Juanes and “Daily life”, an album in which the problems bring out the best (and most rock) sound of the Colombian

Being an established music star hasn’t made Juanes think you already know everything. In the “Origen” documentary, the covers album that he released in 2021, he recounted that he had started studying harmony on the advice of Juan Luis Guerra, a decision that draws attention because we are in an era in which the rhythmic takes precedence over the harmonic in the music industry, but also because of the formative curiosity of the singer, who, before starting to write the songs for “Daily Life”, the album that he presents this May 19, he also took singing, guitar and poetry classes. When you finish listening to the 11 songs of this material, it becomes clear that we are before an artist having fun with all those new resources that he has in his possession and that allowed him to turn into inspiration some of the most difficult moments that he lived with his family environment.

Lyrically, the songs of “Vida cotidiana” address themes that are recurring in Juanes’ music: human relations and his vision of Colombia’s past and present. But on this album he faces them from a much more mature perspective. In the song that gives the album its name, Juanes sings to Luna, her teenage daughter, who applied the law of ice to her during the quarantine when she felt questioned about the decisions she was beginning to make for her life. “Your silence devastates me, so much so that the sky hurts,” writes the artist, who also sings to his wife, from whom he believed he would separate due to the constant fights that broke out during the pandemic. “If that’s how it feels to live, there’s no peace,” he says on “Gris,” the track that opens the album.

Another side of the album is inspired by social issues. He sings to diversity in love in “Amores prohibidos” with lines like: “Will there be a God who blesses forbidden loves and between I love you and I love you, don’t see a threat?”, but he also asks to do a memory exercise with the victims of the armed conflicts in Colombia in “Canción desaparecidad”: “Don’t forget these men, let the wind whistle their names to give them shade, to give them life”.

Contrary to the music industry, plagued by the use of ‘featuring’, the album has only two collaborations. “Canción desaparecidad” takes other directions when Mabiland appears, an emerging Colombian artist who raps on this song “If the law is not feminist, the fight has not ended.” And Juan Luis Guerra who joins at the end of the album for “Cecilia”, Juanes’ tribute to his family with Caribbean rhythms full of live instruments.

One of the great successes of this album is that Juanes transfers his main virtue to the sound of the album: that he is a musician who works very well live, with his band and his guitar. Although the production is very modern and there are synthesizers, in songs like “Vuelo” he enjoys the clean sound of a Rolling Stones-style guitar that is later accompanied by clapping that marks a key more typical of salsa. The work in the production of voices also stands out, with Juanes emphasizing with many layers of his voice the sadness that marks “Gris”. And he also dared to be more playful in “Veneno” and in “Más” singing with an unusual falsetto.

“Everyday life” marks an important transition with “More future than past”, the last album with original compositions that he released, because it does not try to get closer to current industry trends, but to its musical essence, the one in which he lands well his influences and delivers songs that connect with their honesty.

THE DATA:

The album “Daily Life” will be available from 00:00 on May 19 on the main digital platforms.