Juan Luis Londoño Arias, better known as Maluma, is a Colombian singer of pop, reggaeton, and Latin trap born in Medellín, Colombia, on January 28, 1994. His stage name comes from the combination of the first two letters of his mother Marlli's name, his father Luis, and his sister Manuela. After dedicating more than 8 years to soccer, a sport he is passionate about and in which his father hoped he would become a successful athlete, he decided in 2010, at the age of 16, to begin vocal training to turn his life around and fully commit to singing, which has undoubtedly propelled him to stardom.
In 2011, he released the single "Farandulera," which propelled him to fame in Colombia and caught the attention of Sony Music, with whom he signed a recording agreement in the middle of that same year. Subsequently, other songs followed, such as "Loco," "Obsesión," and "Pasarla bien," which were well received until the release of his first album, "Magia," in 2012, with which he achieved over ten thousand copies sold in his home country.
With the song "La Temperatura," in 2013 it reached the top of the charts in the United States and Latin America, and earned a Latin Grammy nomination that same year in the category of Best New Artist.
With a career that was beginning to take shape and after a second album, Pretty Boy, Dirty Boy (2015), which features the song "Solos" recorded with the Cuban artist El Micha, Maluma released the single "Felices los cuatro" in early 2017. This song propelled him to fame, and its music video became the most viewed Latin video worldwide in its first 24 hours, earning the singer a Vevo certification.
The daring lyrics that discuss the love triangle between Maluma and a married woman, portrayed by Cuban-Croatian model Natalia Barulich, who would later become his partner, do not go unnoticed. By mid that same year, Marc Anthony recorded a salsa version with the artist and appears in the music video for this version, filmed a month later.
Both versions are part of their third single, F.A.M.E., which won the Latin Grammy for "Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Album" and achieved Gold and Platinum certifications in various countries around the world due to the number of copies sold.
The friendship between Maluma and Marc Anthony has developed over the years, and it is common to see them sharing stages and projects. In 2019, the Colombian wrote the lyrics for the song "Parecen Viernes," a single that is part of the American artist's thirteenth studio album, "Opus."
In 2019, one of the most significant collaborations in the singer's career took place when he was featured on Madonna's album Madame X. "Medellín," the album's first single, reached the eighteenth position on the Hot Latin Songs chart and became Madonna's 47th number one on the Dance Club Songs chart, further extending her record as the artist with the most entries at the top of that list. Two months later, the artists reunited for the song "Bitch I'm Loca," also from the same album.
That same year, in 2019, the Colombian artist released his fourth album, 11:11, under the Sony Music Latin label. It features collaborations with Ricky Martin, Ozuna, Nicky Jam, Zion & Lennox, Sech, Ty Dolla $ign, Chencho Corleone from Plan B, Farina, and includes a song with Madonna, with whom he performs "Soltera."
Among his most notable collaborations is "Clandestino," featuring Shakira in June 2018. Rolling Stone ranked the song number six on its list of the 20 Best Latin Singles of 2018, and it placed at number 14 in Billboard's critics' choice for the 20 Best Latin Songs of 2018.
In 2018, he was chosen by People magazine as the sexiest man in the world.
In 2019, as a guest on the famous show Jimmy Fallon The Tonight Show, he confessed to the host that he would like to have a musical collaboration with Justin Timberlake, who has influenced his musical style.
In 2019, he began filming alongside Jennifer Lopez and American actor Owen Wilson in his first movie, Marry Me, marking the Colombian artist's debut in cinema. In September 2020, Lopez announced through her social media that she collaborated with Maluma on two tracks, Pa 'ti and Lonely, which will likely be part of the soundtrack for the film in which they both act, and which still does not have a release date.
