J BALVIN & BAD BUNNY

As Alejandro “Sky” Ramirez wrote J Balvin’s verse on “Un Peso”—a standout on his new collaborative album with Puerto Rico’s Bad Bunny—the Colombian musician recalled an old song from the Argentinian rock band Los Enanitos Verdes that his family used to drink and party to back in his hometown of Medellín. Their 1994 hit “Lamento Boliviano” was drenched in self-medication and singer/bassist Marciano Cantero’s romantic pathos offered the kind of lyrics that get screamed back at you when sung to packed stadiums: “Y yo estoy aquí, borracho y loco (And here I am, drunk and crazy)/Y mi corazón idiota, siempre brillará” (And my idiot heart, always shining). For J Balvin, Sky flipped part of the original hook to turn Balvin from the heartbroken to the heartbreaker: “Y tu corazón idiota siempre me extrañará” (“And your idiot heart will always miss me”). Over the course of a single day, what began as a half-serious gag—what if we got Cantero in the booth?—ended with a phone call from the Argentine asking for stems. “It was kind of a joke in the studio,” Sky told Rolling Stone. “But they take the jokes very seriously.”

“Un Peso” captures the appeal of Oasis; frothy music made by serious talents. The reigning princes of urbano spend much of the album’s 31-minute runtime promoting tropical hedonist pursuits: too-tiny bikinis, excessive alcohol consumption, ostentatious displays of wealth, and unprotected sex. They bro down over dembow beats and pack as many dancing women as possible into their music videos. It’s goofy, but incredibly fun—a soundtrack for beach BBQs and ad hoc fire-hydrant water parks, summer vibes made manifest. (Pitchfork)