Buena Vaina by Joelii: Exciting, Infectious, and a Great Move Out On His Own
No matter what language you speak, if you love music you know that it is the universal language, which is exactly what the bilingual music of Joelii is in his new EP Buena Vaina. The five songs are exciting but deeper and infectious. His voice and arrangements talk to you.
Whether you speak Spanish or English or both, you understand him. He manages to create earworms that carry a message, that engage your muscles with beat and melody and your mind with curiosity.
He kicks off the EP with the song “Buena Vida – Good Life” – that moves you along but not too fast as the video takes a happy trip down the SoCal coast in an old Volvo. The music gives you time to absorb the tone of his Spanish lyrics even if you don’t quite get the meaning and even more if you do. Next, “Desde Cero” speeds things up and moves into Spanish rap mixed with strong instrumentation and powerful hooks as the video tells a heartwarming story of moving into his first house with his partner. You are now fully awake and ready for more.
“Peligroso” is exactly that – dangerous . Joelii lets loose fully with powerful drum hits and kinesthetic rhythms while in the video we have the requisite twerking girls in thongs (why is that necessary?) and he smashes things with a baseball bat. The tone becomes even faster in “Cool de Modelo,” as the video takes you through a photo shoot with Joelii as the artist, although at the end it is most interesting when he gives the camera to his female model and she shoots him dancing – lots of fun (except for the beads hanging from his eyeglasses – what’s with that?) and great dance music.
He wraps up the EP with “Amantes – Lovers” – still rocking, but with a different tone, a more gentle and intimate sound with some strong feeling coursing through it, especially the last verses in rapid-fire Spanish and English. The song is the perfect ending to the adventure he has taken you on – a syncopated carnival ride through the life and the environment of a fast-moving and superbly talented upcoming new rapper and songwriter.
He comes by it honestly, by way of the Dominican Republic, although he is now L.A. based. Joelii has built a following with his versatile flows, aggressive rhymes, and bilingual seductive melodies in both English and Spanish. He has been supporting his sister Jenn Morell – his partner in the new record imprint Buena Vaina — with his songwriting and backup vocals. Now he has stepped out solo and it works really, really well.
After collaborating with greats like Major Lazer, Sak Noel, and DJ Rebel, blowing away fans with his reggaeton collabs, and his songwriting for the platinum-certified recording Latina artist and rapper Jenn More, he is showing his raw talent. Check it out- you not only have fun, but get introduced to a man about to be on the leading edge of music.
Buena Vaina is out now on Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube Music, and videos of his songs are on Youtube.
