He also often works with veteran Puerto Rican producer Tainy (and his Colombian protégé Sky Rompiendo) on many of his releases.īalvin is arguably the most influential Latinx artist of the moment. Balvin, however, often pays homage to those who paved the way for him, like when he shouts out OGs Tego Calderón and Daddy Yankee on his song “Reggeatón,” or when he collaborates with artists who were big in the genre’s mid-2000’s wave like Zion & Lennox and Wisin & Yandel. In the past few years, it’s crossed over into the mainstream, leaving behind many of its Black originators. Reggaetón was born from the marginalized Afro-diasporic communities throughout Latin America as a counter-culture genre akin to – and heavily influenced by – hip-hop. Listen to the best J Balvin songs on Apple Music and Spotify, and scroll down for our list. Now, his music is more sonically diverse and reflects an unrestricted, globalized pop sound with reggaetón at its base, as exemplified on his 2020 audiovisual album, Colores.

At the early stages of his career, he opted for a more direct reggaetón route modeled after the genre’s godfathers. Throughout the years, J Balvin has continuously diversified his sound. But it was his status as a genre-bending, language barrier-breaking, pop infiltrator that got him to where he is now.