NEW YORK — The titanium sheen is distracting. The cover of “Rayo,” Colombian singer and rapper J Balvin’s first album since 2021’s “Jose,” features a futuristic-looking vehicle wrapped in chrome. Upon closer inspection, it’s a Volkswagen Golf, a globally popular, unremarkable city car. But in Balvin’s universe, it’s souped up—his signature smiley logo is emblazoned on the rims beneath open scissor doors, a feature usually reserved for a luxury vehicle like a Lamborghini.
It serves as a perfect allegory for the album: a familiar figure created in Balvin’s image and a direct reflection of his early work and later success.
As it turns out, his first car was a VW Golf. And with “Rayo,” J. Balvin returns to his first love: feel-good music for parties.
Last year, Balvin told the Associated Press about his song “Amigos,” which he described as a return to “romantic reggaetón” — the music that put him on the map in the first place. It was at least partly a response to his fiery 2000s single “Dientes,” a club-inspired Latino urbano track that interpolates Usher’s “Yeah!” When it was released, he said his fans loved it, but they expected reggaetón — his “original sound,” as he called it. “Rayo” is the organic continuation of that idea. With 15 tracks of life-affirming dembow and synth pop, packed to the brim with collaborations, the album doesn’t try to be innovative. Rather, it succeeds as a single, self-supporting playlist, all of which contain high-octane club bangers for the backyard and South Beach alike.
Not that there are no new attempts: “3 Noches”, one of the few solo songs on the album, experiments with Afrobeats. For “Gato”, Balvin hires the Catalan urbano singer Bad Gyal, whose scratchy vocal sound offers a new texture.
But it’s reggaetón, of course, that drives “Rayo.” Don’t take our word for it, take his: Balvin tells you to dance with him to the stuff (the lyric “Ven y bailemos reggaetón” in “3 Noches”), and he tells you to put it on (“Ponle reggaetón” in “Swat”).
Highlights can be found in some of the energetic collaborations, such as the catchy tune “Origami” with Ryan Castro and Blessd or “Doblexxó”, which also features fellow Colombian superstar Feid.
“It’s a song that represents a lot of Medellín reggaeton,” Balvin recently told AP. “We are two ‘paisas’ (compatriots), with paisa slang in this song.”
Then there are more classic moments like “Polvo de tu Vida” and “Lobo” with Puerto Rican reggaetón legends Chencho Corleone and Zion of Zion and Lennox or
Cooling-off periods are few and far between on this audio party, perhaps limited to the ballad “Stoker,” featuring regional Mexican musician Carín León—a rare risk that pays off for Balvin.
J Balvin has been known as a hitmaker throughout his career, and that continues with “Rayo.” But what’s next?
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Associated Press writer Berenice Bautista contributed to this report from Mexico City.
