Alejandro is in Mexico City promoting his newest album, Vice Versa. He is also preparing for his first tour dates in the United States, which, as he happily informs us, “are sold out” — a considerable feat since the tour’s first leg involves cities not traditionally associated with Latin communities, such as Providence or Charlotte. “The fact that we’re getting to cities where there aren’t so many Latin people is immense,” he says, in Puerto Rican Spanish. “We’re selling out venues and I’m so thankful to all my fans.”

Pushy music fans often claim that pop stars are blank canvases who owe their success to a group of invisible collaborators. As a global personality who went from rags to riches in a heartbeat, Alejandro is an easy victim for such conspiracy theorists. In the end, It’d be too easy to strip him from credit and assign his sudden takeoff to the machinations of a nefarious syndicate: the unlawful combination of corporate advisors, hired-gun producers, and ruthless marketing executives. But on the contrary, Alejandro can brag about being the musical director behind one of the year’s biggest hits, “Todo de Ti,” a catchy synth-pop dancefloor number that surpassed 300 million streams in July. Against the conspiracists and their false hopes, Alejandro himself conceived and executed the bouncy, lively song. “I was [purposely] looking for that sound,” he says of the tracks’ throbbing, disco-like rhythm. “I play drums, but this time I stepped down from that,” he claims of his involvement in the instrumental side.  “I did play the piano on that song, though! We even used a live guitar track and live bass.” 

It’s a surprising stunt, given that the reggaetón genre usually employs samples instead of live instruments. As such, by turning towards disco, scrambling synths, and playing live guitar and bass, Alejandro made clear his resolve: to slip in novel sounds into the reggaetón genre. “I want to be experimental and break barriers to represent Latin people and our music,” he says. “Each time I can, I take an artistic swerve. And what comes up puts Latin music at high standards.” 

“Each time I can, I take an artistic swerve. And what comes up puts Latin music at high standards.” 

Alejandro is contemporary to fellow Puerto Rican reggaetón artist Bad Bunny, who in 2020 released three critically acclaimed albums. The third of them, the trap-rap infused El último tour del mundo, became the first Spanish-language album to hit No. 1 in the history of the United States. “Bad Bunny has accomplished a lot for the genre,” Rauw says. “He breaks outlines and opens doors. It’s good for music because it nurtures it. He keeps reggaetón alive and outside monotony,” he says of Bad Bunny. “And, [with Vice Versa], I tried to do the same.”

Alejandro’s Vice Versa succeeds in innovating. In the strict sense, it’s not a reggeatón album. While it does cast reggaetón’s high-flown sounds, mischievous verses, and continuous rhythm of the dembow, Vice Versa also cruises between disco, funk, drum & bass, synth-pop, and even the Caribbean-brewed merengue. The track “Aquel Nap ZzZz” recalls the singer/songwriter’s how-tos of the Alternative R&B movement. “¿Cuándo Fue?” lifts its breakbeats from a post-rave British boiler room set. The last track, “Brazilera,” features Brazilian star Anitta and resembles the “funk carioca” sound that packs dance clubs across Rio de Janeiro.