If you vibed to J Balvin’s ‘Orgullo’ or ‘Loco’ (Chimbala and Zion & Lennox) ‘Pam’ with El Alfa & Daddy Yankee, ‘Perfume’ with Sech and ‘Crecía’ with Bad Bunny and Almighty, then it’s Justin Quiles you have to thank. Between 2015 and 2019, Quiles placed nine singles on the Hot Latin Songs list, and his videos have garnered hundreds of millions of views.
Born in Connecticut but raised in Puerto Rico until the age of 15, J Quiles (as he is also known) enned his first song aged 12. After graduating from high school and relocating to Florida, he wrote ‘Orgullo’ whose remix featured the Colombian superstar J Balvin. It was a Top 20 hit on the Latin Rhythm Airplay chart and was followed by ‘Esta Noche,’ featuring Maluma and J Alvarez . In 2017, Quiles received a Premios Juventud nomination for Best New Artist where he opened with a performance of 'Egoista.' This year again, he has been nominated for the famous Univision prize for ‘Por fa’, whose video with Feid, J Balvin, Malum, Nicky Jam and Sech just hit 194 million views on YouTube.
But what is most noticeable of late, is not only the diversity of genres J Quiles writes in, but that he is writing more and more for the ladies, giving hits like ‘Bichota’ to Karol G or “Las Nenas’ to Natti Natasha, whilst his own songs, such as ‘Jeans’ and ‘Ponte Pa Mi’ garner more and more Spotify streams (433 million for just those two). Collabs, features, his own hits, J Quiles has it all. In the age of flash-in-the-pan Justin Quiles is the slow-burning big hitter, the ‘mover and shaker’ rather than moved and shaken. Intrigued, we sent Jose Luis on a mission to get some time with the small-town boy from Aguadilla, USA and Bridgeport, PR who made it big.
Jose Luis: Hey Justin, how are you, how is it going?
Justin Quiles: Everything is great, thank you! JL: So, we have been following your career for years and something that really impressed me always was your work ethic, you seem to be on it 24/7...some people come and go and you seem to be able stay relevant.
JQ: It is a lot of work as you said...I'm always working, always busy, I think that is a very important element in my career, in anyone’s career, to stay busy, to stay hungry, to stay humble. You gotta know there are always ups and downs and you have to keep going, keep hustling and keep pushing. Never stop. I have been in this industry already for seven years and I managed to stay relevant and that is probably because of my work ethic and the people around me...I'm always pushing for the best. JL: Reggaetón is a genre that has been feeding off other genres since its’ inception, borrowing from everything, from salsa to vallenato and you have become one of the songwriters to go to, not just in reggaetón but also for urban pop…it cannot be easy to write a song and then give it to someone else when you know it is going to be hit…
JQ: Well it depends...because I have songs that I feel suit me better and songs that I think will better suit another person...you got to know what song fits you and what song doesn't...and, well, sometimes artists called me to work and I go to their studios and I write then and there, so there is no regret from that! if I write in their studio for them, I cannot then say ’this song is mine and I want to keep it,’ however much I like it! I have to give it to them. If they call me, and I go to their studio and start writing and vibing, whatever comes out, if they like it, they get to keep it! JL: And you also write for women…
JQ: Yes that is right, lately I have been writing more for women than guys… JL: Do they pay better?
JQ: (laughs) No it is not that, it just happened! I wrote a lot for J Balvin, Yandel and lately I have been writing for girls. Natti Natasha, Karol G, Anitta…I think I wrote for pretty much everybody already in the reggaetón industry, from Don Omar to Wisin & Yandel...I feel like everyone has been touched by the Justin Quiles pen at least once! (laughs) JL: You are a bit different to other reggaetóneros of your generation, most of whom had a godfather or a mentor who helped them to get into the industry, but you, you seemed to appear from nowhere, nobody had any idea of who you were when you first came out. Was that more difficult and how has the shaped your career?
JQ: It is a harder process you know, growing slowly...but I feel it has given me a more solid base. I took the hard route. At the beginning of my career there was a lot of Justin Quiles records by himself and they did well, they were good for my career and, from them on, the feature era came and suddenly I started working with everybody, doing collaborations. After this album I think I'm going to focus more on my songs because I have already done a lot of features...but I like working with other artists, doing a bit of everything, bouncing ideas off other artists...but then you have songs like ‘Jeans’ and ‘Ponte Pa Mi’ that I did by myself and did amazing. So I think there must be a balance, but you gotta know find that balance.
JL: Yeah, again it is not just the collaborations but the wide range of genres you are working with, from the hardcore reggaetón-dembow of ‘Pam’ to the commercially driven sound of 'Si Ella Quisiera" and lately the dembow-afrobeat hit ‘Loco’...it cannot be easy just to dip in and out of these subgenres.
JQ: I just try to do different stuff, being a musician you have to take a lot of risks, you cannot always stay in your comfort zone, I like getting out of my comfort zone every day. Always trying to do things I haven’t done before. ‘Loco’ with Chimbala and Zion & Lennox...nobody ever heard me on a record like that, I felt that the record was right, I liked how I sounded on it and we went for it and I think people accepted it, our fans loved it and it is a song that is still growing, it is doing really well and I think it will continue to do well.
JL: From all those collaborations, you did something pretty cool, which was getting together two of the biggest artists from Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic who had never collaborated before, Daddy Yankee and El Alfa, and bringing out ‘Pam’. That was pretty unexpected. Tell us more about that...
JQ: Well yeah, when I came out with "Pam" with Yankee and El Alfa, I wanted to do something different, doing something left-field, that people would never imagine. ‘Pam’ was all about that, and again with ‘Loco,’ nobody thought I would be doing those collaborations. ‘Pam’ was more commercial dembow and nobody was expecting that from the three of us. I like surprising people. JL: We were also checking your stats, and South America love you! Chile, Peru, Argentina are really supporting you ...and also Colombia. In fact we thought you were Colombian when you first came out. How have you managed that?
JQ: It was the fact that my music started being played a lot in Colombia so I started mixing myself with Colombian artists, doing remixes with Maluma, with J Balvin so people automatically thought I was Colombian. Colombia was one of the first countries that opened the door for me and showed me love. So that was the point when people got a little bit confused about my nationality. But even today some people still think I'm Colombian but I'm from Puerto Rico, from Aguadilla, raised there until I was 15 and that I where my roots are, but I still love my Colombians, I love the country and I feel is my second home, so I don't mind when people think I'm from there. JL: Now you have a new album coming out, tell us more about that!
JQ: My new album is called ‘La Ultima Promesa’ (The Last Promise) and I wanted to go to back the roots of my first album ‘La Promesa’, that type of sound but upgraded to 2021! The next level. I have a song called ‘Contradiction’, which is very different song, super dope. I have Mariah Angelique with ‘Texts Sucios’ (Dirty Texts), a more sexy song, which I think people are going to love. I also feature Maluma on ‘La Botella’, a recording where him and I fit perfectly, a love song with reggaetón. I also have Rauw Alejandro with a more up-tempo commercial beat called ‘Americana’, about North American girls that might look from there but they are Latin I truly think all the songs on the album are amazing, you will just have to pick which is your favourite! LL: So what are the big plans for the next year?
JQ: Yes, we got a European tour coming soon, that we postponed and now that the album is coming out we will probably add a few dates...the only problem is COVID, as you know, they keep changing the regulations so it is hard to plan ahead, but I hope things get back to normal and people can listen to this album live with my band very soon!
La Ultima Promesa is out on all platforms
