Maluma Talks New Album 'Don Juan', His Upcoming Tour, J. Balvin & More | Billboard In Conversation

2 years ago

Maluma tells Billboard Latin Chief Content Officier Leila Cobo all about his new album 'Don Juan,' how it's different from his last album, his upcoming tour, his collab with J. Balvin, and more!

Transcript

00:00 I'm gonna let it grow a little bit more.

00:01 - It's cool. - Let's see.

00:02 - Looks cool.

00:03 - You approve it?

00:03 - I think you look cute.

00:04 - Leila approve it, come on.

00:05 - I do.

00:06 (upbeat music)

00:09 - Mr. Maluma, hola, hi.

00:16 - Hi, hola, how are you?

00:18 Como estas?

00:19 - How many languages?

00:20 (upbeat music)

00:23 (singing in foreign language)

00:27 - Talk about Don Juan.

00:35 - Yep.

00:36 - I listened to the whole album.

00:37 - You listened to the whole album already?

00:39 - I did.

00:40 - Oh, I love that.

00:41 What do you think?

00:43 - So before I tell you what I think, I wanna ask you.

00:46 If you had to describe Papi Juancho and Don Juan,

00:49 each in like two words.

00:51 - Let's say that Don Juan is magical.

00:54 Papi Juancho, I would say is emotional.

00:58 When I was doing Papi Juancho,

00:59 I was going through some emotional things

01:02 that in every song like you can interpretate, right?

01:06 But then with Don Juan, it's like everything in one album.

01:11 That's what I would say that is magical because it's fun,

01:14 it's modern, still very sentimental.

01:17 That's the vibe that I'm living right now is music.

01:21 To have fun and enjoy life.

01:22 I'm so happy in my life right now, Leila.

01:25 Like you have no idea.

01:26 Maybe you can tell.

01:27 I feel so grateful every morning when I wake up

01:30 that I just wanna do positive things.

01:32 Right now, that's Don Juan.

01:34 That's the whole album.

01:35 - You did a lot of it in your home in Medellin, right?

01:39 - Yeah, yeah.

01:40 - So whereas before in previous albums,

01:42 I know you would be like traveling

01:43 and going to your hotel room with the laptop and recording,

01:47 but here you were at home.

01:49 Does that change the vibe entirely?

01:51 - I wanna do this album in the place

01:53 that I will feel more comfortable.

01:55 And the place I will feel more comfortable,

01:57 we finished the album in Medellin.

01:59 Of course, I recorded a bunch of songs in Miami

02:01 because of the collaborations,

02:02 the features that I had in the album.

02:04 I had to work in Miami with different artists,

02:07 but at the end of the day,

02:09 I felt like the most comfortable place

02:11 to make a great piece of art is home.

02:15 - The one thing about this album,

02:17 it starts very high energy,

02:20 and I thought it was very risque.

02:23 I thought the lyrics were very risque.

02:25 I thought, I wonder if he sits there and he thinks,

02:27 "How far can I push this before, I don't know,

02:30 "my mom gets angry?"

02:31 - Yeah, but that's something

02:32 that I wanted to have in this album.

02:34 Well, this is my vibe.

02:35 This is what I love doing.

02:37 At the end of the day, I'm the artist, you know?

02:39 And if I'm gonna perform live, I wanna have fun,

02:43 and I wanna do the music that I really love.

02:45 (singing in foreign language)

02:49 - It has a little bit of everything.

02:51 You have that great song with Karin Leon,

02:53 which is a mix of Mexican and musica colombiana popular,

02:57 and then you have more of a bachata song,

03:00 then you have Joel Irandi.

03:01 - Bachata, then I have the reggaeton with Joel Irandi.

03:03 - I love that one.

03:04 - You like the Joel Irandi one?

03:06 - I did, that was fun.

03:07 - That's the nomina, and that's the risque one.

03:09 - Yes, very much.

03:10 I was like, "Ooh, okay, he went there."

03:13 And then you have really beautiful,

03:15 you have a couple of beautiful romantic songs,

03:18 which are my favorite.

03:19 They always are, you know?

03:21 - You always love the romantic Maluma vibe, right?

03:24 - I do.

03:25 - I know, I love that.

03:26 I just wanted to have a bunch of good songs,

03:29 and it doesn't matter the genres.

03:31 I just wanted to have great pieces.

03:33 And of course, collaborating with Karin Leon was amazing.

03:38 With Joel Irandi, we did this song,

03:41 that was called "Copas" for their project.

03:43 ♪ En la orilla de la playa ♪

03:46 ♪ Juntitos los dos ♪

03:47 And I loved it, but still, I was owning myself

03:51 a Joel Irandi reggaeton, you know what I mean?

03:54 - Yeah, reggaeton, like a hardcore, traditional reggaeton.

03:58 - That's what I was missing,

04:01 and I didn't see it before, it's weird.

04:03 - It sounds like you were kind of in a treadmill,

04:05 you know, trying to do so many things,

04:08 and then you had a little breathing space,

04:09 and you were able to.

04:11 - Yeah.

04:12 - And there was that moment where you said,

04:14 - Yeah.

04:15 - "It's the look again."

04:15 - Yeah, but Leila, but you know what?

04:16 It's hard because sometimes,

04:19 you feel a little bit trapped in the industry, right?

04:22 - Yeah, you do.

04:23 - You don't see the industry from a different perspective,

04:26 and that's when you start doing things for the industry,

04:29 and not for yourself, right?

04:31 So when I felt I was working just for the industry,

04:34 I was like, "Man, but I'm getting tired,"

04:37 you know what I mean?

04:38 Like, this is tiring, again and again,

04:41 and I have to do this, and I have to do that.

04:43 I'm not that happy anymore, you know?

04:45 I was enjoying it, but I wasn't feeling that vibe.

04:48 - It was like a tarea, it was a chore.

04:50 - It was a homework, yeah.

04:51 It was a homework that I didn't wanna do.

04:53 Still, I was doing it the best I could do it,

04:56 100% because I put my heart, my soul, in everything I do.

05:00 But now that I feel like I can go out a little bit

05:04 from the industry, because I'm in a very,

05:07 I would say, I'm in a very happy place,

05:10 and I see things in a different way,

05:12 that's how these kind of albums,

05:15 they grow the way that they have to grow.

05:18 - You earned it.

05:19 - Yeah, I earned it because I see it

05:20 in a different perspective that I wasn't there

05:23 a couple albums ago.

05:25 [upbeat music]

05:28 - The Juan comes out August 25th,

05:33 and then you kick off your tour what date?

05:35 - The 31st.

05:36 - The 31st?

05:36 - Yeah, August 31st. - As in, boom, boom.

05:38 - Yeah, a week later, we're in Sacramento.

05:40 - And you're going to play stuff

05:41 from the new album as well.

05:43 - Yeah, yeah, that's why we came here to Los Angeles.

05:46 I reunited the whole band, the whole crew,

05:49 we're all here together.

05:50 Everything changed a little bit, you know?

05:52 Like, I feel like a big evolution after Papi Juan show.

05:57 I wanted to fix a couple of things that I didn't see

06:00 that they were in the right place,

06:02 and now I'm seeing it in the rehearsals.

06:05 Everything is sounding like bigger, better,

06:09 so yeah, I'm excited about this tour.

06:11 - Can you tell me what song is gonna open?

06:13 - Yeah, "Coco Loco."

06:15 [upbeat music]

06:18 - Si?

06:20 - Yeah. - Me encanta.

06:21 - "Coco Loco." - Okay, you go right there.

06:23 - No, wait, wait, wait, wait till you see it.

06:26 It's crazy because we're trying to take a step further,

06:29 you know, so it's "Coco Loco,"

06:31 but a different version of "Coco Loco,"

06:33 and then connect it, you'll see.

06:36 - Okay, so you have to be there for the opening of the show.

06:38 - Please.

06:39 - You and J Balvin have been together a lot.

06:41 - Yeah.

06:42 - So there's new music coming with you and Jose?

06:45 - Yeah.

06:45 - When? - Yeah.

06:46 - Where? How?

06:47 - It's gonna be part of the album, but wait for it.

06:50 [upbeat music]

06:53 What makes me feel glad

06:57 is that we're having a nice relationship.

06:59 That's the best thing that could happen right now.

07:01 The song, okay, people,

07:02 I'm pretty sure you guys are gonna like it,

07:04 but the real matter here is that we're taking along

07:06 in a very good way,

07:08 and I was expecting that for a long time,

07:11 and now it's happening,

07:12 so I'm grateful with him that he opened his heart

07:14 and he changed the way he thinks,

07:17 and now we have a great friendship, so it's amazing.

07:20 And also I changed a lot.

07:22 We left our egos on the side

07:25 and we just decided to make good music.

07:27 - I'm sure fans will be happy to hear that too.

07:29 - Thank you.

07:30 - Juan Luis, thank you. - Mi reino.

07:32 - Good luck. - Gracias.

07:33 - Con el album, good luck con la gira.

07:36 I'll make sure to not be late for it

07:38 so I can see the opening number.

07:39 - Please, please, please.

07:40 I love you, Leila.

07:41 Thank you guys, love you.

07:43 Gracias por estar aquí, tus amas.

07:44 Te quiero mucho.

07:46 [upbeat music]

07:48 (upbeat music)

Maluma Talks New Album 'Don Juan', His Upcoming Tour, J. Balvin & More | Billboard In Conversation

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