This was the first hugely successful collaboration between a reggaeton act and a massive pop act, and its acceptance by fans from both sides opened to the floodgates to numerous like-minded collaborations that continue to proliferate today.Īs for Nicky Jam, he still considers “El perdón” his main milestone. If I didn’t have ‘Bailando,’ ‘El Perdón would have never fallen in my hands,” he notes.īut the “El Perdon” sphere of influence went way beyond Iglesias. Today, Iglesias sees “El Perdón” as a natural evolution of his sound into more urban collaborations. Reggaeton Superstars J Balvin and Nicky Jam on Conquering the Globe In the Trump Era 1 song? I could have erased the video and done a new one, but I like to show my emotions. Ten years off the music game and to come back with a No. 1 I recorded a video for my fans and started crying. “Then, to do a song with Enrique automatically changes the game. “When I wrote the beginning of the song - “Did he take you to the moon, and I couldn’t do that?” - that part hit me really hard,” Jam says about his mid-tempo melancholy reggaetón song about lost love. “But when he sent me the song, I called him up and I said, I love it. “I usually write or co-write most of my songs,” Iglesias explains. And Nicky Jam sent him his newest composition. Iglesias reached out through a friend. He spoke to Nicky Jam for hours. He liked Jam’s personal story, his return to the charts after nearly losing it all. “I’ve been a fan of Nicky Jam’s for a while,” Iglesias told Billboard back in 2016. What else was out there that could be compatible with his music? In Nicky Jam, he found the answer. Now, Nicky Jam’s brand of reggaeton was more melodic, the lyrics more romantic, the songs tinged with longing, the voice poignant and immediately recognizable.Įnrique Iglesias, fresh from the huge success of “Bailando” in 2014, was more attuned than ever to urban sounds. I don’t care that I didn’t write it.He was still a Puerto Rican reggaeton artist, yes, but his music had mellowed after living for several years in Medellin, Colombia - the city where he also cleaned up his act and found a new manager.
But when he sent me the song, I called him up and I said, I love it. I usually write or co-write most of my songs. His career is as long as mine, and what’s interesting is how he started with Daddy Yankee, they split, and he moved to Colombia and how that shook his musical style and his lyrics. “I’ve been a fan of Nicky Jam’s for a while. I promised God I wouldn’t touch no drugs, no alcohol, no nothing, and he’s paying me.”
And when he read about me, he was obsessed about doing something with me. He was into my story, because normally when a reggaetón artist leaves, he doesn’t come back. I felt the melody was a hit, and I had to write the perfect words. “Musicians are bad at love because we travel a lot, and it inspired me to write something about this girl that I lost and I have to get her back. Here’s the story (a shorter version was published in Billboard magazine in 2015): Nicky Jam & Enrique Iglesias' 'El Perdon' Earns Historic 26th Week at No.