José Álvaro Osorio Balvín (born 7 May 1985), known professionally as J Balvin, is a Colombian singer and rapper. He has been referred to as the "Prince of Reggaeton" (from Spanish: "Príncipe del Reggaetón"), and is one of the best-selling Latin music artists with sales of more than 35 million records (albums and singles) worldwide. Balvin was born in Medellín, Colombia. At age 17, he moved to the United States to learn English, where he lived in both Oklahoma and New York. He then returned to Medellín and gained popularity performing at clubs in the city.
Throughout his career, Balvin has won five Billboard Latin Music Awards, four Latin Grammy Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards and four Latin American Music Awards and received two Grammy Award nominations. In 2017, the BMI Latin Awards named him the Contemporary Latin Songwriter of the Year for his contribution in the Latin music industry, and has won the first Global Icon Award given by Lo Nuestro Awards, in recognition of his contribution to spread Latin music worldwide. He became the first Latino to headline world-musical events such as Coachella, Tomorrowland, and Lollapalooza. The Guinness World Records acknowledged him as a "leader of a second-generation reggaeton revolution".His breakthrough came in 2014 with "Ginza" and the single "6 AM" featuring Puerto Rican singer Farruko which peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart following with "Ay Vamos" and "Ginza". In 2016, he released Energia, which included the hit singles "Ginza", "Bobo", "Safari", and "Sigo Extrañándote". In June 2017, Balvin released the single "Mi Gente" with Willy William. On 1 August 2017, "Mi Gente" topped the Global Top 50 on Spotify, and later reached one billion views on YouTube. In January 2018, he released the hit single "Machika" featuring Jeon and Anitta. He collaborated with Cardi B and Bad Bunny on the US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "I Like It", which was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Balvin released his most recent album José in March 2021.
Though his music is primarily reggaeton, Balvin has experimented with a variety of musical genres in his work, including electronica, house music, trap, and R&B. His original musical inspirations included rock groups such as Metallica and Nirvana, and reggaeton artist Daddy Yankee. He has collaborated with Latin American artists such as Ozuna, Nicky Jam, Alejandro Sanz, Bad Bunny and Pitbull. Despite working with many English-speaking artists such as Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, The Black Eyed Peas, Cardi B, Dua Lipa and Major Lazer, Balvin continues to sing almost exclusively in Spanish, and hopes to introduce Spanish-language music to a global audience. He is also noted for his eclectic and colorful fashion sense.
In 2020, Balvin was included on Time magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people of the world, and as one of the Greatest Latin Artists of all Time by Billboard. J Balvin is the artist with the most number one songs on the Billboard Latin Airplay chart.
May 12, 2022
The ceremony will be broadcast live on Telemundo on June 23 from Puerto Rico.
April 22, 2022
Indian artist Badshah taps J Balvin and super producer Tainy for his new single "Voodoo," which arrives alongside an accompanying music video.
April 22, 2022
Indian global star drops Hindi, Spanish and English-language desi-pop single
April 13, 2022
The six-year-old company has partnered with artists including Cardi B, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Shawn Mendes, J Balvin and Migos.
April 12, 2022
Plus, a new No. 1 on Regional Mexican Airplay and a top five debut on Top Latin Albums.
April 12, 2022
The tour was set to begin next week in San Antonio
April 12, 2022
The 25-date José tour was slated to kick off April 19.
April 7, 2022
Plus, J Balvin & Ed Sheeran’s “Sigue” bows at No. 57.
April 6, 2022
Sheeran secures his first No. 1 on Latin Airplay with "Forever My Love."
April 4, 2022
Billboard’s Carl Lamarre spoke with J Balvin on the red carpet of the 2022 GRAMMY Awards about his collaboration with Ed Sheeran, how they met and how he takes care of his mental health.
April 4, 2022
Billboard’s Carl Lamarre spoke with Maria Bercerra on the red carpet of the 2022 GRAMMY Awards about performing with J Balvin, collaborating with Prince Royce and working with Camila Cabello.
April 4, 2022
J Balvin’s "Jose" was nominated for best musica urbana album at the 2022 Grammys.
April 4, 2022
Balvin and Becerra were joined by a team of dancers during the dramatic performance
April 4, 2022
Balvin is up for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance alongside Dua Lipa and Bad Bunny at tonight's ceremony
April 3, 2022
The Puerto Rican superstar lands the award ahead of Rauw Alejandro, J Balvin, Karol G, and Kali Uchis
March 31, 2022
Silk Sonic, J Balvin, Chris Stapleton, H.E.R. & more are also set to perform Sunday night.
March 31, 2022
Plus, J Balvin and Ed Sheeran’s “Forever My Love” starts in top 10 on Latin Pop Airplay.
March 30, 2022
It's also been confirmed that the 2022 Grammys will feature live performances from Silk Sonic, J Balvin and John Legend The post Grammys set to pay tribute to Taylor Hawkins at this weekend’s ceremony appeared first on NME.
March 30, 2022
Foo Fighters, who were previously announced as performers on the show, are not included in the latest release.
March 30, 2022
Tickets for the festival -- which also includes Kali Uchis, Los Tucanes de Tijuana & Tainy -- go on sale Saturday.
March 25, 2022
Latto and Cardi B holding it down for female rap, MGK bringing us rock, Maren Morris bringing in the country and Daddy Yankee and J Balvin with the Latin flavor. Billboard presents First Stream featuring the hottest drops of the week.
March 25, 2022
J Balvin and Ed Sheeran teamed up for a new two-song drop consisting of collaborative singles "Sigue" and "Forever My Love," which arrive with visuals.
March 25, 2022
Check out the must-hear releases of the week.
March 25, 2022
"He wanted to bring me into his world, and I wanted to bring him into mine," Sheeran says of the collaboration The post Ed Sheeran and J Balvin unite on new songs ‘Sigue’ and ‘Forever My Love’ appeared first on NME.
March 25, 2022
"He wanted to bring me into his world, and I wanted to bring him into mine."
March 25, 2022
A chance meeting at the gym led to the artists' new songs "Sigue" and "Forever My Love"
March 23, 2022
Could 2022 be the year of the tiraeras?
March 22, 2022
'Sigue' and 'Forever My Love' are slated to drop soon.
March 21, 2022
The pair have collaborated on two forthcoming songs The post Ed Sheeran is teasing new music with J Balvin appeared first on NME.