritage, and fusing it with the spirit of the United States". In 2023, Balvin was awarded 'Fashion Icon of The Year' at the Latin American Fashion Awards, held in the Dominican Republic- to mark the occasion he received a trophy designed by Salvadoran artist, Studio Lenca. ==Personal life==

Balvin has spoken out about the Venezuelan economic crisis and the situation occurring at the country's border with Colombia, where thousands of Venezuelans have been forcibly deported. He called the situation "deplorable" and created the social media campaign #LatinosSomosFamilia (We Latinos Are Family), encouraging fans to sign a petition to support the displaced victims. The petition was soon signed by other prominent Latin artists including Colombian singer Maluma. In August 2016, the singer was involved in a plane crash while leaving the Bahamas. While returning from a vacation with his family, the plane failed to take off properly and crash landed shortly after departing from the runway. He posted a photo on Instagram of the small private plane after having landed in the bushes. Nobody was injured in the accident, and Balvin called it "a miracle". He is known for his tattoos and got his first tattoo when he was twelve years old. His mother has the rare genetic condition acute intermittent porphyria, which causes seizures, chronic pain, and mental health difficulties. He has the word "Familia" tattooed on his chest in her honor. On 27 June 2021, the couple's first child, a boy, was born in New York City. ==Impact==

Balvin's global success with his Spanish recordings has been praised by music critics. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) "he has pioneered Latin music's explosion onto the global stage". Nicole Acevedo of NBC News said that although Latin artists such as Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias and Shakira achieved crossover success by recording English-language albums, "Balvin is reinventing the way Latin music artists cross over to the U.S. music scene" with musical productions recorded entirely in Spanish. Similarly, August Brown of Los Angeles Times commented that "Balvin's ideas felt like an inevitable future" and is part of a new wave of several Latin artists representing the "future of Latin and global pop where language is less a barrier than a invitation". Balvin has been noted for his influence on the reggaeton genre, incorporating African, electronic, and Caribbean elements across four albums. During this period, Latin music saw increased global consumption on digital platforms. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, streaming generated $8.9 billion globally in 2019, with Latin music representing a portion of that growth. Balvin has collaborated with artists including Bad Bunny, Anitta, and Karol G, and signed Dominican rapper La Gabi to his label. Balvin's participation in the reggaeton scene has been noted, a genre previously associated primarily with Puerto Rican and Panamanian artists. He uses reggaeton as a vehicle to Ovexpose ideas, identities and other social messages, and is "perhaps the genre's most visible star" according to American journalist Jon Caramanica. Elias Leight of Rolling Stone included him along Karol G and Ozuna as "global hit-makers" with reggaeton and Latin trap songs. When Joan Scutia from Mexican Vogue reviewed Balvin's career and success, noted that reggaeton is part of Simon Reynolds' theory about globalization in music: "Nothing is foreign in an internet age". When describing J Balvin in the NOW and THEN magazine article, "J Balvin is a legend and the most influential reggaeton artist today" defined it. then Consequence of Sound called it "the evolution and future of reggaeton music". After inviting J Balvin to the cover of their magazine, Forbes announced, "J Balvin is one of the most influential reggaeton artists of this modern age". The Wall Street Journal called him "the highest level of global stardom". ==Awards and achievements==

Balvin has won numerous awards and achievements. He became the first recipient of the Global Icon Award given by Lo Nuestro Awards, in recognition of his contribution to spread Latin music worldwide, and the first recipient of the inaugural Contemporary Song of the Year at the BMI Latin Awards with "Ay Vamos". Additionally, he received a Guinness World Records by the most Latin Grammy nominations in a single year, with 13 in 2020. They also recognized his single "Ginza" for the longest stay at number 1 on Hot Latin Songs chart ever by a single artist. Balvin is the artist with the most #1 singles on the Latin Rhythm Airplay (34) and Latin Airplay (35) charts. His music videos have billions of views, Balvin has multiple streaming records. "Mi Gente" is the first Spanish-language song to be number one on Spotify's Global Top 50 Chart, and he became the most streamed artist on Spotify as of 2018, overtaking Drake's previous record. He remains in the Top 5 as of April 2020. With his album Colores set a new record with all his songs occupying the Top 10 on Spotify. Additionally, he became the first Latin artist to reach one billion streams on Apple Music. His other achievements include selling 35 million singles worldwide, ==Discography==

Solo studio albums • La Familia (2013) • Energía (2016) • Vibras (2018) • Colores (2020) • Jose (2021) • Rayo (2024) • Mixteip (2025) Collaborative studio albums • Oasis with Bad Bunny (2019) • OMERTÁ with Ryan Castro (2026) ==Tours==

Headlining • La Familia Tour (with Becky G) (2015) • Energía Tour (2016–2018) • Vibras Tour (2018) • Arcoiris Tour (2019) • José Tour (2022) [cancelled] • Que Bueno Volver a Verte Tour (2024) • Back To The Rayo Tour (2025) • Ciudad Primavera Tour Colombia (2026) Supporting • The Sun Comes Out World Tour (2011) • Sex and Love Tour (2014) ==See also==