perreo<\/em> for deep, thought-provoking music. But in 2018, the artist decided to part ways with Pina due to personal issues and negotiated himself out of his contract. His career stagnated for a year, until he signed a deal with the then-emerging label Rimas Entertainment in 2019, which helped put him back on the map. Under Rimas, he scored a pair of No. 3-peaking singles on Hot Latin Songs: 2019\u2019s \u201cSigues con \u00c9l\u201d with Sech and 2022\u2019s \u201cLa Jumpa\u201d with Bad Bunny. The former topped the Latin Rhythm Airplay and Latin Airplay charts.<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cI was in a place where I no longer felt comfortable, and I was being punished for not being like them, for having a different way of thinking,\u201d Arc\u00e1ngel says of breaking ties with Pina Records. \u201cI\u2019m grateful for my experience during the years I was at Pina because we created great hits, but the change was necessary. Since [joining Rimas], I\u2019ve been successful again. I teamed up with people whose job is to propel me to the highest level they can.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBut beyond the timeless hits, the strong-willed and self-confident Arc\u00e1ngel has become an avid supporter of next-gen stars including Bad Bunny, Young Miko, Feid, Grupo Frontera, Maria Becerra and Carri\u00f3n.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cHe really is an inspiration to me, not only because of his trajectory but because of his work ethics,\u201d Carri\u00f3n says. \u201cHe\u2019s top-tier in reggaet\u00f3n and has done a lot for the genre. Not only does he do all types of music, but he taps in with the younger cats. That\u2019s the key. It\u2019s about recognizing that the genre is going in a certain direction, accepting that and going with the flow. His legacy is already there. He\u2019s just doing some overtime.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThat overtime includes an extensive 2026 tour in support of his new album. Ahead of the release and the trek, Arc\u00e1ngel sat down for a candid conversation with Billboard Espa\u00f1ol<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\tThank you for receiving us in your hometown in Florida. What does a \u201cday off\u201d typically look like for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tWhen I\u2019m home, I try to dedicate as much time as I can to my house. I don\u2019t go out, but if I do, it\u2019s only to the gas station to buy a soda because I like the ice from the machine \u2014 I don\u2019t have shaved ice at home. If I\u2019m not sleepy, I walk around the house brainstorming. You always have to be thinking, even when you have free time; there\u2019s never really any free time when it comes to planning the next move. I don\u2019t have a studio, but I do have an emergency setup for making music.<\/p>\n
\n\tSo you only stay indoors?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tI have a room that I call the \u201cJohn Wick Room\u201d because I like shooting. I have a lot of guns\u2026 it\u2019s legal here in Florida. I really enjoy it; it\u2019s one of my passions. When I\u2019m not doing anything else, sometimes I go to the shooting range.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe concept of visiting the Seven Wonders of the World as a promotion for La 8va Maravilla<\/em> is brilliant.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tAt first, the album didn\u2019t have that name. In fact, the name came about exactly a week before this Seven Wonders journey began. The album was called L\u00facido<\/em> [Lucid] because I\u2019m in this state of clarity now where I don\u2019t drink, I don\u2019t smoke, and my mind is very clear. Before, I smoked a lot of marijuana, but the reality is that since I stopped smoking, I think much faster. In fact, I feel faster than everyone around me; now I find them slow. I really catch on to things very quickly. That\u2019s when I realized how slow I was while I was smoking weed. If you need some kind of drug to create, then you\u2019re not a very good creator, you know?<\/p>\n\n\tIs it safe to say that you\u2019re completely sober?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tYes. I mean, I still drink, but not with the same intensity as before, and I have much more control. It\u2019s all for the sake of my health, and I have no problem doing it because, honestly, I feel much better. I\u2019m in the best mental state I\u2019ve ever been in.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat does your creative process look like now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tIt starts the moment I open my eyes. My computer never stops working. There\u2019s no free time for thinking. Now more than ever, with my age and the length of my career, I\u2019m always thinking about what\u2019s next. I don\u2019t want to be a 50-year-old singing reggaet\u00f3n. Within the standards I have for the genre and as a person, I don\u2019t think the urban music scene would look favorably on a 50-year-old man singing the kinds of topics we usually sing. I have a daughter who\u2019s almost 18, Lucero, and there will come a time when, because of my age and maturity, there are certain topics I can\u2019t sing about anymore.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen we last spoke in 2024, you said, \u201cReggaet\u00f3n is musically poor in every aspect, and Mexican music is very rich.\u201d Do you still feel that way?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tAlways. I\u2019ll give you an example: In Mexico, there\u2019s a reggaet\u00f3n movement and many artists who want to sing reggaet\u00f3n. In Puerto Rico, there\u2019s no regional Mexican music movement. The best Latin voices, for me, are all in Mexico. But yes, I\u2019ll stand by that statement all the time because it\u2019s the same here, on the moon and everywhere in the world. I belong to one of the poor-quality musical genres, and thank God I owe everything to that genre. I\u2019m not criticizing it; I\u2019m just stating the truth. Compared to other musical genres, it\u2019s not as rich as ballads, pop, salsa, merengue or regional Mexican music, which all use live instruments. We\u2019re good with just a little keyboard and a computer. I love reggaet\u00f3n, don\u2019t get me wrong. Everything I am, everything my family is about to become, generations that haven\u2019t even been born yet will benefit from reggaet\u00f3n and what I\u2019ve managed to achieve. I represent my genre wherever I go.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJose \u201cChepe\u201d DeVillegas<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\tOn that note, how was the experience of performing at a Palenque [Mexico\u2019s traditional fairground arena venue] in Mexico with Grupo Firme for the first time?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tLet\u2019s say there are 5,000 people at a rodeo arena, and 20,000 at a stadium like El Choli [Coliseo de Puerto Rico Jos\u00e9 Miguel Agrelot]. I had never had the opportunity to sing for an audience so close, so intense and so wonderful. These people matched the energy of 15,000 people or more. I remember that before singing, I asked Eduin what I should sing, and they wanted me to sing \u201cLa Jumpa\u201d because the crowd would go wild. At the same time, I\u2019m not the kind of person who doubts myself much; my self-esteem has always been through the roof, but I felt a little nervous there. At first, observing the audience, I didn\u2019t see anyone who seemed to listen to my music\u2026 everyone was wearing cowboy hats, dressed very elegantly\u2026 but he was right, everyone sang the song, and that set the energy. I even drank tequila from the audience!<\/p>\n
\n\tListening to your album, I was very surprised to hear your collaboration with Ricky Martin, \u201cLluvia.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tRicky Martin has been one of my biggest idols since I was a child. I still think he\u2019s the greatest artist in Latin American history. Ever since my career started, I\u2019ve always said that the ultimate goal would be if I could ever record with Ricky Martin. I\u2019ve been saying this for at least 20 years, at least once a year.<\/p>\n
\n\tYou manifested it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tMy manager is good friends with one of his best friends and that\u2019s how everything came together. And I thought, \u201cDoes Ricky Martin even know who I am? Has he heard all the crazy things I\u2019ve said, all the wild things I\u2019ve sung? How does he see me?\u201d I\u2019ve always respected his art, but maybe he doesn\u2019t have much respect for the music I make. But the reality is that he does know who Arc\u00e1ngel is; he has listened to Arc\u00e1ngel\u2019s music; and he respects me just as much as I respect him. I had the opportunity to go to his house, and I became a fanboy again. Forget about Arc\u00e1ngel, I went back to being little Austin. That\u2019s a win already. He\u2019s a tremendous person: very human, very decent, very genuine.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s a very sexy song\u2026 tasteful but not vulgar. Another track that caught my attention is \u201cDi Am\u00e9n.\u201d I\u2019d like to say it\u2019s the first Christocentric song in your catalog.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tIt represents the beginning of a new era. I\u2019m not religious; I don\u2019t represent any church. I don\u2019t believe in man, I believe in God. I have a completely direct relationship with him. The song is simply me saying who I am, and I don\u2019t have to be like any man tells me I have to be to please Christ. In the song, I\u2019m also showing off because I\u2019m saying I have RIAA-certified records; I\u2019m saying I\u2019m a millionaire. In the song, I even talk about paparazzi because I\u2019m shining \u2014 all these things a typical Christian song doesn\u2019t have. This song is very much in Arc\u00e1ngel\u2019s style, giving thanks to the father for all the blessings.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat do you mean exactly when you say, \u201cthe beginning of a new era\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tI\u2019m clear about this, and there will come a point when I will get closer to him. I\u2019m at a more mature age now, and I don\u2019t intend to sing reggaet\u00f3n for much longer. I have thoughts of retiring young someday because my genre doesn\u2019t allow me to continue for too long \u2014 this is a genre that goes hand in hand with youth. I\u2019m already a grown man. I just don\u2019t have the same energy. I\u2019m tired. This song is from a different perspective on how you can praise Christ, and I think it\u2019s one of the most special on the whole album because it lets people know that God is the beginning and the end.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe album has everything from merengue to banda and very few reggaet\u00f3n songs. Why did you decide to take this experimental approach?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tI have different types of fans. I\u2019ve been catering to the people who like my street music for a while now. Since 2021, my mind hasn\u2019t been so focused on commercial music; I had a lot of anger inside. The musical vibe was different. Over time, I\u2019ve been healing despite the many challenges God has put in my path. I decided to please the fans I\u2019ve neglected\u2026 the fans who truly appreciate good music\u2026 those who want to hear something amazing. I decided to go back to the basics with a new level of maturity. The same essence, but a different person, 20 years later. We\u2019re continuing with the music that launched me into the world.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe intro is very powerful and truly captures your 20 years of music. I love the lyric where you say, \u201cIt wasn\u2019t luck for me; I had to be strong.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tThere are people who say it was luck because I don\u2019t have talent. For those people who think it was luck, no, it wasn\u2019t. I come from a place where opportunities are very scarce. I grew up with people who are no longer in this world, and I grew up with people who are now living dead, who are in prison. Luck? My ass. I had to work to get here. I didn\u2019t win the lottery. Opinions are respectable \u2014 it\u2019s virtuous to be able to respect someone else\u2019s opinion even if you don\u2019t agree with them. The virtue of me organizing words and putting them in order and being able to evoke different types of emotions in different types of personalities, that\u2019s a great talent.<\/p>\n
\n\tYou also say, \u201c20 years in the business and this still isn\u2019t over.\u201d What comes next?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tI see [my career in] music as I recorded with the final boss, Ricky Martin, in my opinion; I\u2019ve sung on very important stages around the world; we\u2019ve made enough money in this industry to secure a couple of generations of the Santos family name. [Now] I want to create brands that will be very valuable in the future. We have several brands: I have the medical cannabis brand, I\u2019m working on a champagne, and we have After, which is a hydration drink.<\/p>\n
\n\tGenerational wealth is important to you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tIt\u2019s one of my biggest dreams, even if I\u2019m not here on this earth. My life will be fulfilled when I\u2019m gone and when my future generations explain to their friends that they are rich thanks to this guy right here. That will be one of my greatest rewards, when my future grandchildren\u2019s friends ask them who I was, and they say, \u201cThat\u2019s the patriarch of my family, the one who started it all. We are rich thanks to that man.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.billboard.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last spring, Arc\u00e1ngel was rushed to the hospital for open-heart bypass surgery due to clear his blocked arteries. A week later, the Puerto Rican artist began working on his eighth studio album, La 8va Maravilla. \u201cI went into the studio with all the stitches still in,\u201d he tells me one cloudy December afternoon in his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2227230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[358871,317759,424623,308935],"class_list":["post-2227229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-billboard-espanol","tag-cover-story","tag-cover-story-espanol","tag-genre-latin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/This-Is-My-Sober-Album.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2227229"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2227231,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227229\/revisions\/2227231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2227230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2227229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2227229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2227229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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