LUIS FONSI'S NEXT MOVE IS A REAL TRIP

Universal Music Latino’s Luis Fonsi will mark his 25th year as a recording artist with the forthcoming release of LP El Viaje (The Trip or The Journey), which captures the Latin pop trailblazer’s global journey with odes to cities throughout Latin America and Europe. The set’s release is expected sometime in Q2.

Fonsi’s recent sell-out of Madrid’s WizInk Center underlines how far the Puerto Rican singer-songwriter has come. As you’ll doubtless recall, Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber shattered records with the 2017 mega-smash “Despacito.” The track’s Bieber-enhanced remix still ranks as the most-viewed Latin song on YouTube with 8.4b plays. It can certainly be argued that this groundbreaking collaboration ushered in the new wave of Latin pop and reggaeton globalization that continues to dominate the DSPs. “Despacito” ended the 2010s as the decade’s best-selling Latin track.

But Fonsi was already a major star when that crossover phenomenon began. His 2008 ballad “No Me Doy Por Vencido,” for example, ranks in the Top 5 of the millennium’s best-selling Latin songs and has earned 240m+ worldwide streams on Spotify alone.

For El Viaje, Fonsi collaborated with “Despacito” writer-producers Andrés Torres and Mauricio Renfigo, who served as executive producers on the project. He tapped longtime KAROL G collaborator and 2023 ASCAP Songwriter of the Year Keityn, meanwhile, as a co-writer on second single “Santiago,” blending Latin hitmakers from different generations. Other cities acknowledged on the album include Buenos Aires, La Romana and Marbella.

Where will Fonsi’s journey take him next? That remains to be seen. But one thing’s for sure: Fans are making sure he gets his flowers this year.

Universal Music LATAM & Iberian Peninsula Chairman/CEO Jesús López with Fonsi in 2017