“In Miami I have a brand-new studio - it’s the wackest thing in the world. (In addition to Medellin, he has a home in Miami, but “the music comes out better in Medellin,” he said. As someone who was born in the United States, grew up in Puerto Rico and now lives in Colombia - and has picked up a bit of a Colombian accent, he confesses - Nicky Jam spends a lot of time thinking about the walls that language can put up, and the freedoms it can afford. That versatility has given Nicky Jam a second chance. “I made that cool to say, ‘I messed up, I’m not the best.’” “The mentality always in reggaeton was ‘I’m the man,’” he said. Inspired by the humble narratives he heard in Colombia’s vallenato music, he began exploring his own vulnerabilities. “It was really good for soul-searching.” He began making new music, collaborating with young Colombian artists, and formed a partnership with the producer Saga WhiteBlack, whom he discovered making dancehall songs and nudged toward Latin pop. With nothing to lose, he moved to Colombia, taking up residence on a farm 45 minutes outside Medellin. They were making their own sound out of a sound we did already.” The sound that was doing really good in Colombia was the sound that Puerto Ricans stopped doing. “It lost the essence of the reggae music. “Puerto Rico got too futuristic, with the electronic reggaeton,” Nicky Jam said. And thanks to performers like J Balvin and Maluma, who were emerging then, Colombia was becoming the home base for reggaeton’s second global wave. A chance call to perform in Colombia gave Nicky Jam new hope. In Puerto Rico, reggaeton was transforming into electro-influenced pop, leaving him behind. ![]() ![]() I would get a new car for five, six months, not pay for it. ![]() On this spry, bright, savvy album, Nicky Jam collaborates with artists from across the Caribbean and Latin America: J Balvin, from Colombia, on the gleaming pop-reggaeton of “Superhéroe” Sean Paul and Konshens, from Jamaica, on the deconstructed dancehall of “Amor Prohibido” Wisin, on the throwback reggaeton of “Si Tú La Ves” El Alfa, the dominant figure in Dominican dembow music, on “Nadie Como Tú.”Īnd, of course, the Latin pop star Enrique Iglesias, whose 2015 collaboration with Nicky Jam, “El Perdón,” spent 30 weeks atop the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart, the second-highest total in history, behind Mr. 1 hits on the Billboard Latin songs chart - have come as part of reggaeton’s second global wave, and “Fénix” reflects the ambitions of an artist who already tested his limits once, and failed, but who understands how many different sorts of ears have to be listening to make a hit. His latest successes - which include a pair of No. “Fénix,” the new album by the reborn reggaeton star Nicky Jam, is a study in transnational savvy and personal resilience.
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