J Balvin - Colores

Derivative modern reggaeton...

20th March 2020

UMG

My Rating:

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2.2

/10

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REVIEW

I'll give him this, J Balvin has a certain knack for finding the most irritating sounds to use as melodies, although thankfully nothing here comes as close to the irritation of his ubiquitous single "Mi Gente" (and thank goodness for that). Aside from that, his music is incredibly derivative of the modern reggaeton sound he helped to popularise, and yet it's clear that he's become a product of the trends at this point given how indistinctive he has become from the swathes of copycat artists out there.

This lack of distinction or personality is best exemplified by the beats throughout this album, with each and every song possessing the exact same snare-dominant pattern that is tiresome after just 30 seconds of the first song due to how overused it is in the genre. Combine this with the lack of interesting lyrics, a lacklustre vocal performance from J on every song and the loose colour centred themes that make for the weakest concept album ever, and what you're left with is an extremely superficial album with nothing to bring to the table.

I'm aware of course that I may have something of a bias towards the genre, but it was J Balvin who helped create that bias with the popularised snare beats, annoying melodies and emotionless vocals, so I think the bias is entirely justified. Whenever an artist begins to sound like a copycat, you know something has gone terribly awry, and that's exactly the case here on Colores.

TRACK RATINGS (/10)

1. Amarillo - 3

2. Azul - 4

3. Rojo - 2

4. Rosa - 4

5. Morado - 2

6. Verde - 1

7. Negro - 5

8. Gris - 3

9. Arcoíris - 1

10. Blanco - 2

BREAKDOWN

Ambition: 1

Atmosphere: 3

Catchiness/Enjoyability: 2

Content/Ideas: 2

Emotion/Engaging: 1

Execution: 2

Production: 3

Structure: 3

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Lyrics: 2

Vocals/Flows: 3

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Total: 22

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