J Balvin Says He Can Go Through Liters of Perfume in Two Months

The new US ambassador for Armani Beauty’s cologne “I Will” spoke with GQ about his future—and the Marvel movie he relates to the most.Courtesy of Armani BeautyWhile summer’s usually the season for relaxing, J Balvin has been working like no one else. It’s that kind of hustle that’s made him one of the world’s biggest superstars. During his most recent Ciudad Primavera tour, which ended in May, his shows were known to last up to five hours. His ability to engage with fans around the world made him the perfect performer to headline the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony back in June, which helped to break viewing records for the world’s largest sporting event. Plus, he released a new album back in May called Omerta, which he co-created with the Colombian artist Ryan Castro.But for someone who draws tens of thousands of people to see him perform marathon-like concerts, Balvin is surprisingly soft spoken. I learned as much when I met the Grammy-winning artist at a film studio in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood to chat about his new ambassadorship for Armani Beauty’s latest fragrance, “I Will.” I found Balvin in his green room wearing a purple suede jacket and wide-legged purple pants and showing off a fresh blonde-dyed buzz cut. He was surrounded by a tight-knit crew, one of whom has been friends with the 41-year-old since they were four. For Balvin, friends and family remain the heart of why he works so hard, as is representing the country that helped raise him to the top of the global music charts—something he was proud to chat about. Below, Balvin tells GQ about future acting roles, what success means to him now, and why being a dad might be his favorite role yet.GQ: How's your summer?J. Balvin: I'm great. I'm working hard.Did you watch the World Cup?Yeah, of course.You, Steve Vai, and Travis Barker did a cover of Van Halen’s “Jump” as the official anthem for the FIFA World Cup. What made you pick that song?FIFA called me and it was a really hard task because it's a really iconic song. So I told them to basically switch the whole beat so that we could bring something fresh and different. Because otherwise, it’s just like painting over the Mona Lisa. It’s so perfect already, why would you touch it? So we tweaked it.Have you always been a Van Halen fan?I grew up listening to them on the sidelines. I wasn’t listening to them but my family and my friends were.What other genres do you want to play with?I like to play with every genre. If I hear a tango from Argentina and I like it, then we’ll jump on it. When you're an artist, you’re open to expressing yourself in different ways. So I think it's not about the genre, it's more if I feel comfortable with any sound.Outside of music, I know you got into acting with [the 2025 feature film] Little Lorraine. What made you want to make the jump into that kind of performing?I’ve loved acting since I was a kid. And of course it's a way to express yourself, but it's a totally different world than music. The fact that you're a good artist in music doesn't mean you're going to be a great actor. So you got to take your time to really study and dig in about it and learn every day. But I think it's something that I really love.Courtesy of Armani BeautyHow did you have to adapt for acting for the screen versus performing on stage?Oh we’re acting all the time on stage. Jose is right here, but once you get up on stage, you’re acting. You can be sad, but up there you’re smiling. You’re expressing yourself in a way that people can connect to, even if you don’t feel the right energy. And I think that’s the same thing as acting. You might be having a bad day, but you have to act like you’re having the most happy day. That’s one little way I can connect the two.What’s the most exciting thing about being on set?Being on set because you’re just waiting the whole day. As an artist, I’m always moving. In acting, I just have to wait until I get called. It can be eight, nine, 10 hours waiting for your call. That’s why I have so much respect for the acting world because it involves so much patience. It was also nice to vibe with other people on set too.Are there any directors or actors you'd like to work with next?Yeah, there's some new projects that we might work on. I mean, we're going to work soon, but let's wait.No hints?Not yet.When can we look forward to that? This year, next year?I think next year. Kind of next year.Besides acting and being a musician, you're also an entrepreneur. Are there any business ventures you're most proud of?Lately we invested in Colombia by starting a fund to help new technology innovators from the country. I think they really have a great future. I like to invest in other things, but the fact that we're investing in the Colombian tech industry and a new generation of innovators, it’s gonna have a big impact on them. I come from Colombia, and if I don’t believe in my people, who will? People believed in me when I started. It’s the same thing.It started with just having fun and connecting with the people, and then it became something bigger. Yeah, you have a lot of pressure on your shoulders, but it’s more because I want to keep elevating myself. There’s a certain moment in your career when you get to a place that you wanted. And by nature, people want to take you down. You just gotta learn how to swim in those waters and accept that’s the way society works in certain moments in life. But I already passed through that.How has the idea of success changed for you since you first started out?To me, success is a balance between family, work, health, and friendship. When I was younger, I thought being successful was just being what other people thought was successful: have money and be good at what you do. I had that and I wasn't happy because my emotional side wasn’t balanced and my health wasn’t as good as it is now. So I think success is having a good career that you love and you can make a living from it. And then you go back home and you have great friends and you can take care of your wife or kid.Are you taking care of your health now?Whole time. No, good. I do exercise every day. My nutrition is really tough. I just became 41, so now I have to make sure that my metabolism keeps up. But I feel great. Yeah. I take care of myself a lot.You've also been very outspoken about dealing with anxiety. How's your mental health now?Great. Since I had my son, it feels like I'm way better. I'm really stable. As long as I have my medication. You can have bad days. We all have those moments.Have there been any sort of mental exercises you do to stay steady? Keep calm?I think exercise helps me a lot. Meditation too, but lately I've not been the most disciplined on the meditation. But I think exercise helped me a lot, definitely. Being around good people too. And that also helps you with mental health. When you’re with a bunch of crazy people, they just take you down.How has fatherhood impacted your life?It's really beautiful. I thought it was going to be scary because being a father was unknown to me. I was really scared. And now I'm like, Wow, I was scared of this? It's in your nature to protect your son. I mean, at least in my nature. He's only five. I know that he wants to try different things, but he’s a lot of fun. And so it impacted me in a really great way. Those moments when you're tired and you see your son and he just gives you this smile—that's priceless. And only those who have kids can tell you that. If people fall in love when their dog is greeting them when they go back home, imagine when it’s a kid.What do you hope to pass down to him one of these days?Oh, I wish that he looks more like his mom than me [laughs]. I wish for him to be a really great person and to be happy. When I started out, my parents, without even thinking, just wanted me to be successful. To work and get money and save money. I think the world needs happy people. So I'm more focused on my kid being happy.What are some of the biggest mistakes or hurdles you were most proud of overcoming?There's too many. I think battling with your ego is constantly. It’s kind of like the movie Venom. You have this superpower—being an artist—and it can confuse you. You have to understand it’s a uniform. You go onto the stage and then you take off your cape and you’re back to your normal life. So separating the artist from the human is a good balance to have.When do you think you first took style and grooming seriously?Well, my grooming is mostly done because of my work, and people helped me with that. But I like to take care of myself. And to me, smelling good is the most important part of that. I can go through liters of perfume in two months. I love perfume.There was a viral video of you spraying a lot of cologne on yourself.Oh man. Listen, I take showers in perfume. It makes me feel good and confident. I like citrus ones.Courtesy of Armani BeautyWhat do you think of “I Will?”I love it because it feels fresh. Like you’re just fresh out of the shower. It’s cool and elegant at the same time.What else helps you feel confident?Feeling confident with myself includes smelling good, but also being healthy and feeling comfortable in my body and with my mind.How long did it take you to find the confidence that you have now?I haven’t.You haven't?No, I think it takes time. It takes time. I think the more mature you are, the more confident you get in a certain way. Maybe you start not caring about the same things you used to care about before. But I think knowing that you know what you love and knowing that you know what you do is the right thing for yourself makes me feel really confident because I know what I'm talking about when it comes to my music and when it comes to my world. No one is going to know more about my world than me. I create my own universe and aesthetic in my music. So in those cases, I feel really confident.So when can we expect new music from you?Now I’m just going to the studio to have fun. When I was a kid, when I wasn’t thinking about numbers and streams, I just wanted to feel good and for my mom to be proud. That’s what I’m doing again lately. I’m not hurrying. I’m just taking my time making music, but really having fun. I can’t call this a job anymore. It feels again like how I first approached music.When did the transition of focusing on numbers to having fun happened?In the beginning I had to prove myself. I had to unlock some different things that never happened with Latin and Spanish music before around the world. When I became the most streamed artist in the world a few years ago, I was proud the music was in Spanish. Knowing what I could achieve with my music helped me to become more creative. I knew that I didn’t have to prove myself to anyone knowing that I made a really good path in this game. When I was younger, I was working to earn money for my family, so now when you don’t see it from that same perspective, you can be more focused and creative while still having the same hunger I had when I was a kid.Are there any musical influences we can expect from your next album?I think whatever makes me feel good. If I’m in Spain and I hear some good flamenco and I feel like I can jump on it, I will do that.I know in the past you said you never want to put out an album fully in English. Do you still stick by that?I don't need to do that. Now you see everything that’s happening with our culture. The Spanish language has become so global. It’s like what happened with the English language—it took over the whole world, and I had to learn it just to understand what people were saying. And now it’s a blessing that a lot of people are learning Spanish because they want to know what we’re saying. So there’s no need for me to put out an English album. I never wanted to. It was never my vision to make my music cross over globally. Now people are more open to listening to different music. Look at Shakira. In the past, she’d have a hit in Spanish and then do it in English to make it mainstream. So many artists paved the way for me like Daddy Yankee with “Gasolina.” I see other people from my country like Maluma and Karol G and you also have artists like Bad Bunny. So it’s our time. It’s not a trend. It’s now really a movement.Latin music has always been around. The prominence now is just more substantial.Yeah. It took time. I think it took time for people to understand how powerful our culture is. It's not just music, but Latin culture too. My mission has been to take us out of a specific box. Before, people thought about “Latinos” and they only thought about Mexicans. They’re Latinos and Colombians are Latinos. There are so many different countries and cultures in Latin America. It’s music, it’s science, it’s fashion, it’s everything.Are there any new artists that you're really into now?Yeah. Ryan Castro is an up-and-coming artist from Colombia. We just did an album together, Omerta. I think he’s going to have a big future.What can we expect from you next?There are so many other places I still have to unlock. India, for example. They always play my music in India, but we haven’t had the time to perform there yet. One of my biggest missions in the next few years is to be more present in a lot more parts of Asia. We’ve been to some countries before. It’s one thing that they play our music, and another thing for us to plant our flag and say we’re here.Tyler Chin is GQ's associate wellness & grooming editor. He'll occasionally dabble in the menswear space, but otherwise you'll usually catch him trying out new headphones, lifting in fresh workout gear, or testing out the latest and greatest in skin care. Before he ended up at GQ, he worked at ... Read More