Four years after releasing his debut album La Verdadera Vuelta, the Puerto Rican rapper, singer and songwriter returns with his sophomore set titled LVV the Real Rondon.
Featuring 16 tracks, the album kicks off with “Un Barrio,” a mambo-infused trap song that tells the story of Darell’s upbringing. “From the hood, that’s where I’m from,” the lyrics go. Songs like “Bandolero,” “LVV En Su Piel” and “Llorando” bring to the forefront a Latin trap and hip-hop-heavy production.
In his Kiko El Crazy-assisted track “Dinero Facil,” Darell experiments with dembow melodies, and on “Billetes de 100” with Gerardo Ortiz, he doesn’t shy away from experimenting with artists of other genres.
LVV the Real Rondon includes collaborations with Miky Woodz, Pablo Chill-E, Juanka, Ñengo Flow, KEVVO, De La Ghetto and Young Hollywood.
The 33-year-old Dominican singer and songwriter is launching a new stage in her career as an executive producer for YouTube Originals’ upcoming series Bravas.
The eight-episode series, produced by Cinema Giants and directed and executive produced by Jessy Terrero, tells the story of three friends and aspiring artists –Mila (Audri Nix), Roja (Nohemy) and Ashley (Amanda Antonella) — who form a musical group called La Milagrosa and are on a mission to find their place in the world.
“Through music, they want to talk about the issues that are happening in their lives,” Natasha tells Billboard. “They are using their voices to vent as women. We’re going to see the things that girls and women go through in order to reach their goals, such as people not believing in you and the sacrifices.”
Bravas, which is written and produced by Kisha Burgos, is also a celebration of Latin music and culture.
“I immediately said ‘yes,’” Natasha said of her role as executive producer. “This is my first time ever and I’m very happy. I’m always going to try to serve as a platform and be a voice for all girls and women.”
The series, which began developing before the global pandemic, also counts the participation of artists like Wisin, Jon Z, De La Ghetto and more. “They’re all going to be acting. It’s going to be interesting to see them in this light,” Natasha says.
Bravas will premiere at 6:00 pm ET on Wednesday on Natti Natasha’s YouTubechannel.
The Puerto Rican reggaeton duo, composed of Joel Muñoz and Randy Ortiz, is back on Billboard‘s Top Latin Albums chart as Viva El Perreo, their fifth studio album, debuts at No. 5 on the August 22-dated survey.
It marks Jowell & Randy’s return to the Top 10 on the chart since 2013 when Sobredosis debuted and peaked at No. 10.
“Somehow we feel that our effort is recognized,” Jowell tells Billboard. “It is definitely a great achievement for us at this stage of our career. It’s what we aspire to as artists every time we release new music. We are proud.”
Viva El Perreo starts at No. 5 with 7,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending August 13, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data, most of which stemmed from streaming activity.
The album’s songs logged 10 million U.S. on-demand streams in the tracking week, a career-high weekly total for the duo.
The Top Latin Albums chart ranks the most popular Latin albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).
Viva El Perreo was released August 8 via Rimas Entertainment and produced by DJ Orma, SubeloNeo, DJ Blass and Bad Bunny.
“The production of this album was somewhat atypical due to the pandemic,” Randy adds. “Most of the ideas were handled by Bad Bunny and we managed to exchange and approve our ideas from home using technology. The process of recording our voices took place under strict security measures, quartering us for several weeks in a studio. Once the voices were recorded, they were distributed via the internet to the producers who each took charge from their respective studios to finalize the mixes and give the last details to this musical project.”
Viva El Perreo is a follow up to La Alcaldía del Perreo: The Album, Jowell & Randy’s last entry on Top Latin Albums in 2016, which debuted and peaked at No. 23.
The new 14-track effort features collaborations with Don Omar, J Balvin, Miky Woodz, De La Ghetto, Barbie Rican and Kiko El Crazy.
“We enjoyed working with Don Omar the most,” Jowell continues. “It was a personal and professional goal that we had as a group,” “We have been fans of his music since his origins and we learned a lot from him while we shared in the recording studio.”
Viva El Perreo was preceded by one song on Hot Latin Songs, which blends airplay, digital sales and streaming data: “Anaranjado,” with J Balvin, peaked at No. 31 on the current chart.
“We have developed a chemistry with J Balvin that we don’t have with anyone else in the genre,” Randy adds. “Our friendship for years and the trust we have in each other allowed us to work freely and feel comfortable when composing together.”
Viva El Perreo concurrently debuts at No. 5 on Latin Rhythm Albums, the duo’s fifth consecutive top 10 there.
Miguel is preparing for Latin music’s biggest night…
The 34-year-old Mexican American R&B singer, songwriter, who released the Spanish EP Te Lo Dije earlier this year, is set to perform at this year’s Latin Grammys, according to The Latin Recording Academy.
Miguel is part ofthe final wave of performers and presenters joining the star-studded 2019 Latin Grammys lineup.
In addition to Miguel, who performed “Remember Me” with Natalia Lafourcade on the soundtrack to Disney’s Dia de los Muertos-themed animated film Coco, new additions to the performers roster include Alicia Keys, Farruko, Ozuna, Residente, Beto Cuevas, Calibre 50, Leonel García, Fito Páez, Milly Quezada, Tony Succar, Carlos Rivera, and Prince Royce.
Plus, Ángela Aguilar, Eduardo “Visitante” Cabra,Sofia Carson, Emilio Estefan, Mon Laferte, William Levy, Rudy Mancuso,,Luis Gerardo Méndez, Michael Peña, and Dayanara Torres join as presenters.
Nominees Camilo, De La Ghetto, Paula Fernandes, Kany García, Christian Nodal and Tommy Torres were previously announced as presenters.
Coined as “the biggest night in Latin Music,” the awards show will kick off with a never-before-seen tribute honoring the 20th Anniversary of the Latin Grammys. A group of 20 artists, who’ll perform together for the first time, will interpret multiple iconic songs spanning various genres of Latin music while commemorating the past 20 years of excellence.
The final roster of performers join already confirmed artists Aitana, Anitta, Pedro Capó, Julio Reyes Copello, Darell, Dimelo Flow, Fonseca, Luis Fonsi, Greeicy, Intocable, Nella, Reik, Rosalía, and Alejandro Sanz, who’s this year’s top nominee.
The awards show will also include performances by Pepe Aguilar and Los Angeles Azules, Paula Arenas, Bad Bunny, Alessia Cara, Draco Rosa, Ximena Sariñana, Sech, Sebastián Yatra, Natalia Jiménez, Olga Tañón and Juanes, who as the 2019 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year will perform a medley of his biggest hits.
Vicente, Alejandro, and Alex Fernandezwill also take the stage, becoming the first time all three generations of the Fernandez family will perform at the show. They’ll be joined by Mariachi Sol de Mexico.
The 20th annual Latin Grammys, which will be co-hosted by Ricky Martin and actresses Roselyn Sánchez and Paz Vega, will air live Nov. 14 from the MGM Grand Garden Arenain Las Vegas via Univision.
Alejandro Sanz is this year’s Latin Grammys darling…
The 50-year-old Spanish singer/songwriter is the top-nominated artist for the 20th annual Latin Grammy Awards.
Sanz, a 17-time Latin Grammy winner, is up for eight awards this year, including Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Album, for #ElDisco.
Additionally, two of Sanz’s tracks — “No Tengo Nada” and “Mi Persona Favorita” (featuring Camila Cabello, a three-time nominee this year) — are competing against each other in the Song of the Year and Record of the Yearcategories.
Sanz’s compatriot Rosalía is nominated for five awards.
The 26-year-old Spanish singer’s groundbreaking flamenco set El Mal Querer will go head to head against Sanz, her advocate (Rosalía sang at Sanz’s Person of the Year tribute in 2017) in the Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Albumcategories.
Rosalía also has three separate singles, only one of them from her album, competing in different categories: “Aute Couture,” is up for Record of the Year; “Con Altura” with J Balvin, and featuring El Guincho, is up for Best Urban Song; and “Pienso en tu Mirá” (from El Mal Querer) is up for Best Pop Song. El Mal Querer is up for Best Engineered Albumand Best Recording Package. El Guincho, Rosalía’s co producer, is also up for five awards.
This year’s nominations skewed more pop and alternative, with urban totally absent from the main categories (minus Rosalía’s genre-bending fare). It almost felt like a rebuke against a global trend that has seen Latin urban music in all its forms gather record-breaking views on YouTube, streams on Spotify and Apple and positions on the Billboardcharts.
Instead, artists like Bad Bunny (with two nominations), Ozuna and Daddy Yankee(with only one each), were found only in the urban categories.
The most nods in the urban/reggaeton realm went to newcomer Sech, with three, including his multi-artist “Otro Trago,” which competes in the Best Urban Songcategory against Ozuna(“Baila Baila”), ChocQuibtown’s “Pa Olvidarte”; Rosalía and J Balvin’s “Con Altura”; and De La Ghetto’s “Caliente” featuring J Balvin.
Following Rosalía, veterans Juan Luis Guerra, Fonseca and Andrés Calamaro are up for four awards each, as is percussionist and bandleader Tony Succar. All have nominations in the main categories, with Fonseca, Calamaro and Succar all vying for Album of the Year. Meanwhile, Guerra’s “Kitipún,” a slow bachata with jazz undertones, is up for Song and Record of the Year.
In video of the year, the representation came in the form of social commentary from Brazil (via Criolo’s “Boca du Lobo,” a harrowing look at Brazil’s societal crisis) and Spain (with rapper Nach’s “Los Zurdos Vienen Antes”).
This year’s Best New Artist nominees include Argentine trap star Paulo Londra; Colombian rising star Greeicy; and Nella, a Venezuelan jazz singer from Berklee College of Music.
Nominations to the Latin Grammys were selected from approximately 15,500 submissions across 50 categories, of recordings released during the eligibility period (June 1, 2018 through May 31, 2019).
The Latin Grammys will air live on November 14 from Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arenain Las Vegas on Univision.
Record Of The Year: “Parecen Viernes” — Marc Anthony “Verdades Afiladas” — Andrés Calamaro “Ahí Ahí” — Vicente García “Kitipun” — Juan Luis Guerra 4.40 “Querer Mejor” — Juanes Featuring Alessia Cara “La Plata” — Juanes Featuring Lalo Ebratt “Aute Couture” — Rosalía “Mi Persona Favorita” — Alejandro Sanz & Camila Cabello “No Tengo Nada” — Alejandro Sanz “Cobarde” — Ximena Sariñana
Song Of The Year: “Calma” — Pedro Capó, Gabriel Edgar González Pérez & George Noriega, songwriters (Pedro Capó) “Desconstrução” — Tiago Iorc, songwriter (Tiago Iorc) “El País” — Rubén Blades, songwriter (Rubén Blades) “Kitipun” — Juan Luis Guerra, songwriter (Juan Luis Guerra 4.40) “Mi Persona Favorita” — Camila Cabello & Alejandro Sanz, songwriters (Alejandro Sanz & Camila Cabello) “No Tengo Nada” — Alejandro Sanz, songwriter (Alejandro Sanz) “Quédate” — Kany García & Tommy Torres, songwriters (Kany García & Tommy Torres) “Querer Mejor” — Rafael Arcaute, Alessia Cara, Camilo Echeverry, Juanes, Mauricio Montaner, Ricardo Montaner & Tainy, songwriters (Juanes Featuring Alessia Cara) “Un Año” — Mauricio Rengifo, Andrés Torres & Sebastián Yatra, songwriters (Sebastián Yatra Featuring Reik) “Ven” — Fonseca, songwriter (Fonseca)
Best Pop Song: “Bailar” — Leonel García, songwriter (Leonel García) “Buena Para Nada” — Paula Arenas, Luigi Castillo & Santiago Castillo, songwriters (Paula Arenas) “Mi Persona Favorita” — Camila Cabello & Alejandro Sanz, songwriters (Alejandro Sanz & Camila Cabello) “Pienso En Tu Mirá” — Antón Álvarez Alfaro, El Guincho & Rosalía, songwriters (Rosalía) “Ven” — Fonseca, songwriter (Fonseca)
Best Urban Fusion/Performance: “Tenemos Que Hablar” — Bad Bunny “Calma (Remix)” — Pedro Capó & Farruko “Pa’ Olvidarte (Remix)” — ChocQuibtown, Zion & Lennox, Farruko Featuring Manuel Turizo “Con Calma” — Daddy Yankee Featuring Snow “Otro Trago” — Sech Featuring Darell
Best Urban Music Album: Kisses— Anitta X 100Pre — Bad Bunny Mi Movimiento— De La Ghetto 19 — Feid Sueños — Sech
Best Urban Song: “Baila Baila Baila” — Ozuna & Vicente Saavedra, songwriters (Ozuna) “Caliente” — J Balvin, René Cano, De La Ghetto & Alejandro Ramirez, songwriters (De La Ghetto Featuring J Balvin) “Con Altura” — J Balvin, Mariachi Budda, Frank Dukes, El Guincho, Alejandro Ramirez & Rosalía, songwriters (Rosalía & J Balvin Featuring El Guincho) “Otro Trago” — Kevyn Mauricio Cruz, Kevin Mauricio Jimenez Londoño, Bryan Lezcano Chaverra, Josh Mendez, Sech & Jorge Valdes, songwriters (Sech Featuring Darell) “Pa’ Olvidarte” — René Cano, ChocQuibtown, Kevyn Cruz Moreno, Juan Diego Medina Vélez, Andrés David Restrepo, Mateo Tejada Giraldo, Andrés Uribe Marín, Juan Vargas & Doumbia Yohann, songwriters (ChocQuibTown)
Best Alternative Music Album: Latinoamericana— Alex Anwandter Discutible —Babasónicos Bach — Bandalos Chinos Prender Un Fuego— Marilina Bertoldi Norma— Mon Laferte
Best Traditional Tropical Album: Andrés Cepeda Big Band(En Vivo)— Andrés Cepeda Vereda Tropical— Olga Cerpa y Mestisay Lo Nuestro— Yelsy Heredia A Journey Through CubanMusic— Aymée Nuviola La Llave Del Son— Septeto Acarey
Best Singer-Songwriter Album: Acústica— Albita Contra El Viento— Kany García Amor Presente— Leonel García Algo Ritmos— Kevin Johansen Intuición— Gian Marco
Best Ranchero/Mariachi Album: Mi Persona Preferida— El Bebeto Sigue La Dinastía… — Alex Fernández Más Romántico Que Nunca— Vicente Fernández Indestructible— Flor De Toloache Ahora — Christian Nodal
Best Norteño Album: Por Más —Bronco Las Canciones De La Abuela— Buyuchek Mitad Y Mitad— Calibre 50 Percepción — Intocable Amo — La Maquinaria Norteña
Best Long Form Music Video: “Anatomía De Un Éxodo” — Mastodonte “Piazzolla, Los Años Del Tiburón” — Astor Piazzolla “Hotel De Los Encuentros” — Draco Rosa “Lo Que Fui Es Lo Que Soy” — Alejandro Sanz “Déjame Quererte” — Carlos Vives
The 23-year-old Mexican singer-songwriter has joined voices with Anitta and Rita Ora for the trilingual track, “R.I.P.”
The new song follows Reyes’ 2018 one-off single “1,2,3,” which featured Jason Deruloand De La Ghetto.
Kicked off with a cumbia shuffle and infectious hook, the Fliptones-produced song shrugs off negative vibes in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
“R.I.P. to the bullshit/Brush it off like Cool Whip,” recommends Reyes, who maneuvers a Catholic cross into a dance move.
Shot in Los Angeles, the sumptuous video, directed by Eif Rivera, sees the international trifecta strut their troubles away amid a lush jungle refuge.
“We all need to be encouraged to walk away from all the bullshit that’s holding us back,” said Reyes in a press release. “It was also incredibly empowering for me to work with these two super women. I loved that we got to mix all of our cultures up with one message that we can all agree on.”
“R.I.P. to boring people, to wasting time!” adds Anitta, who suffused the song with her native Portuguese.
Signed at 16 to D’León Records— Prince Royce’s label under Warner Music Latina— Reyes released her full-length debut, Louder!in 2017.
The 25-year-old Brazilian singer, a four-time nominee in 2019, is set to perform at this year’s Premio Lo Nuestro awards show.
The “Veneno” singer and New Artist of the Yearcontender joins a roster of new additions that includes JBalvin, Yandel, Juanes, Maná, Pepe Aguilar, Joss Favela, Nacho, and Zion y Lennox.
Anitta previously took the stage alongside J Balvin at least year’s how, giving a sizzling performance of their hit collaboration “Downtown.”
Marc Anthony, Daddy Yankee, Natti Natasha, Anuel AA and Ozuna, Thalia, Lele Pons, Fuego, Prince Royce, Farruko, Piso 21, Intocable, De La Ghetto, Pedro Capó, Reik, Christian Nodal, Lali and Silvestre Dangondare also confirmed to perform at the annual ceremony.
The awards will be hosted by Maite Perroni, Alejandra Espinoza and salsa singer, Victor Manuelle.
The 31st edition of Premio Lo Nuestro will air on Univisionon Thursday, February 21, live from American Airlines Arenain Miami starting at 7:00 p.m. ET.
The Puerto Rican and Dominican American singer/songwriter, whose real name is Rafael Castillo, lands at No. 5 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart.
His new album Mi Movimientoopens with 4,000 equivalent albums units earned in the week ending October 4. Of that sum, 2,000 were in traditional album sales.
Mi Movimiento is De La Ghetto’s first visit to the region in nearly 10 years and earns him his first top five debut.
“I’m super excited!” De Le Ghetto tells Billboard. “This is one of the most important projects of my career. It’s my baby. I worked on it and perfected it for a long time to give my fans the best material. With this project I definitely make clear what is Mi Movimiento.”
De La Ghetto is joining voices with Dillon Francis…
The Puerto Rican and Dominican American singer and songwriter, whose real name is Rafael Castillo, appears on the cross-genre electronic producer and DJ’s bilingual, Spanish-heavy full album.
Francis’ Wut Wutfeatures 11 tracks of Latin in a spectrum of pop palettes, and much like an actual trip to Latin America, it highlights the diversity of the culture within a variety of styles and feelings sure to entertain fans of dance-pop and Latin music alike.
It opens with self-awareness on previously-released single “White Boi.” The song features Colombia’s Lao Ratalking about how she fell in love for this Caucasian dude, and Francis hopes the Spanish-speaking masses will follow suit with the rest of his release.
It continues with a mysterious big of magic on “Esta Noche” withXimena Sariñana. Francis then puts extra funk on the R&B groove of “No Pare” feat. Yashua from the Dominican Republic, turns up the tropical heat on “Sexo” with ResidenteandiLe, and hits electric urban notes on “Never Let You Go” that’ll have you calling De La Ghetto Puerto Rico’s answer to The Weeknd.
If you’re looking for something romantic, give “We The Funk” with Fuego a spin. If you want wild-n-crazy classic Francis, head straight to “Look At That Butt” with Jarina De Marco. “Cuando” with noted madman Happy Colors is equally bold with banging bass lines. Things stay heavy with “Ven” feat. Arcángeland Quimico Ultra Mega, get twisted on booty banger “BaBaBa” with Young Ash, and finishes with quite the flourish on horn-heavy “Get It Get It.”
It’s a great mix of Francis’ dance-pop style and Latin rhythms. It’s multi-lingual and certainly influenced by a variety of tempos and feels. It definitely has more of a central character than its predecessor Money Sucks, Friends Rule, which the producer himself admitted was kind of all over the place. Wut Wut, in that way, it’s very much a matured sound for the producer, but don’t worry, Francis fans. Mostly, it’s just fun.
The 33-year-old Puerto Rican reggaeton singer and songwriter has reunited with Daddy Yankee and Ozuna to release new music.
The urban superstars have joined on their high octane collaboration “La Formula.”
Directed by Daniel Duran, the video was filmed in Puerto Rico. It features fast cars, helicopters, dancers and pyrotechnics, and it unites two different generations of urban acts.
“La Formula” is part of De La Ghetto’s forthcoming album to be released next year.
