J Balvin on Staying Optimistic During Quarantine and the Power of Meditation

J Balvin knows the power of meditation. The Colombian reggaeton star has opened up about his struggles with anxiety in the past and how meditating has made a positive difference in his mental health. The singer talked to Apple Music about his time in quarantine. He called Ebro Darden via FaceTime from his home in Medellín, where he is in voluntary isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. "I can’t wait for how the world is going to look after this … how people will be conscious of what’s really important and what's not,” he said.

Courtesy of Apple Music

The singer, who led a virtual meditation for his fans Thursday on Spotify's Instagram page, reflected about this disease that has paralyzed the modern world. "No matter if you’re rich or poor. Whatever, we’re all the same. It shows how powerful Mother Nature is," he said. "It’s not the coronavirus against us, it’s us against the planet. That's why we’re locked down. We’re locked down cause Mother Nature is telling us: 'Quit this s***, love yourself, 'cause you’ve been doing a lot of noise to this planet.'" The singer added that after just eight days in quarantine we began to see notable differences and less pollution in the environment."It’s crazy, bro! We are the virus. It looks like the coronavirus is a vaccine for us."

How is he spending his time during quarantine? "Exercise every time I wake up. Meditate, I do meditate twice a day. This last week is all about the album. Time to just be focused on it. After this, I want to lock down in the studio and do music," he said. He added about his album: "The circumstances are not regular. I think that’s what makes this album special. That’s why we called it Colores — we're bringing color to this dark time."

The selection of the track list for Colores was unique. "We recorded like 40 songs for this album, only 10 made it. Not that the others were bad, just not what we wanted," he admitted. "My producer and my team, we closed our eyes and listened to the song, and asked, 'What color do you feel?' If 98 percent of the people said a color, we picked that one. We can feel it."

Taking it slower in 2020 and not being on tour has been a blessing during this chaotic time. "I'm grateful that I took this year for me. Just for promoting music ... I did some single shows but no tour, and I'm so sorry about my colleagues because they had to cancel their whole tour. It’s a tough time for those in the whole world in the live show industry."

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Putting great music out there is another way to help the world heal. The singer said about his new track "Arcoiris" featuring Mr Eazi: "When it comes to 'Arcoiris' — which is with my boy Mr Eazi and you know, I love him so much — I respect all the Afro-pop that is going around the world. I just want to keep playing reggaeton around the world with people I love and respect and admire. The idea of this album was to keep spreading reggaeton around the world, keep going to places we’ve never been before and make people vibe to it."