♪ (punk rock music) ♪
♪ (faint music and conversation) ♪
- Okay, what is this? Is this rap?
- Oh, I know who J--
I don't even know how to say his last name.
- He looks like a wannabe Drake, honestly.
- ♪ (singing in Spanish) ♪
- It does not sound familiar. I don't know.
♪ (reggaeton music, Auto-Tuned singing) ♪
- Something you'd hear, like, in my streets.
- ♪ ...en la noche, la molesto y arreglamos ♪
- Oh, it's Spanish.
- ♪ (Auto-Tuned harmonizing) ♪
- Okay, yeah, I've definitely heard this before.
I don't understand it.
- ♪ (singing in Spanish) ♪
- I like the beat.
- Oh my gosh. What, what?
- That seems like a reasonable response to that.
- ♪ (Auto-Tuned harmonizing) ♪
- I always think pranking is super cute
when boyfriend and girlfriend do it though.
- ♪ Peleamos... ♪ - "Peleamos, nos arreglamos."
You know, we fight, but we get back together.
- ♪ (singing in Spanish) ♪
- I love this prank relationship.
- ♪ Ah, ah, ah, ah ♪
♪ Peleamos ♪
- I'm just hearing, like, "amore."
A lot of that word, "amor," you know, love.
- ♪ Ah, ah, ah, ah ♪
♪ Ah, ah, ah, ah ♪ - What?
Are they just pulling pranks on each other the entire time?
- ♪ (singing in Spanish) ♪
- ♪ One, two, three, let go ♪
- When they count numbers, they always seem to do it in English.
- Oh. Well, they're obviously in love.
(song ends abruptly)
- I have no idea who that is, but it was catchy.
- That was a fun music video.
It's like about this fun kind of...
like, mutually asshole-y relationship.
- I still don't know who it is though. (anxiously) Who is it?
♪ (dramatic rumble) ♪
(low thundering)
- Like the little space ninja vibes I'm getting here.
(thunder rumbling)
- Ooh, ninja skills. Wow.
(resonant landing) - Pepsi.
That's product placement right there.
- Oh, look at that. Low-key sponsorship.
♪ (pattering synthpop intro) ♪ - So intense.
- ♪ Si necesita reggaeton, dale ♪ ♪ (beat picks up) ♪
- Should've took Spanish.
- The beat is nice. I like it.
- ♪ Vamos a pegarnos como animales ♪
- I'm getting very bad blood vibes from this video.
- ♪ Si, si, si necesita reggaeton, dale ♪
- I feel like his music videos are more interesting
than his music itself.
- ♪ Vamos a pegarnos como animales ♪
♪ Y yo hoy estoy aquí imaginando ♪
- It's like, he's just telling her to move around.
- ♪ Sexy baila y me ♪
- I bet he has a lot of fangirls, 'cause he's pretty cute.
(in video: low growling)
- ♪ Reggae, reggaeton ♪
- I didn't get this music video either.
The aspect is like, what is he supposed to be doing?
- The beats were pretty nice.
- I don't think any of the footage in that music video
made sense to his songs.
And if it did, then he's got weird songs.
♪ (punk rock music) ♪
- (Finebros) So do you know who this artist is?
- Not at all.
- No, but I'm sure I've heard some of his songs
in the streets somewhere.
- I have no idea who this guy is.
I have heard the songs, 'cause I'm Hispanic.
And if you're Hispanic, you've heard these songs.
- (hesitantly) J Balvin. Yes?
- I've heard of him, just because he has--
there's a remix of "The Way" by Ariana Grande with him in it.
- I listened to the music before.
When I'm bored, I listen to music I don't like
in different languages, like Spanish mostly.
I, like, will listen to it often enough
that I'll end up understanding it. Hasn't worked yet.
- (Finebros) This is the artist J Balvin,
who's a Colombian music star. From what we showed you,
what do you think of his music videos? - I like his style.
I'm pretty sure I would listen to more.
- His music is really high-energy.
- Girls dancing.
Your stereotypical music video.
- I think his videos are really interesting.
He's actually putting, like, artistic value into them.
- That first one about-- where he was talking about fighting
but getting along-- that's kinda like what the video reflects.
The music video really complements the song.
- (Finebros) Well, he's become one of the biggest stars,
not just in Colombia but in the world.
The first video we showed you has over 900 million views.
- (astonished) Well, that is, uh, sad
I have not seen it on YouTube.
- (astonished) 900 million? Whoa.
- You'd think that I would know this guy by now if he's viral.
- (Finebros) And the second video we showed you
is approaching 600 million views.
And in the last four years, his videos overall
have gotten almost 3 billion views.
- But why? It seems so generic.
- You gotta be joking.
- That's so much!
God, it's just like, where have I been?
- I'm really surprised,
'cause usually when there's a popular video on YouTube,
I try to watch it.
- (Finebros) Why do you think he's not just popular
but gets views like almost no one else in the world?
- Honestly, I have no idea.
- I knew some of the words to his songs.
But you don't have to speak Spanish
to get kind of the message they're sending.
- The Spanish language is just so... (sighs) romantic.
That next to the, like, amazing reggaeton style
brings a good balance.
And it seems like he knows how to do it very well.
But it also, like, proves in a sense that--
that the Spanish culture is something that's popular
and that is well received, not only amongst the Spanish people
but also amongst the whole world.
- (Finebros) Being from here, what do you think about
seeing an artist as big as J Balvin have that much success
not in America? - (takes deep, thoughtful breath)
(chuckles) I'm gonna try not to get heated.
We still kind of have that Cold War mentality
of what we're producing is the best.
A Latino artist could be one of the most
popular artists in the world, and we wouldn't know about him.
- It's good, 'cause I think we need more diversity
in any industry, really.
- People in the U.S. usually only listen to Justin Bieber, like,
mainstream people. And that's good and everything.
But some people need to widen their minds.
- I guess we're too focused on ourselves.
We don't look at international music.
- (Finebros) Years ago, he worked illegally in the U.S.
while trying to start his music career.
And after hearing Donald Trump's comments
about Mexican immigrants,
he canceled his Miss USA performance in protest.
What do you think about him making this statement
in such a public way? - I mean, go him. He's being brave.
- Everything that's going on right now, like, at the moment,
I guess it was better that he spoke up about it.
- I think it's excellent.
I wish more American artists were doing that.
- It's good for him to be making decisions
that, you know, can motivate people to stand up.
- I like him, because he is standing up
for all kinds of Latin people.
- That takes courage, you know, it takes balls in a sense
to do something to plant your seed in the ground.
It gives me hope to know that I'm not the only one
that thinks these are important issues.
- (Finebros) Unlike a lot of popular artists
who speak other languages,
he is not trying to cross over so much in English.
He says he's gonna take his time and get as big as he can
by singing in Spanish. What do you think about this?
- I respect that.
I like when music is in the home language.
I feel like it has more connection to the meaning.
- I like that a lot too.
So far, I don't like his music, but I like him.
- They shouldn't be pressured just because everyone's like,
"Oh, English is the universal language."
- Sometimes artists forget where they come from and stuff,
so then they just transition over to the other culture and stuff.
And they just forget about their past.
- Why should you have to change up just for America?
- What he's doing, it's working for him.
So might as well continue that.
- (Finebros) Finally, what do you think it does for culture
when someone not traditionally white and American
breaks through with this kind of success?
- I think when it comes to music,
it'll bring people together in a way.
- They should be able to be popular.
It shouldn't really matter of what culture they're form.
- It's great in that more artists of different cultures
should try to become successful.
- It tells us that change is possible.
If we were so close-minded or whatever,
we would have not accepted this.
- I know there's a lot of people who don't speak English.
And they want to prosper in America.
And they want to be able to look up to someone
who's just like them. Like, "Oh, they can do it?
I know I can do it too."
- What he's doing, especially for the Spanish-speaking community,
it's saying,
"I don't have to feel like my culture
comes secondhand compared to the American culture."
- Thanks for watching this episode of Teens React.
- Like what you saw? Then hit that Subscribe button.
- Let us know in the comments what international superstar
we should react to next.
- ¡Adios! Thanks for watching, y'all.
♪ (punk rock music) ♪