Maluma
Juan Luis Londoño Arias grew up in Medellín, Colombia, and briefly pursued a football career before turning to music as a teenager, taking the stage name Maluma from the first syllables of his mother Marlli, father Luis, and sister Manuela. He broke through locally with the 2011 single 'Farandulera' and the 2012 debut album 'Magia,' then reached a global audience with 'Pretty Boy, Dirty Boy' (2015) and a run of crossover hits including 'Felices los 4' and 'Hawái.' Blending romantic reggaetón, Latin trap, and pop, he became one of the defining commercial faces of 2010s Latin music, collaborating with artists from Shakira to Madonna.
Maluma came up in Medellín steeped in the reggaetón that Daddy Yankee pushed into the global mainstream, and the dembow-driven perreo template Daddy Yankee helped codify is the rhythmic backbone of Maluma's uptempo club tracks.
listen forDrop Daddy Yankee's 'Gasolina' and then Maluma's 'Cuatro Babys' back to back — the same insistent, syncopated dembow snare pattern drives both, carrying a shouted call-and-response perreo hook built for the dance floor.
Maluma has repeatedly named Michael Jackson as his idol and a model for being a total entertainer — the polished, dance-forward showmanship and the ambition to cross over into worldwide pop rather than stay boxed inside one genre.
listen forAgainst Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean,' play Maluma's 'Hawái' — both ride a spare, hypnotic synth-and-bass groove under a controlled, radio-built pop vocal rather than a maximalist arrangement.
Wisin & Yandel helped pull reggaetón away from pure rapped toneo toward sung, melodic, romantic hooks — the smooth, seductive lane where Maluma's ballad-leaning reggaetón lives.
listen forPut on Wisin & Yandel's 'Abusadora,' then Maluma's 'El Perdedor' — hear the same move where a reggaetón beat carries a crooned, melodic hook and sung verses rather than a rapped delivery.