"Life isn't just music," the Colombian star tells Billboard.
Maluma welcomed Billboard to his estate in Medellín, Colombia, where, amidst horseback rides, coffee breaks and stunning tropical vegetation, he spoke candidly not only about his new music, but also about his mental health, the second baby he’s expecting with his partner Susana Gómez and the upcoming presidential elections in his home country.
“My country hurts me,” Maluma said in an exclusive interview with Billboard’s Leila Cobo, reflecting on the violence that shook Colombia in the ’90s and looking ahead to the May 31 elections. “We have to vote! I’m not telling you who to vote for, but I even feel like renting a truck and driving people [to the voting centers] on election day.”
“It’s an important topic and something that really matters to me,” he explained. “I want [my daughter] Paris to not experience what perhaps your generation or several generations went through — those who left and didn’t want to return because of the country’s problems.”
Maluma, who released his new album Loco X Volver on May 15, also fondly remembered the late Colombian popular music singer Yeison Jiménez, with whom he got to record the track “Con el Corazón” for this album. Jiménez died tragically in a plane crash this past January at the age of 34.
