If Coachella is in the throes of globalizing, no artist better represents the future of the fest than J Balvin.
The Colombian pop-reggaeton crossover just played the most high-profile set of any Spanish-language act in Coachella‘s history.
On Saturday, Balvin made his case that old limits around language and genre don’t matter — and they might actually point the way to the future.
If Blackpink’s set Friday night was a signal that K-pop can thrive here, Balvin’s set was maybe an even more radical assertion: that Spanish-language, Latin American artists are as much a part of the mainstream in the U.S. as anyone.
1/30
Billie Eilish on stage April 13 at Coachella 2019.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 2/30
Fans cheer Billie Eilish.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 3/30
Billie Eilish performs.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 4/30
Christine & the Queens on stage at Coachella.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 5/30
Fans get caught up in a performance by Tame Impala at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival on April 13.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times) 6/30
Tame Impala performs at Coachella on the second day of the annual music festival.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times) 7/30
Christine & the Queens on stage.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 8/30
Coachella fans ride the Ferris wheel as the sun sets April 13.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 9/30
Festival fans head for late afternoon shows.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 10/30
Fans walk through “Spectra,” a seven-story immersive art installation.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 11/30
Billie Eilish on stage.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 12/30
A security guard stands watch atop the “Spectra” art installation on the festival grounds.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 13/30
Juice WRLD performs during the first weekend of Coachella.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 14/30
Rivers Cuomo fronts the Los Angeles rock band Weezer on the Main Stage.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 15/30
Rivers Cuomo and Weezer.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 16/30
Weezer performs as a barbershop quartet at the start of the band’s Main Stage appearance.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 17/30
A hovering astronaut is a 45-foot art installation by Poetic Kinetics.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 18/30
The sun sets April 13 at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival, held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 19/30
The “Spectra” installation at the festival.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 20/30
Chilean indie electro-pop musician Javiera Mena takes the Sonora Stage at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 21/30
Javiera Mena performs on the Sonora Stage on April 13.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 22/30
Fans of Chilean indie-electro artist Javiera Mena enjoy the vibe.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 23/30
Javiera Mena performs at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 24/30
Nigerian singer Mr Eazi on stage at Coachella.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 25/30
DJs spin in front of a projection of Mr Eazi.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 26/30
Mr Eazi performs at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 27/30
Dancers accompany Mr Eazi on stage at Coachella.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 28/30
Music festival security guards take a break from the sun under a large mobile art installation.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 29/30
The “H.i.P.O” art installation -- which stands for Hazardus interstellar Perfessional Operations.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 30/30
Francis Kéré’s art installation “Sarbale ke” is a set of towers at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) When he tucked into a globe-spanning track like “Mi Gente” or “Safari,” the sheer crossover took on new dimensions out here. Is it even fair to treat a Spanish-language hit like something other than completely American at this point?
The lurching drums and slinky horn samples in his tracks felt Latin as heck, even in his cobbled-together version of Cardi B’s “ I Like It Like That,” where he had a guest verse and paper-mache stand-ins for the song’s leads.
But at this point in the steady ascent of Latin pop, Balvin’s ideas felt like an inevitable future, one where a diverse young crowd recognizes the music on its merits, and even mainstream Coachella-goers know it as the pop music it is. Plenty of Spanish-language acts have played here before, but none had the hits and self-assertion that Balvin did about his own place in pop.
There’s a reason Beyoncé wanted in on his remix: artists like Balvin and Bad Bunny and Rosalia (and Blackpink, for that matter) are bigger than their own genre scenes or regions.
They represent the coming future of Latin and global pop where language is less a barrier than an invitation. There’s no better place to prove that than the biggest stages at Coachella, and in this pointedly global year, they’re making their case with aplomb.
FULL COVERAGE: Coachella 2019 »
For breaking music news, follow @augustbrown on Twitter.
