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 is derived from the first two letters of his mother Marlli's name, his father Luis's name, and his sister Manuela's name. After dedicating more than eight 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 start receiving vocal training to change the course of his life and fully dedicate himself 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 contract in mid-2011. Following that, other songs like "Loco," "Obsesión," and "Pasarla bien" were well received until the release of his first album, "Magia," in 2012, which sold over ten thousand copies in his home country.
With the song "La Temperatura," in 2013, he reached the top of the charts in the United States and Latin America and received a nomination for the Latin Grammy in 2013 for Best New Artist.
With a career that was beginning to solidify 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" at the beginning of 2017, which catapulted him to fame. The music video became the most viewed Latin video in the world within its first 24 hours, earning the singer a Vevo certification.
The daring lyrics that tell the story of the love triangle between Maluma and a married woman, played by the Cuban-Croatian model Natalia Barulich, who later became his partner, do not go unnoticed. By mid-year, Marc Anthony recorded a salsa version with the artist and appeared in the music video for this version, which was 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’s common to see them sharing stages and projects. In 2019, the Colombian wrote the lyrics to the song "Parecen Viernes," which 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 as he became part of Madonna's album Madame X. Medellín, the album's lead single, reached the eighteenth position on the Hot Latin Songs chart and marked 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 joined forces again on the track Bitch I'm loca, from the same album.
That same year, in 2019, the Colombian artist released his fourth album, 11:11, under the Sony Music Latin label. The album features collaborations with Ricky Martin, Ozuna, Nicky Jam, Zion & Lennox, Sech, Ty Dolla $ign, Chencho Corleone from Plan B, and Farina, as well as a new song with Madonna, where they perform Soltera.
Among his most notable collaborations is "Clandestino," featuring Shakira in June 2018. Rolling Stone ranked the song number six in its list of the 20 Best Latin Singles of 2018, and it positioned itself at number 14 in Billboard's critics' choice of the 20 Best Latin Songs of 2018.
In 2018, he was named the sexiest man in the world by People magazine.
In 2019, as a guest on the famous show The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, 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 his first movie, Marry Me, alongside Jennifer Lopez and American actor Owen Wilson, marking the Colombian artist's debut in cinema. In September 2020, Lopez announced through her social media that she would be collaborating with Maluma on two songs, Pa 'ti and Lonely, which will likely be part of the soundtrack for the movie in which they both star, which still does not have a release date.
