José Álvaro Osorio Balvin (born May 7, 1985), known professionally as J Balvin, is a Colombian reggaeton singer. Balvin was born in Medellín, Colombia.[1]
Balvin began seeking his career at the age of 14. When J Balvin was 17, he moved to Oklahoma in the United States with best friend Jesus Marulanda, to learn English. Soon after, he moved to New York City to further study English and music. Over the next 10 years, J Balvin worked between the United States and Colombia finding the style that would define his career. He began performing at various urban clubs in Medellín, Colombia.
In 2012, J Balvin released a mixtape featuring many of his early hits in Colombia, including "En Lo Oscuro" and "Como un Animal." Soon after, J Balvin released his single "Yo Te Lo Dije". In 2013, the track had created a considerable buzz in the United States, and put J Balvin on many DJ and industry radars. His performance at the 2013 Premios Juventud was just the beginning to what was about to come.
In the spring of 2014, J Balvin released a new track entitled "6 AM", featuring Puerto Rican singer Farruko. The song exploded onto radio in the United States, Latin America, and even Europe. "6 AM" had truly put J Balvin at the forefront of reggaeton, and to many is thought as the song that re-ignited the current reggaeton revolution led by artists such as himself, Nicky Jam, Maluma, Farruko, as well as Daddy Yankee, Wisin & Yandel, and Don Omar. The song peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart, blocked by "Bailando" from hitting the top of the chart. This track gained him worldwide recognition. His album La Familia had also skyrocketed to the top of the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart.
Shortly after, J Balvin released his second track in the United States, "Ay Vamos", which solidified his mark in the Latin urban market.[2] This was a bonus track on the deluxe edition of J Balvin's album La Familia B-Sides. The music video is one of the most watched Latin music videos of all time, at over one billion views. The song went to number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart in 2015. The remix, featuring Nicky Jam and French Montana was used in the soundtrack to the film Furious 7. J Balvin performed the track at the 2015 Premios Lo Nuestro and the Billboard Latin Music Awards. J Balvin has been featured on remixes of "The Way" and "Problem" by Ariana Grande, "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke, "Maps" by Maroon 5, and "Stuck on a Feeling" by Prince Royce.[2] J Balvin was the first Colombian singer to record with "The Prince of Bachata" and establishing itself as an international artist.[2]
J Balvin swept the urban category at the 2015 Premios Lo Nuestro, including "Urban Artist of the Year", "Urban Album of the Year", "Urban Song of the Year" and "Urban Collaboration of the Year". On February 12, the nominees for the Billboard Latin Music Awards were announced, and J Balvin was nominated 13 times, of these nominations, eight were in the same category twice "Ay Vamos" and "6 AM", being the most nominated Colombian and the first urban artist from Colombia. J Balvin won New Artist, Latin Rhythm Song of the Year, and Latin Rhythm Song Artist of the Year, where he dedicated the award to his home country of Colombia.[2]
In June 2015, it was announced that J Balvin had cancelled his performance on Miss USA 2015 to protest Donald Trump's inflammatory comments insulting illegal immigrants,[3][2][4] saying, "During [Trump's] presidential campaign kickoff speech last week [June 2015], Trump accused illegal immigrants of bringing drugs, crime and rapists to the U.S."[5][6] His live performance had been scheduled for July 12, 2015 in Louisiana, which would have been J Balvin's first performance on national mainstream television.[7] J Balvin also began the #LatinosSomosUnidos movement through social media, to bring awareness to the struggles occurring on the Venezuelan-Colombian border. His campaign brought support from many of the major Latin artists.
On January 16, J Balvin premiered his new single "Ginza" from his upcoming album, at the Premios Juventud. Later that week, he premiered the music video on Vevo. The music video broke the record for the most views for a Latin music video in the first 24 hours, at over two million views. Since then, the video has racked up over 600 million views.[8] The song reached number one on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart for the week of October 17, 2015.[9] J Balvin became the first artist to receive a diamond certification in the Latin field from the RIAA, denoting digital sales of 600,000 units for his songs "6 AM" and "Ay Vamos".[10] On February 16, he performed "Ginza" at the Italian Festival of Sanremo.
On 24 June 2016, J Balvin released his fourth studio album Energia. He launched 3 hit singles from the album, "Bobo", "Safari", and "Sigo Extranandote", which all reached the top 10 of the Latin charts
On 30 June 2017, J Balvin released his new single along with the official music video "Mi Gente" featuring Willy William. On 1 August 2017, "Mi Gente" became the number 1 song in the world according to Global Top 50 on Spotify. In September 2017, the song was remixed with American artist Beyoncé. The remix reached the top ten in the United States, giving Balvin his first USA top ten single. J Balvin and Willy William dropped six more "Mi Gente" remixes with Steve Aoki, Alesso, Cedric Gervais, Dillon Francis, Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano, and Henry Fong.[11]