J Balvin: I always wanted to cross over in Spanish
Music star J Balvin feels proud that he's managed to overcome language barriers in the music industry.
J Balvin always wanted to "cross over in Spanish".
The 39-year-old singer performs exclusively in Spanish and he's proud that he's managed to overcome language barriers in the music industry.
The 'Safari' hitmaker - who was born in Medellin, Colombia - told The Independent: "Since day one, I wanted to cross over in Spanish. That was always my vision.
"There’s guys in English making me sing words that I don’t even know what I’m saying, so why can’t we do it the other way around?
"The timing was also, you know, perfect to make reggaeton global."
Balvin has become increasingly business-minded over the last couple of years, and the chart-topping star has now confessed to losing some of his focus.
He said: "There was a moment in life in the last two years that I was more focused on the game than the music itself and I got lost in it.
"The numbers come in and sometimes we get caught up in the business, so you forget what’s important - which is being happy and confident."
Balvin previously revealed that he wants to "change the perception of Latinos in music".
The singer told W magazine: "I don’t want the Grammys to use us for ratings. I want them to really value what we do in our art. One of my missions is to change the perception of Latinos in music."
Asked to describe the perception of Latinos, Balvin replied: "The perception has always been kind of whack, tacky. It’s about teaching, reintroducing to a new generation, which is way more open-minded.
"Our music has gotten to a global status - I was the first Latino artist to be the most listened to artist on the planet a couple of years ago, and I’m still in the Top 10. That wasn’t luck. Something real is going on with the music and the way we’re connecting to the people.
"Everywhere we go, we feel our music."
