“I feel we have lost the emotions of music,” Jay Wheeler tells Apple Music. “People are so used to getting music so fast, because everything is going so fast.” Coming off back-to-back projects, De Mí Para Ti and El Amor y Yo, the “La Curiosidad” singer returns with a full-length that seeks to counter the quickly digested and disposable in favor of something longer-lasting and more meaningful.
The aptly named Emociones complements his catalog while simultaneously moving in fresh and unexpected new directions. Rock, pop, and electronica are among the genres he experiments with, in addition to the oft-romantic reggaetón style with which he made his name. He describes the album as an evolution, one aided and encouraged by guests including Jhay Cortez, Lyanno, and Reik. “When you hear it, you can tell that, musically and even in my voice, I’m getting bigger,” he says. “I’m finding my inner self, my real color.” Read more about some of the standout songs on Emociones, in Jay Wheeler’s own words, below.
“Once:Once”
“I never thought that I could do a drum ’n’ bass song. I thought that drum ’n’ bass was just a beat—you hear it, you get hyped, and that’s it. But actually, writing a song on that type of beat was a challenge for me. That feeling that you get when you miss somebody, but that feeling is inside you—not inside your heart, inside your mind—it’s crazy. It’s like the person is running around and running around and doesn’t stop, because you keep missing them. You keep thinking about them. And when it comes to the beat and saying that you miss somebody, it’s projecting what you actually feel inside. Everything is fast. The beat is fast. That’s why I love that song.”
“Dónde estás?”
“‘Once:Once,’ at the end, has a transition where it sounds like it’s one song and not the number-two song. Both songs, they talk about the same things but have a different feeling. ‘Dónde estás?’ is more reggaetón, and it’s more when you actually miss somebody, but you’re almost getting over it. Almost. I remember I heard the beat, and it took me to this safe place.”
“Suelta” [Jay Wheeler & Mora]
“I recorded it when I was sick. I had laryngitis. I was actually in my bed. It was a very hard time for me. But I was getting better, and Mora told me, ‘Yo, you want to vibe in the studio?’ It took us almost nine or 10 months to drop the song because we knew that it was special. We didn’t want to waste it. When I got the opportunity to let people know that I was dropping an album soon, I was like, ‘This is going to be my first single.’ And he was down with it. He’s an amazing artist—super nice, super cool.”
“Ese K” [Jay Wheeler & Conep]
“This is with one of my friends, called Conep. He’s just getting started in music, but he’s super talented. He’s got more like a street type as a singer. He presented me the song, and I was like, ‘I want to get on it and put it on my album.’ I like the vibe of it. I like that it is fast. I like that I’m letting people know that I can do more than just sing romantically and be on a piano.”
“Sin Censura”
“This is a single about myself. It’s a reggae song, and I’m talking about when I met this girl at the club. The moon was a full moon. It was a good night—one of those one-night stands, you could call it. But it was amazing, and you want to do it again, you know? People tend to love that song, everyone that I have shown the song. I have a different taste in songs, but for now, that’s the song that most people seem to like.”
“Cero G”
“It reminds me of Post Malone. That type of vibe. It’s a song that you can hear in your car and just cruise around, like you’re going on a trip—to a different dimension. If you hear it to the end, I did something with the beat where I change it, and it takes you somewhere. I don’t know where it will take you when you hear it for the first time, but it took me to this safe place, like a happy place. That’s my favorite song off my album.”
“Carro Nuevo” [Jay Wheeler & Jhayco]
“I wanted to talk about having a new car, but I wanted to use it as a metaphor. If you’re getting over your boyfriend, you could come with me because I have a new car and I could take you everywhere. I’m not talking about the car. I’m talking about, with me, you could be more happy than you are with him. I sent it to Jhay Cortez, and he recorded his part. The combination of his voice with my voice is crazy.”
“Máquina del Tiempo”
“No matter what I do in my life, I will always stay in my lane because I got known by that. It’s a romantic song. It talks about desamor, when you go through a bad love. It’s called ‘Time Machine’ because, sometimes, when you meet somebody, and that person does you so wrong, you could wish that you could go back and just never meet or talk to that person. I put a little twist at the end to make people feel the feeling that the song has.”