Juanes Talks New Visual Album, Shakira, and Reggaeton

Welcome to the Highly Relevant podcast. Juanes has a new visual album. We talk to the Colombian superstar about why he has never collaborated with his Shakira, why he won’t sing Reggaeton, and why it’s not in him to do an English-language crossover.

In addition to Juanes, Hugo Balta, the senior director of Hispanic Initiatives for ESPN, who is one of the executives responsible for Hispanicizing ESPN joins me as well. We discuss everything from Latino accents to bilingual sports shows and everything in between. Plus, we listen to the top new songs from Latino artists and a recap of the most highly relevant US Latino stories of the week!

EPISODE SUMMARY
Juanes interview:47
– Why he hasn’t ever collaborated with his Colombian counterpart Shakira
– Why he will never sing Reggaeton
– Why it’s not in him to do an English-language crossover

JackedIN (Pop culture recap) 5:24

ESPN Executive Hugo Balta on “Latinizing” ESPN 7:36
– Peruvians in sports 9:24
– How he began working at ESPN 10:34
– Do ESPN executives give him pushback on Latino ideas 13:05
– How to make a bilingual sports show successful 15:25
– Feedback and criticisms on bilingual show Nación ESPN 22:26

What I’m listening to this week – 25:22
– Bad Liar – Selena Gomez
– No Vacancy – One Republic feat (Sebastian Yatra)
– Crying In The Club – Camila Cabello

ESPN’s Hugo Balta (Part 2) 26:13
– NBC’s UNIVERSO channel. Will their all-sports, only Spanish, format work? 26:13
– ESPN Deportes 31:47
– Latino accents 33:24

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