Today is J Balvin’s cumpleaños, and in celebration of the Colombian reggaetónero, we’re highlighting one of our favorite moments from the recently aired Altísimo Live event, a live fundraiser benefiting agricultural workers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico via Farmworkers Pandemic Relief Fund. Among the performers and guests: Ivy Queen, Sech, Gloria Trevi, Elvis Crespo, Gloria Estefan and Luis Fonsi.
During Balvin’s slot co-hosting alongside Enrique Santos, he introduces Los Tigres del Norte—and the obvious ternura between them is too sweet not to report.
Balvin grew up listening to Los Tigres, and finally met the pioneering norteño icons in 2016 on La Voz México, where together they served as contestant coaches in the fifth season of the reality singing competition.
“They welcomed me like family,” Balvin says with a smile. “That’s why I call them Los Tíos del Norte.”
The exchange was brief, as Los Tigres were about to perform—so Remezcla reached out to the band to learn their take on the relationship.
“We lived and worked together almost every day for four months, and during that time together our friendship and mutual affection grew. Balvin named us his tíos… and we named him our favorite Colombian nephew,” they said.
Before Los Tigres launches into a live, remote rendition of their 2001—and very appropriately chosen—song, “Somos más Americanos,” Enrique Santos does us all a favor and queries: “What about a collab between Balvin and Los Tigres? Balvin almost seems to encourage the pairing, noting that a collab would “have to be something mind-blowing.”
On their end, “Los Tios” told Remezcla that “it would be a pleasure and an adventure to unite our styles and create something together.”
This isn’t the first time a pairing between Los Tigres and an urbano star has floated around: Just last year, when the band broke the Houston Rodeo’s attendance record immediately after Cardi B had done the same (they surpassed her by just six tickets), calls for a collab emerged. Leader Jorge Hernández enthusiastically expressed that the door to teaming up was open.
Los Tigres are still open to that idea, too. “We have no news,” the band reports,”[but] we would love to… see if we could do something together in the future.”
We’d love to see either combo—but why not both?