J Balvin Heads To The Club On ‘Rayo’

J Balvin took the two years after his 2021 release Jose to withdraw from the public eye and spend more time with his family. And for understandable reasons: the Jose The album cycle was marred by controversy, a canceled tour and an uncompromising verbal attack from the home of hip-hop en español. When he decided to go back to work, he hit the club. Leaving for London, José spent his days recording at Abbey Road and RAK Studios and nights on the dance floor, clubhopping and testing demos on unsuspecting crowds. The result is a new album, Rayowhich leans heavily into pop reggaetón and club sounds, a PG-13 perreo it is as tasty as it is predictable.

Balvin’s superpower has long been his ear for talent: he’s a genre tourer of the highest order, constantly scouring the global charts for new sounds and new voices. His song with Norteño superstar Carin Leon is his first exploration of the various regional Mexican sounds that dominate the charts. But their collaborative track “Stoker” is a disappointingly bland acoustic ballad that has more in common with pop country than música mexicana and the rest Rayo finds him treading largely familiar ground with radio training popetón jams and collaborators from Colombia, Puerto Rico and Spain. He said the album was rooted in nostalgic notions, recalling a time when he sold records from the trunk of the VW Golf featured on the album cover. The MIDI track on the Zion collaboration “Lobo” certainly sounds lifted from one of the Puerto Rican reggaetonero’s 2000-era hits, but much of Rayo it feels contemporary.

Lyrically, Rayo it lacks depth, failing to say much beyond its garden variety boasts of sex, drugs and fun. Of course, such a POV is not inherently boring; his album in collaboration with Bad Bunny (Oasis) managed to make the atmosphere of fun in the sun much more interesting. But while the record benefited from a tongue-in-cheek tone, a shorter runtime, and, well, Bad Bunny, Rayo it feels bloated and more serious than it has any right to be.

There are glimmers of brilliance — the punchy beat switch near the 2-minute mark on “Polve de tu Vida,” the hypnotic analog noise of synths on “Doblexxó,” the propulsive energy of “Gaga” and “4-on- the”. -floor cosmic house beat — that nod to the London club scene he immersed himself in while recording Rayo. The production is generally polished and polished, which suits it. José has always been a far cry from the raw, chaotic energy of early reggaeton, and no matter how hard he tries, he’s more convincing as a sensitive romantic than a swinging lothario. That’s why “3 Noches,” an ode to desire that blends dembow riddim with a shimmering Afropop melody, works so well, while the relatively gritty “Swat” feels incongruous from the moment Balvin’s verse begins .

Rayo it’s a perfectly serviceable reggaetón album, with no glaring misses but no obvious hits. It’s clearly the record he wanted to make, and after millions of streams, sold-out stadium shows and countless awards, he has little left to prove. Still, on his seventh album, a bewildering question remains: Does J Balvin have anything left to say?