
Bad Bunny, left, and J Balvin teamed up for “Oasis,” an eight-song collaborative album that was released as a surprise. Credit Left, Christopher Gregory for The New York Times; Right, Julien Mignot for The New York Times.
Two of the biggest Spanish-speaking global pop superstars discuss joining forces for the first “Watch the Throne”-style pairing in Latin music.
(Joe Coscarelli, “How J Balvin and Bad Bunny Made Their Surprise Album, ‘Oasis’,” NYTimes, 6-28-18)
In the universe of Spanish-speaking musical artists there is a sub-group who are global pop superstars. Within that sub-group, there co-exist in diminishing numbers the little global pop superstars, the bigger global pop superstars, and the biggest global pop superstars.
Among the biggest global pop superstars are found J Balvin and Bad Bunny. What distinguishes them from the other global pop superstars is that they have achieved superstardom on a global scale in pop music — in Spanish.
And surprise! They have made an album. No disrespect intended for these two excellent artists — they’re both on my playlist. It’s the ripe rhetoric of the NYTimes that invites a friendly grin. But these are the puffy times we’re in, language-wise.
(c) 2019 JMN
The Guardian on Relationships
In days of yore this headline would not invite the interpretation that you love your best friend. It would imply, rather, that you love something about him or her that is plural. Eyes? Ears? Dimples?
Or it might imply that you love something plural contemplated by the two of you, such as hummingbirds or olives. I love them, too, but it’s hard to see why advice on how to tell this to your friend would be called for.
However, if this “them” you love is two or more third persons, then helpful advice from a newspaper column may indeed be called for. We’re talking polyamory, of which even your best friend may not approve.
(c) 2019 JMN