Reggaeton Star Maluma Releases ‘7 Días en Jamaica’ Featuring Davina Bennett, Charly Black & Ziggy Marley
Colombian Reggaeton singer Maluma, dropped his surprise 7 Días en Jamaica, (7 Days in Jamaica) EP on Thursday plus seven accompanying music videos, most of them featuring steamy make-out sessions with a leading lady, Miss Universe Jamaica 2017, Davina Bennett.
And the artist is singing Jamaica’s praises for re-inspiring him to do the seven-track album, noting that he had been contemplating his future in music, when he made a getaway trip to the island last year.
The production features collabs with Ziggy Marley and Charly Black, which confirmed speculations that rained in October that he was about to do another feature with the Trelawny deejay, after the two were spotted hanging out in Jamaica back then. The track with Charly which is titled Love, comes on the heels of their Party Animal remix.
In mid-December Bennett, 24, who was also the second runner-up in the 2017 Miss Universe competition behind Miss Colombia and winner Miss South Africa, had posted a video of herself and the star on her Instagram page and indicated that a video production was in the works, and that it was “much bigger” than her fans were thinking.
Yesterday she posted two snippets of herself canoodling with the Colombian star on land and underwater, which spurred more cheers from her followers, including several Jamaican public figures.
“So excited and honored to have been the lead woman in @maluma’s “7 Días en Jamaica!” I’ve had to keep it a secret for a bit but I am so happy to finally share it with all of you! I hope you all love the videos as much as we do! Comment your thoughts below. Love you all!” she captioned the first video.
“A project about Jamaica ft Miss Jamaica! “7 Días en Jamaica” with @Maluma was an incredible experience to be a part of. I hope you all enjoy the videos that we created with so much love and passion. Check the videos out on @YouTube!” she noted in the second.
People Magazine which carried the English translation of Maluma’s live Instagram feed, noted that the superstar said the album was inspired by an ‘Escape’ Trip to Jamaica” and was a project he had been working on for a long time.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CKnKvq0HA3d/
“Thursday, Maluma surprised fans with the release of 7 Días en Jamaica — a conceptual and visual project that follows the singer during, well, seven days in Jamaica,” People Magazine said.
Maluma who turned 27 on Thursday, also said when he was in Jamaica, he had teamed up with producers and composers for an album, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the videos could not be made at the time.
That revelation perhaps explains why most of the videos ended up being shot on the island of Barú in Colombia, which has a few similarities to Jamaica, and only a few scenes being shot in sections of Kingston and at Frenchman’s Cove in Portland. The videos were also placed in one 24–minute compilation with the transitions between each song featuring Maluma awaking from various dreams about Davina, whom he kept searching for, finally meets. After becoming a couple having the time of their lives, the two amicably go their separate ways at the end of the 24 minute video. Supposedly it was all a dream.
“Those seven days in Jamaica came at a time when I needed to escape and decompress as I had intensely worked non-stop on my career for seven years and I was questioning if I should even continue doing music. I did a lot of soul-searching there and came back a different person, completely inspired and having realized that music is not just what I do, it’s part of who I am; how I experience and interpret life,” People Magazine quoted Maluma as saying.
The EP’s first track is Tonika and features Ziggy Marley, the second titled Love featuring Charly Black, while the fourth is Agua de Jamaica. Desayun-Arte, La Burbuja and Peligrosa are the remaining tracks.
Apple music describes the EP as presenting the artiste in a new light, noting that “if his fans have learned anything from the man behind worldwide smash hits like Felices los 4 and Hawái, it’s to expect the unexpected”.
“Recorded in Jamaica with a mix of local musicians and studio familiars, this seven-track mini-album puts him in touch with Reggaetón’s origins while exploring the roots and Dancehall vibes prevalent in the island’s fruitful sounds,” Apple music noted.
“On Tónika, he connects with Reggae royalty in Ziggy Marley, yielding a breezy bilingual duet that combines the organic and the electronic in extravagant fashion. No doubt enjoying the freedom of these sessions, Maluma indulges in Agua De Jamaica and the delectable R&B thump of Chocolate. When he fully commits to the live band experience, as on the exceptional Desayun-Arte, he leaves no doubt of the expansive effectiveness of his artistic range,” it added.