The Singles Jukebox

I’m thinking Drake might still be in the lead for most appearances this year…

[Video][Website]
[5.83]

Iain Mew: By the end of the month I think Maluma may have risen to at least equal first place in our 2016 appearance list – he has the beating of Tove Lo since we’d already covered the Lo-free version of Years & Years’ “Desire.” This furthers the impression that he’s similarly spread hit appearances around through being adaptable and reliably ok, rather than bringing much in the way of standout characteristics.
[5]

Juana Giaimo: If J. Balvin has updated reggaeton by merging it with hip hop’s minimalism, Maluma is trying to refresh the genre by exploring its acoustic side, which you can hear in “Sin Contrato”‘s introductory guitar chords. While J. Balvin has a dark sound, Maluma’s music is more celebratory with a beat that doesn’t stand out but is still the skeleton of the song. But above the music, what reggaeton maybe never had until Maluma was a seducing artist — with the passionate singing of boleros but a deep smooth rapping —  who can portray himself as a winner kind of guy (even though he calls himself “the loser“) without being aggressive and misogynist like the classic reggaeton artists. 
[7]

Peter Ryan: For as much credit as fellow medellinense J. Balvin gets for shaking up the genre, Maluma’s glossy image-consciousness is in a class of its own — he knows he’s The Charmer, and he’s playing the role, in all its permutations, to a tee. Here he’s exercising his lush popsense (“pretty”, if you will) in service of a strictly no-strings-attached proposition (“dirty” is the idea, I’m sure), with a more forcefully committed vocal than usual for his singles. And he’s effortlessly pulling from a grab-bag of diffuse reference points — a hint of that inescapable Juanes riff, a repurposed and slightly altered Julieta line, Selena chimes in the background — even if I’m imagining the allusions, “Sin Contrato” is an amalgamation of canny moves designed to consolidate his position as a pop force to be reckoned with.
[8]

Will Adams: As usual, Maluma’s suave singing style is either appealing or disconcerting. Unlike “Borró Cassette,” though, he finds support in pretty electric guitar solos and shimmering pads, tipping him to the former ever so slightly.
[5]

Cassy Gress: I’m well aware it’s not the main point of the song, but I’m an American with a Twitter feed full of election coverage, so it’s the thing that jumped out at me: there are many good reasons to be friends with an attractive woman. Maybe she has hilarious stories about her kooky uncle who lives on a houseboat, or the neighbor girl with whom she explored the woods as a kid. Maybe she’s the type of friend who will always offer to come over with ice cream and wine if you’re sad, but also is totally cool with it if you just want to be alone or send her a twenty-page email. Maybe, if these things are important to you, she has an original Famicom copy of Final Fantasy III (JP) or an amazing collection of Styx bootlegs. Maybe how pretty she is should have absolutely zero bearing on her value as a person. Women are a vast cornucopia of wonderment. Maluma says he wants contract-free fucking, but he also apparently wants a friends with benefits relationship, which I am fairly sure end a good percentage of the time with one or both parties having more feelings than they intended to. Is he naive, stupid, am I not giving him enough credit? It’s catchy enough, I guess.
[4]

Alfred Soto: The acoustic guitar and keyboard preset of many colors combination is fetching enough to get me on the dance floor, and the Colombian singer restrains his hornball tendencies enough to play coy. I’m shuffling, I’m shuffling.
[6]