I am a YouTube artist.
— J Balvin
Music is art, and making watches is art, too.
I have always been a big fan of watches.
Politics doesn't interest me in the least.
Behind every big artist, there's a big team.
Since I was a kid, I was listening to hip-hop.
I respect the ones who make it and leave their home base, but I'm good in Colombia.
I don't have to work with superstars - I want to work with cool artists that make super music.
I'm not a big fan of fame; I'm a big fan of success.
When I would go to the barrio, people saw me as a rich person, but when I'm around rich people, they see me as someone from the ghetto. It's all perceptions. I like moving between worlds. I feel equally comfortable in both.
The important thing is that I'm clear about the love and respect that I got for Rihanna.
There's always going to be somebody that don't like you. It's life.
Who would have thought that somebody Latino was going to be singing with Beyonce at Coachella? Years ago? Nobody. But I did believe in me. So, that's what I want to do: keep inspiring people as much as possible.
I love Bad Bunny. He's changing the game. I think he's doing something very important with his success.
I want to change the perception about Latinos worldwide. I think people don't know yet how cool we are.
I want to invite the mainstream into my world and to my sound and to what I'm doing. And I want mainstream artists to respect me and accept Latino artists as equals without us having to sing in English. I want them to know that I can compete globally, with whomever, in Spanish.
I've always loved music since I was a little kid.
To tell you the truth, I used an Instagram filter called Ginza to share a snippet of the song - I simply left the name in the caption in case anyone wanted to use the same filter. But everyone started calling the song 'Ginza.'
A watch shows how you want to look - or how you want people to look at you.
You can have the power of your music on your cellphone and reach millions.
As Latinos, we are many, and our geography is gigantic.
I just want people to respect what I do.
I just work with people that I love and respect, that inspire me to be a better person, a better artist.
I'd want to start being a creative director of a specific line, like Adidas, for example. If they called me up to collaborate on something, I would do it.
I want to make music for everybody.
I want mainstream artists to accept Latino artists as equals without us having to sing in English.
My medium is music, but my goal is to motivate people to dream.
I love Rihanna, but I'm not gonna marry Rihanna.
We proved to the world that a completely Spanish song can take over the world.
Even though you don't understand what I'm saying, you are going to really feel it. The same thing happened to me when I used to listen to English music. I didn't even understand one word. You know? But it just makes me feel great.
When you see a movie, they always put the Latino on the bad side or in a tacky way. It's not like that. Latinos are shining like a diamond.
I see myself like what Drake did in the game. I came with melodies and different lyrics, from a different place - reggaeton is from Puerto Rico; Drake is from Canada.
I want to inspire people to follow their own dream, not what the world wants for them.
Just because you are Latino does not mean you can't be global.
Let's be honest, 'Ginza' doesn't really have lyrics to speak of. It's a party track - a party for reggaetoneros to come out of the closet.
Watches are about status.
Thanks to social media, we've also been able to show ourselves as we are. In the end, masks are useless. You have to be real.
I like to make super music instead of working with superstars.
I'm from Colombia, and we've been through a lot of hard situations.
I'm gonna be real everywhere I go, but I'm with my people, I'm connected to my roots - I'm in my country! I don't need to live somewhere else.
Dreams are the ones that really keep me moving all the time. That's what drives me.
To me, family is first.
For 10 years, I was my own label, my own promoter, my own PR. We borrowed money to print our CDs.
When you maintain a closeness with your fans, they are more forgiving when you make mistakes.
To be a legend, we have to make a lot of right moves and great music.
If you really want to flex, you have to be real.
It's all about the vibes. That's why it's called 'Vibras' in Spanish.
Kanye and Pharrell are in fashion. Why not J Balvin?
'Donde Estaras,' it is like a classic reggaeton, and we just added some Southern spice to bring it to 2018. But I wanted to go back to the roots of reggaeton, that type of reggaeton that makes you just feel good. You don't know what we are saying but that OK because 'Donde Estas' is where are you at but 'Donde Estaras' is where are you going to be.
When I was, like, 12, I remember grabbing a mic, pretending it was a guitar, and performing in front of my friends. I didn't know at the time I wanted to be an artist.
