{"id":970517,"date":"2020-03-27T11:38:31","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T15:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=970517"},"modified":"2020-03-27T12:16:35","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T16:16:35","slug":"j-balvin-colores-interview-quarantine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-latin\/j-balvin-colores-interview-quarantine-970517\/","title":{"rendered":"J Balvin Reports From Quarantine, Talks Radiant New LP ‘Colores’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t

It’s safe to say that J Balvin leads one charmed life. The Medell\u00edn-born artist entered 2020 as a second-time Grammy nominee for 2019’s Oasis,<\/em> his joint album with Puerto Rican comrade Bad Bunny. At the year’s onset, Balvin’s reggaeton-house single featuring the Black Eyed Peas, “Ritmo (Bad Boys for Life),<\/a>” had topped several charts across the globe, from the U.S. to Romania. Then at this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show<\/a>, where Jennifer Lopez and Shakira proudly flaunted their Latinidad before millions of American viewers, Balvin was there to preach the gospel of the New Latino Gang, or, the next generation of Latin pop geniuses.<\/p>\n

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cFel\u00edz cuarentena,<\/em> everybody,\u201d Balvin tells Rolling Stone<\/em>, however sardonically, from his home in Medell\u00edn, where he’s been camped out for days. It\u2019s not lost on the 34-year-old that he dropped his fourth studio album<\/a>, Colores<\/em>, in the midst of a global health and humanitarian crisis. In lieu of throwing the usual album launch bacchanal expected of a reggaeton star, Balvin has instead invited all 37.6 million of his Instagram followers inside his luxe home in Colombia \u2014 but only virtually. In the week since releasing Colores<\/em>, he’s hosted meditation sessions and video chats with friends via Instagram Live. The day after we speak on the phone, he indulges his “I Like It<\/a>” co-star Cardi B in a Colombian alt-rock singalong; together, they sing<\/a> fragmented lines from Juanes’ 2004 rockero anthem, “La Camisa Negra.”<\/p>\n

“We have to learn how to promote music in this moment,” he says. “I’ve always been competitive; I want to make records, and sell them. But I’m [saving] that competitive vibe for another time. It’s time to bring more color to the world.”<\/p>\n