-Thank you. Welcome. Was I close?
-Yo, give it up for his Spanish.
[ Cheers and applause ] -I'm trying!
I'm trying, I'm trying as hard as I -- I'm trying.
I'm trying so hard. -Finally, finally.
-Finally, we get to talk. -Yes, man.
-You've been on your show -- - -You brought me here
like 20 times and you never want to talk to me.
[ Laughter ] -That's not true.
I love listening to you but I love talking to you, as well.
But congrats on "SNL," because that was
a great performance you did with DJ Khaled.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-You talk to Billy? -What's that? Yeah.
-You talk to Billy? That's his name.
-No. -Yeah, that's how
Khaled's called -- Billy. -You call him Billy?
-No, he call him Billy himself. -No, he does not.
He calls himself DJ Khaled like 130 times a day.
[ Laughter ] -No.
-He doesn't say, "Billy!" -You have an interview him.
He say Billy because he wants to be a billionaire.
That's why he said it. -Oh, that's right.
I forgot, he did change his name to Billy.
-Yeah, that was good. -Yeah, yeah, he's like --
He goes, "People call me Billy now."
I'm like, "That's right."
I go, "I didn't know that's your name."
And he goes, "Yeah, 'cause I want to be a billionaire."
[ Laughter ] I was like, "That's so him.
That's so him." -I wanna be Billy one day, too.
-Billy, I was like, "Oh, my gosh."
-Shout-out to Khaled. -He's amazing.
You did -- -Another one.
-A little record -- "another one."
[ Laughter ]
He's got them all. Another one.
We have the best music. Yeah, I go, "Okay."
He is amazing to meet, though, isn't he?
-I love him. -He's like --
It's like the personality is just so magnetic,
and it comes off, and it makes you so happy
to be around the guy. -It makes me feel like Billy.
[ Laughter ] -Yeah, it does. Me too.
He was the first reggaeton performer ever
to be on "Saturday Night Live." -Yes, yes.
It took 44 years. [ Cheers and applause ]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. -Not bad, buddy.
-It's amazing. It's the first time somebody's, like...
-What you're doing -- What you're doing is,
you're just breaking all these records
and shattering all these things.
And I know you're gonna be headlining Lollapalooza?
-Yes, it's the first time a Latino is headlining.
-First time a Latino artist, solo artist,
has ever headlined that. -Yes, yes.
-I mean, but does that make you nervous?
Because I saw you at -- Well, I didn't see you at,
but I saw you at Coachella with Beyoncé.
-Yes, man. [ Cheers ]
-But so you did Coachella. What was that like?
How do you get the call from Beyoncé?
What happened? -You know, it was like --
They didn't plan that at all.
Like, they called me like five hours before.
[ Laughter ] -You're joking me.
-Yeah, no, it's true. I was in bed.
I was in bed, you know? It was just, like, checking TV.
And I received, like, a message,
like, "Yo, you want to come join us?"
I was like -- Beyoncé's team, "What's up?"
[ Laughter ]
-You know you're awake, you're like, "What?"
-And they're like, "Yo, we got a Coachella show tomorrow,
and, you know, we wondered if you want to come."
And I just jump on a -- on a plane and got there.
-But I mean, wow. -You go.
[ Cheering ] -And you were amazing.
-Yeah.
-But then, you did your own Coachella performance...
-Yes. -...that got crazy-good reviews.
-First time of a Latino doing main -- main stage.
-What'd that feel like? Were you nervous for that?
-I was super nervous. Yes, I was.
-Because it's all you now. -It was different.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Did you call Beyoncé,
be like, "Hey, we need you in a couple hours?"
[ Laughter ] You didn't hear back?
-I was thinking if I call her, like, 20 minutes --
like five hours before the show,
I think she's not gonna do the same.
-No, no. But man, oh, man.
Look at what you did. Look at the stage.
Look at what you did. It was so fun.
Everyone talked about it.
-Yeah, it was a collab that we did with FriendsWithYou,
you know, is a friend of mine, and that's the name --
the audience, and, you know, we took this show like that,
like really animated and fun and happiness.
-I also love your fashion and your look.
-Thank you.
-You're always doing something different,
And I love that, as a fan of any artist.
You always got to keep reinventing.
But you just signed on to a thing with Guess...
-Yes. -...to do a thing called Vibras.
-Vibras, yes. -Vibras.
-You know, that's actually the first time
they do a male campaign.
-They've never done that, Guess? -No.
-Oh, man. -So it's good.
-I mean -- -For the culture.
-You can do a second one. Oh, I was gonna say --
Yeah, right, you can do a second --
I mean, I'm open to modeling if anyone wants it.
But, I mean, you developed this.
How would you describe this Vibras?
-This is kind of like an '80s flow.
-Yeah. -You know, sort of Miami vibe.
-Yeah, a little Miami vibe. -Yes, yes.
Shout-out to Miami. [ Cheers ]
-I heard somewhere that it's very important to you
that you do all of your songs only in Spanish.
-Yes, you know, that's always been my dream.
You know, like, to really cross over in Spanish.
You know, we're here talking in English,
but my music is in Spanish. -Exactly.
-So it's really beautiful, man, you know, the way, you know,
people are reacting to our music.
Even though they don't understand what I'm saying,
they feel the vibe, right? [ Light laughter ]
So it's beautiful, it's beautiful.
You know, it's -- -It's a challenge.
I mean, it's an endless sea of people.
-It was crazy. -Dancing to your music
and probably 90% of them don't --
-They didn't know what I was saying.
-No. [ Laughter ]
-100%, 100%. But they were feeling the vibe.
-But isn't that great that you did this?
-It's amazing for the culture.
-Well, the tour is about to kick off.
-Yes. -And I know you're playing
a very -- it's gonna be special, because in Puerto Rico,
which would be a beautiful thing.
-I saw you there. I saw you there.
-I was there. -With my boy Bad Bunny.
-Me and Bad Bunny had to do it. [ Laughter ]
You know, I'm in Puerto Rico, I got to call my dude.
"No, come on!"
-No, but you were with a great guy, man.
-Oh, yeah, good. I'll call you whenever to do --
[ Laughter ]
Just give me five hours next time and I'll give you a call.
-If you ever go to Colombia, you know, let me host you.
-Oh, yeah. -Yeah, of course.
-All right, done. Done deal.
-Shout-out to my country, Colombia.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Arcoiris... -Yeah.
-...is the tour -- -Your Spanish is amazing.
-Thank you. Oh, appreciate that.
Thank you. I learned from the best.
-And we know that he did it once, right?
When he said "Arcoiris"... [ Laughter ]
-Yeah, "Arcoiris." -Yeah, it was easy.
Like you didn't even -- -I didn't even know what --
I mean, sometimes I don't even realize what English is anymore
because I -- [ Laughter ]
That's all I got.
The song you're singing later is called "Contra La Pared."
-"Contra La Pared." -"Contra La Pared."
-Do you know what that means? -Contra...
[ Laughter ]
-Don't tell me it's the game. Don't tell me "Contra"...
-Parade? Uh... -"Contra La Pared."
-"Against the wall." -Yes, sir, okay.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-i"Contra La Pared"! [ Laughs ]
Someone told me earlier what it meant.
[ Laughter ]
You're doing it tonight and singing for everyone here.
I always appreciate you coming here,
but I really appreciate you talking to me,
because what you're doing is breaking new records
and opening up the whole world to, like, reggaeton
and also Spanish-speaking music.
And it's bigger than you could imagine, what you're doing.
It's cool. -Thank you, thank you.
I'm so grateful, man. [ Cheers and applause ]
-We love you, bud. Thank you, pal.
-Love. -J. Balvin, everybody!