On September 28th, the Global Citizen Festival will gather thousands of people who took action to end extreme poverty. Join Post Malone, Dojakat, Lisa, Jelly Roll, and Raoul Alejandro. As they take the stage with world leaders and activists to defeat poverty, defend the planet and demand equity. Download the Global Citizen app today and earn your spot at the festival.
Learn more at GlobalCitizen.org slash bots. Welcome to Switch On Pop, I am producer, Rhianna Cruz. And I'm a musicologist, Nate Sloan. And welcome back to the newcomers, our series about artists that are popping off right now, with new music that you should be listening to.
Last week we talked with the art pop duo Magdalena Bay. But today I'm here to tell you Nate about an artist that is one of the most listened to musicians in the world. I'm talking about the Puerto Rican writer, producer, and performer, Jacob. That's a song, Tori, which is featured on his new three-part record, dropping on September 6th called Leclique Vida Rockstar X.
Now let's explore the song for a bit. Nate, what are you hearing? I mean, there are elements of this that feel like classic reggaeton to me. Most notably maybe is that boom, chik, boom, chik, boom, chik, boom, chik, beat, which is like the essence of so many reggaeton tracks rhythmically.
But then there's these elements that kind of feel more unfamiliar. Certainly his lyrics have a darkness that reminds me a little bit of like, maybe something like the weekend almost because it's like kind of this dark, drugged, adult world that he brings you into. At the same time, these vocal hooks are so catchy. It's like he's singing about this escapism, but he's doing so in a way that kind of pulls you into it.
And that's something that he is known for. I really like that about him as well. And over the course of J.Co's career, the artist formerly known as J.Cortez has made his own music with albums like Famous and Timeless, but also has produced and written for multiple iconic artists both in and out of Latin music, including the duo Xioni Lennox on songs like Como Cura. And even Cardi B, he has writing credits on the smash hit, I Like It with Bad Bunny and J.Baldin.
But in his own solo work, J.Co was also out of part in several tracks with over a billion streams, including his song, No Michael Noce, also with Bad Bunny and J.Baldin. So Rihanna, if J.Cortez has been pretty successful under his original name, what do you think is behind this kind of rebranding as an artist named J.Co? Is this a sonic turn? Is this a new identity for him?
Like what do you make of this new cognomen? I think him changing a name is him fully leading into the rock star life that this album is titled after, you know, because you think of artists with one name, right? You think Madonna, you think of Cher, you think of Prince, you know, these iconic one named artists of incredible status. And I feel like with this name change, J.Co is putting himself on a similar pedestal.
So that's cool. So this is like a new statement for this artist. This is his his magna carda, so to speak. In his own way, this is him being a newcomer.
This is his first album under the J.Co name. And yet at the same time, he's also one of the 200 most listened to artists in the world on Spotify and is a very big deal in Latin music, but maybe in English speaking America, he's not as well known as say his contemporaries like Bad Bunny. So this feels like a pivotal moment for this artist, Rihanna, and I'm so curious to hear your conversation. Like what are some of the things that we're going to be hearing from J.Co?
Yeah, so I got to speak with him about some of the tracks on his new record and in the process found that he thinks about music very differently than the average record on superstar. He calls himself a melody freak, and it's very easy to see why. You're going to hear about how he moved from being a songwriter to being an outward-facing artist, how he writes melodies that connect with billions of people, and what it's like to differentiate yourself and carve out your own space in the Latin music industry. I'm Stokdriana.
Let's turn it over to you and J.Co. I'm J.Co and we're going to be talking about the B.L.R.A.X.T.A.X. when you have on. Before you were the public facing J.Co as we know, you were a songwriter.
When did you begin to write music? I began to write music when I was 11. I love music. Those were my cartoons when I was young.
Those were my power rangers. So I would know everything from who did the flow, who wrote it, who recorded it, who mixed it. Then it would just be easy to like imitate it. I used to love Don Marz, I used to just like copy what he used to say and all that.
That was my idol and for how flow is like thanks to Don Marz. Would you say that's why your approach writing for other artists versus writing for yourself is different? How do you approach writing music for other people versus writing stuff that's like going to be on your records and things like that? It's just that the way I do music is totally different than everybody else.
The way that I start my verses. It's my style. It's my style. The melodies I pick, the way I structure song is differently.
So it's easy. It's like how to make pasta and how to make rice with beans. You don't start the same way. I have a wide variety of influences from everything I hear.
I hear alternative music in the music. Deep house, rap, rap, salsa, bachata, scores for music. But that's why I think I've done across the years. Just me learning and me being able to live all these experiences with my career, my music, being London, being Paris, being in Puerto Rico, being Spain, being able to do Afro, and then being a visa and being able to live how deep house culture is there and then coming to York.
It's just like it gives you so much open space to create and just push the bar when it comes to creativity. I feel like that sensibility reflects on your collaborators because I feel like the people you work with is a very eclectic list. You work with a lot of people in and out of Latin music and thinking of your collaboration with Skrillex. I'm quite a little.
Can you talk a little bit about how you choose people to work with? It has to do a lot. Like with the moment people, like new people, people want to hear you with new people, people want to hear you with other people with old people. So it's a little mix of what's happening and what you love.
Like Skrillex is somebody I always admire and being able to do a song like that. And I only do a song like that with him but Cole produced it with him as I had already done all the melodies. He came and he put the drums and then mixed it. It's a dream come true for me.
And not only for me but for the culture of Rhaetone. Like with a dog 10 years ago that somebody could like co-produce a beat for a song with somebody like Skrillex. That's like the genius. So for me that's a little bit of how I pick Big White I admire and people I never thought I could do something with and then I'll pick somebody totally new.
Like there's a rumor. Or even more like Davey. It's not about like you gotta think also like a fan. When you're with, I have two ways of looking at things.
I look at it from my artist's point, my creative point, my producer's point and then I look at it as a public. As a fan, am I going to be able to listen to the South one? Then know what's going to happen? Do I want to know what's going to happen?
Do I want to hear him with the same artist? Maybe if it's built enough like when else it's about it or not then no I want to hear with somebody new. So it's just like keeping the love for the fans and the love for the creativity always on fire. I feel like a lot of people don't really approach music from a fan perspective.
No, no, not at all. Because artists are so caught up in like them being the artist. Sometimes people that do music or do hits like fall into a place where they're like I know what's the hit is. I know what this is.
If I'm a fan, I know like I want to hear something new, I want to hear something fresh. I want to hear this or you know like you have to listen to a fan because before you did music, you was a fan. I want to talk about what you mentioned before your collaboration with Pisso Pluma, Especiag. How did this collaboration come together?
I go out a lot to Mexico, I love Mexico. So when I was doing my album I stayed there like let's say a month and a half I would say. So I really got to like tap in a little bit more into a culture and not just listen it from playlists or well what's Mexico listen? Let me go to the Mexico playlist and see what songs are in the top 10.
I know I got to be there and try to understand it so we could hold different stuff and I feel like everybody just tries to do what the sound not try to like really understand it so they could like put their sound into it and then it sounds like a fusion. That's what I did with their songs. Because their sound is a different time than ours. It's three times and the right tone beat is four.
So I had to like really like find a way to like mix those two timings. I really enjoyed the beginning right where you blend the Mexican sounds you know this like regional guitar into the classic regga tone and that's fascinating about the rhythms. I never really cluffed that. That's what I mean when I say you have to like really understand because then I would have just done something with their beat you know and it sounds like I just hopped on their way you know and I just like I took their way of input my stamp on it you know.
Yeah totally. Hey super here I'm Megan Rapinoe women's sports are reaching new heights these days and there's so much to talk about so Megan and I are launching a podcast where we're going to deep dive into all things sports and then some we're calling it a touch more. Because women's sports is everything pop culture economic politics you name it and there's no better folks than us to talk about what happens on the court or on the field and everywhere else too and we'll have a whole bunch of friends on the show to help us break things down we're talking athletes, actors, comedians maybe even our moms that'll be a fun episode. Whether it's breaking down the biggest games or discussing the latest headlines we'll be bringing a touch more insight into the world of sports and beyond follow a touch more wherever you get your podcasts new episodes drop every Wednesday.
Speaking of like pivots I really like your song tasola and I like how it's like a down tempo like melodic dance hall track. What inspired the paired back pivot that you take on that song? I mean just being in Europe being in the Granada and being in for the Tejas and being in the Ibiza and all these items you know they're more beach oriented and they hear different type of records you know they're not hearing like ice lights they're hearing ambiento beach music and that really inspired me you know and I feel like that type of music is really universal it like invites you in you know so that's one of my favorite tracks and I'm happy like it too. Yeah it's fresh like I dig it and I think like the beach feeling is so true I feel like you do that a lot in your music thinking like you're bad bunny same vibe you know like beach chilling in PR like doing anything you know.
I really love Deep House I'm not like a huge techno guy like Hard Beat you know like I love melodies and then Deep House is just like it's just like a feeling you know it's just like it never explodes and just like it's like a wave that's how I see. But I feel like even within Deep House there's like a lot of emotion in those songs and I would say Afro is the same thing because they have like the same certain melodies you know and I'm a melody freak. Yeah which is cool because then I feel like the J.Co sound is like melodic reggaeton you know like obviously you have songs like 3D where you're like partying. But it's mostly melodic because like that's like why I love I love melodies I love like a melody you put from the get go and it's an instruction in the heart like you feel it and then vice-a-zite is like hopping on a vibration you know a melody that's super beautiful is just you hop instantly in a vibration and that's how that's why like I just I can't just do records and just release any type of records and I need to like feel from the get go like I hopped in this vibration I hopped in this emotion and that's what creates a moment.
How do you write melody like do you sit down and you like just kind of go do you write in the shower like are you that type of songwriter? I don't write too much in the studio like I feel like the studio is like office. I like when I could feel like I'm having fun I'm at somewhere or the beach or I'm at house or whatever or in the car and then just feel it's natural I like it comes out because I'm feeling good you can't write something you don't feel good you know what I mean so let's say here in New York I'm in the street I'm in a car and I started searching for the melody it's something's gonna come out because I'm feeling good you know and I feel like that's how people feel when they're outside when they're going somewhere and that's how I connect with certain melodies I know people are gonna like you know in any type of day and then it's not like I did the song around a beat like almost a siente I did it without drums so you're not thinking about the drums you're in love with the melody in the chorus and the intro and it could be a salsa it could be a pachata and it's still gonna be hit you know because it's not about the beat it's about the melody I'm a really a melody scouter so I'm mostly everyday just saving melodies and looking for melodies and all that so there's more percentage of being ahead because it's in the melody it's not in the beat so you're always gonna feel something and that's why like songs like no like almost a siente like that gave me the dusa are songs that are timeless they came out in a decade but like it's melancholic when you hear it because it's like it's not part of like what was popping those six months I hear what you're saying about like these songs kind of being timeless you know they really like have no I think like sense of datedness you know like that's so true you know like I hear them on the radio when they came out I'll probably hear them on the radio in five years and still be like no my kimosas is a banger you know it's still a banger and it's not going nowhere it's also also the melody you know it's like the melody helps create the moment because it is a moment you wasn't hearing it because of the beat when it starts that time then they're like it takes you to that moment of time you was living there and it's made up callable it's starting just a moment and feeling I want to talk a little bit about your new record what statement are you trying to make with this record so it's just like my world you know right now it's just like what I've grown into what I've been not only in my music but in my personality how I found to be more myself or who I really am you know like I feel like when I was doing famous or time as I was really like discovering not only what was as an artist but also as a person I was super young I was starting to know the world starting to know fame and across its two years and I you know I've settled in more into who I am and that is this project you know like my world and what my perspective of a rock star is in my world you know it's just being so into and so tapped into creativeness and doing it for so long that you're not even thinking about it it it's like I'm doing it while even touching the mouse you know I'm telling the producer this is what I want to do this do this not like that give me a computer this is what I want to hear you know it's just having all these tools knowing all these people and just being able to create knowing it so well trying to look oh how can I do I know all the patterns in music when I do a song I'm not thinking the patterns I'm thinking what the melody invites me to do it invites me to start with the chorus then I'll start with the chorus I'm not thinking about it I'm just doing it I'm doing the same thing with the beats and with the production and with the video and it's all like a combination of just knowing everything to the core yeah and I feel like that combination do you feel like it's like specific to you in the Latin music industry like I'm curious if that's like the standard or you feel like you know you're doing everything that's not a standard I'm doing is that I mean you got to know how to do is this only so few people that know how to be an artist and do punchlines in the songs and do great courses and do great intro and do great rhythm has like a personality in the verse you know and also a personality in the melodies you pick like a Vaponee pick somebody you're gonna know is Vaponee somebody you know the conny pick somebody you know it's conny you know it's conny you know it's conny you know even without him starts to sing you know so it's the same thing with this and there's only a few people I know I do and thank you I'm one of those people you know yeah I think I'm extremely special well thank you Jekyll I really appreciate it love it amazing switch on pop is produced by Rihanna Cruz we're edited by Art Chung Brandon McFarland is our engineer Iris Gottlieb makes our illustrations Nisakarwa is our executive producer we're a production of the Vox Media podcast network and Vulture which is part of New York mag we'll be back on Tuesday with a great episode about the great album from Sabrina Carpenter that just came out and then we'll be talking again here on Friday about another newcomer trying out a new sound and until then thanks for listening