J Balvin Remembers ‘Great Friend’ Liam Payne: ‘He’s Here in My Heart’ (Exclusive)

Colombian superstar J Balvin and his partner Valentina Ferrer stepped out for the 2024 CFDA Fashion Awards in NYC on Monday night.  

Talking fashion, Balvin said, “We're with Willy Chavarria, you know? I'm really proud of be Latino. I love that he's representing our culture also, so we're here. We're really blessed to be here as a family.”

As for his music, he commented, “You know, we just dropped a new album like two months ago… Kind of like a new season where I just do basically whatever I want, so I'm going to drop a lot of music.”

Balvin also opened up about the tragic death of his friend and collaborator Liam Payne.

He shared, “He's a great friend, because to me, he's always going to be, you know, in spirit. He's a great friend. He was always nice, humble, always smiling. I was checking a couple of pictures from, like, three years ago, we were performing in Mexico. So, it really hit me really hard because I'm an advocate of mental health, and seeing how he went to this dark moment, dark time... It's just really sad, but it's good to create the awareness around the world to, you know, take care of your mind."

Balvin added, “He's here in my heart."

He reminisced about meeting Payne, saying, “Here, when I met him, we had a couple of drinks. But then he came to London and we were in the studio, we had so much fun. The first time he went to Mexico, I think he was with us as a solo artist, so it was beautiful because he was, like, really excited.”

Balvin emphasized, “Such a shame that we lost a really good one, but it also can make people more aware of what's reality, you know, something that we face. It's like, we gotta face this, this is happening every day. It's like, men's suicide is like 80% more than women, so it's, like, it's really important right now.”

He revealed how he takes care of his mental health, saying, “You gotta surround yourself with good people around you and meditate. Sometimes, it just hits you, even if you're ready for it, but I think it's not about the famous people. The kids with social media, they also can suffer a lot. If we suffer a lot with this, we're supposed to be used to it, but kids are really going to harm them."