At a Frank Sinatra-themed restaurant in the lobby of Encore, a luxury hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Colombian musician J Balvin sat down to discuss his interest in Formula One.
Balvin was the only artist at last month’s Las Vegas Grand Prix to perform twice during the motor racing weekend. For the Colombian it was an opportunity to participate in a global sport as a global musician. He also allowed her to show his latest single, the reggaeton song “Amigos,” on the Sphere forum, the largest LED screen in the world.
At one point during the week, an ad with a photo number projected on Sphere read “J Balvin doesn’t need any more friends.”
Fans might have misinterpreted it as a response to a verse from Bad Bunny’s “Thunder y Lightning.” In it, the Puerto Rican star says “You’ve seen me, I’m always with the same guys/ While you are friends with everyone like Balvin.”
Balvin says that “Amigos” has nothing to do with Bad Bunny. “I do not have time for that. I have a lot of love for the guy,” he says. “The friend I met at that time was amazing, you know? “So, he might be going through something.”
“I see him as a little brother, so it’s like being mad at your little brother, so I’m not going to take it personally,” he added. “Amigos,” he said, “is not an answer.” The reality is that “Amigos” is a return to what Balvin calls “romantic reggaeton,” the music that made fans fall in love with him in the first place. He says that when he released the rousing “Dientes” in September, the 2000s club-inspired urban Latin track that interpolates “Yeah!” From Usher, his fans expected reggaeton, his “original sound,” as he says. He now he has given them exactly what they want.
Balvin sings “It was the fault of the routine, that ours got screwed up. “I had to let you go even though it hurt me” in the sentimental single.
With “Amigos,” J Balvin says he is “going back to his roots.” Thematically, it’s about how “routine can kill love,” he says; that sometimes a relationship can become more like a friendship, and “the passion disappears, and that’s something that happens to everyone.”
“But the fact is, you can also reverse that and make it work once again,” he adds. He hopes it will be popular: “Music doesn’t have a formula. It’s the only business where you drop the product before anyone tries it. So it’s a risk, but it’s part of the game.”
