Have you ever listened to a song and thought that you hadn’t heard the musician before, but you actually had (you just didn’t know their name)? That is what happened to me with J Balvin! I had apparently been hearing him all around since about 2017 (maybe before then), and just never knew!
Before Colores – My J Balvin Story…
The song that I first heard J Balvin on (but admittedly didn’t care about who the artists were) was “Mi Gente” somewhere in 2017…
And then he actually got onto a version of Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” at some point. He was also the guy in Black Eyed Peas’ comeback single “Ritmo”. I still didn’t know who he was.
Other than that, I’m POSITIVE I’ve heard him in other songs (like this one) because he is apparently a huge musician now (and I listen to enough music to have definitely HEARD him places).
Still — it wasn’t until sometime earlier this year that I checked out a video about a cool house on YouTube that just happened to be his…
I forgot what made me even want to watch the video in the first place.
I think I was drawn in by the red shoes in the cover photo for the video (I’m a sucker for shoes).
Either way, I was happy that I watched the video because his house was AMAZING (I want it). I still didn’t know who HE was, though. So, in an effort to end my willful ignorance, I googled him – found out he was a musician – and then I checked out his YouTube Channel.
That is when I came across his visual album for his 2020 release Colores. And while the Colombian superstar’s album dropped way back in March of 2020, it was new to my ears in September of the same year.
The Colores Visual Album
(You can play the entire playlist here)
There is a video for all of the songs on the album except one.
The videos pulled me in with their colors and storylines as things played out. Things were light-hearted for the most part, and when they weren’t – there was definitely some purpose to it. Shout out to Colin Tilley for lending direction to the entire collection. It is a cohesive and unique colorful vision.
And, clocking in at only 28-minutes for the full album, you can definitely get through the entire enjoyable experience fairly quickly.
My favorite track on Colores?
Google the Spanish translation for that color (sincerely, for the color-blind – it’s “red” – you’ll want to Google the Spanish translation for that color if you don’t know it).
If you want to have a little fun – play it in the background while you cook. If you can resist dancing as you work through your kitchen while this plays, you’re not human.
Happy listening. If you remember, let me know what your favorite track was in the comment section!
Peace, and thanks for reading.
The soundtrack for this post provided by…
Image Credits:
All Images © Takashi Murakami