J Balvin’s team showed their hand yesterday on their next global collaboration. The Colombian pop star has picked up on MC Fioti’s “Bum Bum Tam Tam,” a baile funk crusher that builds off of none other than a Johann Sebastian Bach flute sample (“Partita in a Minor for Solo Flute,” to be exact). But it wasn’t enough just for the reggaeton boss to hop on the Brazilian dance floor favorite, whose video is already clocking in at around 473 million views. According to Balvin’s Instagram leak, the remix will also features trap superstar Future, British-Jamaican emcee Stefflon Don, and Spanish singer-producer Juan Magan.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcks3qPltmy/?taken-by=juanmagan
In the wake of his Willy William and Beyoncé links on the “Mi Gente” remix, Balvin is becoming an expert in orchestrating these trilingual team ups. Atlanta rap god Future makes an appearance on the track, another sign that mainstream hip-hop is turning its attention to Latin American pop stars (check Quavo’s recent feature on the remix of “Ahora Me Llama,” or the “Krippy Kush” remix featuring Nicki Minaj and 21 Savage for proof). As fans might know, Future isn’t new to baile funk; HNDRXX‘s “Fresh Air” featured a prominent MC Pocahontas sample.
It’s far from Stefflon Don’s first international feature; she debuted via Jeremih’s “London” with Krept & Konan, and has also provided the breakfast-in-bed heartache on French Montana’s “Hurtin’ Me.” And it would probably be easier to find a global pop superstar that Magan hasn’t gotten into the studio — his resume includes tracks with everyone from Selena to Nelly Furtado and Colombia’s Juanes.
The spider web of international pop allegiance is becoming more and more complex. It follows music’s economic constellations perfectly, however. In a world where corporations, streaming services, and even music publications are jumping borders, we should no longer expect our superstars to restrict themselves to monolingual — or in this case, trilingual — promo pacts when it comes to their studio partners.