J Balvin to Release New Album, “Rayo,” This August

J Balvin will be catching some rayos this summer…

The 39-year-old Colombian rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer has announced plans to release his upcoming new album, titled Rayo, on August 9.

J BalvinBalvin’s 15-track LP includes collaborations with Feid, Chencho Corleone, Bad Gyal and Carín León, among others. 

The set will follow the hitmaker’s Grammy-nominated Jose released three years ago, which peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart for three weeks.

Overall, Balvin has placed four No. 1 sets on the tally since 2016, including Energía, Vibras and Oasis, his 2019 joint album with Bad Bunny.

As with all his previous albums, this one also started with a name before even recording any of the songs included. “My albums have always started with their names,” he previously told Billboard. “That way, we let ourselves be guided by the vibe.” The singer-songwriter also shared that London was a major source of inspiration for the set, specifically its nightclub scene, where he and his team would play demos sometimes. “We wanted to see fan reaction, and it was amazing,” he teased.

According to a press release, Rayo is an expression of “earnest need for human connection that drove Balvin to create an album that feels more like a house party than a collection of songs.”

On this new album, he blends elements of reggeatón with electronic pop and dembow, the statement further adds.

In April, Balvin performed a riveting sci-fi-inspired headlining set at Coachella, where he sang his biggest anthems to date, including hits recent hits such as the Tainy-produced “Colmillo” and “Dientes.”

Some of his surprise guests included Jowell & Randy, De La Ghetto and Will Smith.

The new album announcement coincides with Balvin’s new single “Gaga” in collaboration with Saiko. The Keityn and L.e.x.v.z.-produced track dropped on Thursday (July 11).

Here’s the Rayo tracklist:

“Cosa de Locos”
“Polvo de tu Vida” featuring Chencho Corleone
“Swat” featuring Luar La L
“Bajo y Batería”
“Doblexxó” featuring Feid
“3 Noches”
“Gaga” featuring Saiko
“Gato” featuring Bad Gyal
“Lobo” featuring Zion
“La Noche” featuring Dei V
“Origami” featuring Ryan Castro and Blessd
“Sólido”
“Stoker” featuring Carin León
“Ganster”
“En Alta” featuring Omar Courtz, Yovngchimi, Quevedo, Mambo Kingz, DJ Luian

J Balvin Earns Fourth No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums Chart with “Jose”

Make that four chart-topping albums for J Balvin

The 36-year-old Colombian singer has notched his fourth No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart as Jose debuts atop the September 25-dated tally.

J Balvin

The set, released on September 10 via Sueños Globales/Universal Music Latino/UMLE, starts with 27,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week September 16, according to MRC Data.

Jose marks J Balvin’s sixth visit to the all-Latin genre Top Latin Albums chart, all of which have hit the top 10.

The rhythmic singer-songwriter first earned a No. 10 high with La Familia, his first studio album. A trio of No. 1s followed: Energía in 2016, two-week ruler Vibras (2018) and Oasis, with Bad Bunny, the eight-week leader starting July 2019. Colores, his fifth studio album and immediate predecessor to Jose, reached a No. 2 high in April 2020.

As Jose starts with 27,000 overall units, it becomes the second-largest debut week in 2021 after Anuel & Ozuna’s Los Dioses (29,000 in its opening week). In terms of largest week overall this year, Bad Bunny’s El Último Tour del Mundo continues at the helm with 38,000 units.

The 27,000-unit arrival for Jose easily marks Balvin’s best week, by units earned, for a solo album. His previous best week came through Colores‘ first full tracking week on the chart, when it earned 24,000 units on the April 4, 2020-dated chart. (Among all of Balvin’s albums, Oasis, his collaborative effort with Bad Bunny, holds his best week — with its 36,000 unit start on the July 13, 2019-dated chart.)

Out of Jose’s 27,000 units, 25,000 stem from streaming activity which equates to 33.8 million U.S. streams of the set’s tracks. The remainder 2,000-unit sum derives from album sales and track equivalent album units.

As Jose arrives, five of the set’s 24 tracks debut on Hot Latin Songs, which blends airplay, digital sales and streaming data. Let’s take a look:

No. 11, “Una Nota,” with Sech
No. 33, “Te Acuerdas de Mi,” with Yandel
No. 46, “La Venganza,” with Jhay Cortez
No. 48, “Perra,” with Tokischa
No. 49, “Billetes de 100,” with Myke Towers

Eight other tracks preceded the album on the all-metric chart: “Un Día (One Day)” (No. 1 peak and five-time ruler in 2020), “Otra Noche Sin Ti” (No. 5 peak, May 2021), “7 de Mayo” (No. 48 debut and peak (May 22-dated list), “Qué Más Pues?” (No. 14 peak, July 310-dated survey), “Otro Fili” (No. 26 debut and peak (June 26-dated chart), “Poblado (remix),” (No. 11 debut and peak, July 3), “In Da Getto” (peaks at No. 5 on the current chart), “Que Locura” (No. 41 debut and peak, August 28).

Jose concurrently starts at No. 1 on Latin Rhythm Albums and at No. 12 on the overall Billboard 200 chart, his fifth entry there.

J Balvin Reveals 24-Track List for Forthcoming Album “JOSE”

J Balvin is giving his fans the inside track(s).

The 36-year-old Colombian singer/songwriter has unveiled the track list for his forthcoming album, JOSE, which features collaborations with Yandel, Myke Towers, Jhay Cortez and Ozuna, among others.

J Balvin

The 24-track set will also include previously released songs like the Bad Bunny– and Dua Lipa-assisted “Un Día” and “Qué Más Pues?” with Maria Becerra.

Balvin had previously revealed the title, release date, and the cover art of his next production via his social media accounts last week.

J Balvin, Jose, Track List

J Balvin, Jose, Track List

JOSE made by J BALVIN‘ will be available on all platforms on September 10,” he captioned a photo of him all smiles, wearing flashy grills and colorful sunglasses.

Following the big news, Balvin even dropped his new single “Perra” in collaboration with Dominican newcomer Tokischa. Fusing the best of both worlds, the track fuses Balvin’s edgy reggaeton beats with Tokischa’s witty dembow. With its flirtatious and street slang lyrics, “Perra” is a raunchy track about two people who desire each other.

JOSE is Balvin’s fifth studio album following La Familia (2013), Energia (2016), Vibras (2018), and Colores (2020), which peaked No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart.

Prior to Colores, Balvin joined forces with Bad Bunny on the eight-track Oasis, which debuted and peaked at No. 1 on Top Latin Albums dated July 13, 2019, where it led for eight weeks. The set also debuted and peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard 200.

J Balvin Partners with Hasbro for the Brand’s First Celebrity Figure, the “J Balvintron” Transformer

J Balvin is experiencing a career Transformer-ation

The 36-year-old Colombian singer, known as the “Prince of Reggaeton,” is getting his own Transformers figure.

J Balvin

On July 13, Hasbro will make available for pre-order the “J Balvintron,” a 7-inch tall figure with two mini cassette accessories inspired by Balvin’s Energía and Vibras albums that transform into a condor and a tiger to create a mash-up J Balvintron 3-pack. The figure also wields a blaster, and incorporates Balvin’s signature rainbow colors and smiley face icon.

While Hasbro has previously partnered with brands like Marvel and Universal to create figures from their respective universes, the J Balvintron is the first figure created with a musical artist or actual living celebrity since Hasbro launched its collaborative program in 2019.

J Balvin, Hasbro, J Balvintron, Transformer

The figure, which will be available exclusively on the NTWRK platform as a limited edition, will retail for $69.99.

“I’ve loved Transformers since I was a kid so this was a dream come true,” Balvin told Billboard.

“The J Balvintron Transformers that are coming out are a reflection of my dream toy. Ever since the proposal came to me I had this vision in mind.”

The Transformer proposal came to Balvin via livestream shopping platform NTWRK, which is known for its exclusive, celebrity-partnership product drops, and which had a strong relationship with both Balvin and Hasbro.

“NTWRK approached J Balvin and Hasbro with the idea to collaborate with Transformers because Balvin is a huge fan of Transformers and we thought it would be an amazing fan experience and cultural moment — For Balvin and Transformers fans,” says president Moksha Fitzgibbons.

Balvin, whose affinity for games in general is well known, was excited.

“I asked them to include elements from my past albums in the design. This is why they have two cassette options, one for Vibras and then one for Energia,” he says. “The colors, the names, I suggested all of these to them for inspiration. When we were in the process of making the design, Colores had just come out so we wanted to make many different color options.”

Evan Brooks, the designer in charge of the Balvintron, knew the singer was a big G1 Transformer fan, so his starting point was Soundwave, a popular Gen 1 transformer whose best-known disguise is as a cassette player. Brooks designed two small cassette players that transform into Balvin albums. Because the cassettes are usually animal-themed, “We looked at his tatoos and saw he had four or five tigers. We ran it past him and had one of them turn into a tiger that turns into Vibras, and the other one is a condor that turns into Energia.”

The first step in designing based on an actual person, says Brooks, is taking the visual elements that define the person and extrapolating them onto a robot. The biggest challenge, he says, was trying to balance Balvin’s many color associations.

“If you look at Balvin’s figure, I found his rainbow hair style very iconic. We went through ten iterations. The robot head has the five color break. We made sure the smiley face was present.”

The whole process, he says, was “very easy and very smooth,” with a bonus. Brooks, who hadn’t heard Balvin before, became a fan, and “Rojo” is now his favorite track.

The J Balvintron will only be available on the NETWRK App, which will premiere the figure along with an animated video and an interview with the Balvintron designers. Balvin will also promote the figure on social media.

J Balvin’s Stylish Air Jordan 1s Sell Out Almost Instantly on Release Day

Its nothing but Air for J Balvin

The 35-year-old Colombian reggaeton singer’s highly anticipated Air Jordan 1 x J Balvin sneaker has sold out instantly.

J Balvin's Air Balvins

The Balvin-designed sneaker, which he debuted during his 2020 Super Bowl Halftime Show appearance opposite Jennifer Lopez, was released on Tuesday, December 8.

Balvin also makes Nike history by becoming the first Latino artist to collaborate with the Jordan brand.

J Balvin's Air Balvins

“Sold Out Global Sold out. From what I counted, they were gone in a minute,” Balvin wrote on Instagram, thanking all his fans. (Nike said it was unable to disclose unit numbers or how long the shoes took to sell out to Billboard.)

Inspired by his latest studio albums Colores and Vibras, the Air Balvins have a cool tie-dye effect with pink soles, pink, white and black laces, and interchangeable patches, including a smiley face, lightning bolt, a basketball, and a Jumpman.

“Even the people who don’t know a lot about me are going to be into the shapes and colors,” Balvin said in an official statement. “It’s another way for me to connect with the world. It’s a dream come true.”

The Air Jordan I x J Balvin was released globally via SNKRS and sold for $190 at various retailers including Foot Locker, Shoe Gallery and SoleFly.

J Balvin Teams Up with Guess for Collection Inspired by Latest Album “Colores”

J Balvin is bring hiscoloresto (fashion) Life…

The 35-year-old Colombian reggaeton singer has joined forced with GUESS to launch a Colores-inspired collection for men, women and kids. 

J Balvin x Guess Colores Collection

The multi-color, tie-dye collection includes cropped hooded sweatshirts, swimwear, bodysuits, joggers and J Balvin’s signature matching two-piece tracksuits.

It’s the second time J Balvin collaborates with GUESS to design a clothing collection. 

Last year, he launched a Vibras-themed campaign with 90’s Miami-inspired designs and ready-to-wear accessories.

“What was interesting this time around compared to last time is that we really got to work with him from the inception of the album,” says Nicolai Marciano, director of brand partnerships at GUESS. “I knew he was working on an album before it was called Coloresand once it became Colores, we started working on the creative process and so as we were designing the collection as he was creating the album.”

J Balvin x Guess Colores Collection

“Everything about the collection really represents him and how he feels and the energy he likes to put out. It’s been great to see it come together in an ideal working situation with an artist. We were really able to find the balance between what he wanted and what made sense for us as a brand,” says Marciano.

A standout design is a Colombia-inspired print jacket, shorts and a bucket hat.

J Balvin x Guess Colores Collection

“It’s an idea one of our designers pitched. The photos [on the print] are a collection of different images from around Colombia mixing architecture, agriculture, landscape and kind of just really displaying the different elements that make up Colombia,” explains Marciano. “We were able to use this interesting nylon fabric that showed a lot of saturation of colors where it feels very like alive so it was interesting to see how it was put together. We were all very impressed with the end result.”

The new Colores-inspired collection is now available online.

J Balvin & Bad Bunny’s Joint Album “Oasis” Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums Chart

J Balvin has another No. 1 hit album on his hands…

The 34-year-old Colombian reggaeton singerand Bad Bunny’s joint album Oasis opens at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart dated July 13, scoring the biggest streaming debut for a Latin album released in 2019. 

J Balvin & Bad Bunny

The eight-song set earned 36,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending July 4, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 5,000 were in album sales.

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 are comprised of traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).

Of Oasis’ overall start of 36,000 units, the set generated almost 30,000 SEA units. That latter sum equates to 39.3 million on-demand audio streams for its songs in the week ending July 4 — marking the biggest streaming debut for a Latin album released in 2019.

Oasis marks the third No. 1 for J Balvin, and the second for Bad Bunny. The latter actually replaces himself at No. 1, as Oasis bumps X 100PRE from the top slot, pushing it to No. 2.

Oasis is the first collaborative No. 1 on the Top Latin Albums chart in almost exactly two years. The last joint effort to lead the list came on July 22, 2017, when Gloria Trevi and Alejandra Guzman’s Versus debuted atop the tally, spending one week at No. 1.

Over on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart, Oasis debuts at No. 9. It’s the first top 10 on that list for either J Balvin or Bad Bunny, as the former previously hit No. 15 in 2018 with Vibras, while the latter climbed to No. 11 earlier in 2019 with X 100PRE.

GUESS? to Launch J Balvin’s Vibras Capsule Collection in February

There’s no more guessing when J Balvin’s new collection for GUESS?is hitting stores….

The 33-year-old Colombian singer and trendsetter has teamed up with GUESS? to bring to life the brand’s spring 2019 Vibras capsule collection.

As the face of the new campaign, men and women will be blessed with a 42-piece vibrant capsule collection inspired by J Balvin’s chart-topping 2018 album, Vibras.

“Everything in this capsule is very ’90s Miami inspired,” Balvin said in a statement. “The collection is about Vibras; nice energy, nice vibes, just smile and that’s what we need, all love. Partnering with GUESS and designing my first collaboration with a global brand has been a dream, and this really is just the beginning.”

Nicolai Marciano, director of brand partnerships for GUESS? Inc. and GUESS Jeans U.S.A., also discussed the partnership, saying, “J Balvin is full of life and good energy. The entire collection is about vibes and what he represents to the culture and the music. Watching him express that through the GUESS lens in the campaign and his influence on the clothing and colors was transformational and a first for GUESS. To be able to make this happen with J Balvin and with GUESS is a special moment in time.”

The Vibras capsule collection, launching February 7 in GUESS stores and online, will include a selection of ready-to-wear clothes and accessories for both men and women, infused with Balvin’s personal style and colorful, risk-taking aesthetic.

J Balvin’s “No Es Justo” with Zion & Lennox Reaches No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay Chart

It’s a little sweet justice for J Balvin

The 33-year-old Colombian reggaeton singer has earned his 12th No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart, as “No Es Justo” with Zion & Lennox rising 3-1 in its 16th week on the list (dated November 24).

J Balvin

“It’s really special to have ‘No Es Justo’ reach No. 1 this week,” Balvin tells Billboard. “It’s a blessing to see music from VIBRAS still topping the charts and showing that reggaeton continues to be the sound leading the way in connecting with Latin radio and fans… and it’s an honor to share my 12th No. 1 with creative brothers like Zion & Lennox.”

“No Es Justo” rises to the summit due in part to a 19 percent boost in audience impressions (to 13.1 million) in the week ending November 18, according to Nielsen Music. It’s the sixth No. 1 for Zion & Lennox.

The song is the second charting collaboration from J Balvin with Zion & Lennox. They previously paired up for Zion & Lennox’s former leader “Otra Vez,” featuring J Balvin, which reigned for one week in November 2016.

“No Es Justo” concurrently leads the Latin Pop Songs airplay and the Latin Rhythm airplay charts. On the former, it takes an 18-week trip to the top, becoming the longest climb to No. 1 since December 3, 2016, when Farruko‘s “Chillax,” featuring Ky-Mani Marley reached the top in its 21st week.

J Balvin Named the Face of Guess’ Spring 2019 Vibras Capsule Collection

J Balvin is vibin’ for Guess?

The 33-year-old Colombian reggaeton singer has been named the face of Guess’ Spring 2019 Vibras capsule collection.

J Balvin Guess Campaign

“It has been a blessing to change the game with GUESS by bringing the fashion world into some of the tour merchandise for the VIBRAS tour,” Balvin said in a statement. “It’s been a perfect fit for my style, and the reaction among fans has been so wonderful. I’m very happy to now bring our partnership to another level.”

Nicolai Marciano, director of brand partnerships for GUESS?, Inc. and GUESS Jeans U.S.A., also discussed the partnership with the singer, saying, “The entire J Balvin campaign is about vibes, ‘Vibras.’ The campaign is an expression of who J Balvin is paired with the heritage of GUESS. Considering J Balvin is one of the biggest artists in the world, and GUESS has a huge Latin fanbase, I knew it would be a perfect partnership to extend our global retail platform to his fans globally and connect with them beyond the music.”

The rest of the images from the campaign are set to arrive in mid-January next year via GUESS’ online and social platforms, retail stores and fashion magazine ads.