J Balvin has thanked Blue Ivy for making his and Beyonce’s remix of ‘Mi Gente’ a reality.
The 33-year-old Colombian singer has revealed that Beyonce’s six-year-old daughter – whom she has with husband Jay-Z – "loved" his Spanish language hit so much it was the youngster who convinced her superstar mother to re-record a new version of the single with him, which went on to top the charts across the world.
Speaking to the Daily Star newspaper, he said: "Blue Ivy is a big, big fan, even though she and Beyonce don’t speak Spanish they feel the energy, the good vibes. Blue really, really loved ‘Mi Gente’, so I suppose, yeah, I should thank her."
The pair even performed their hit together when Beyonce, 36, took to the stage for her headlining slot at Coachella Music Festival in April.
Balvin – whose real name is José Álvaro Osorio Balvin – also reflected on the spotlight shone on Spanish music through working with bigger stars.
Despite singing almost exclusively in Spanish, Balvin has worked with the likes of Liam Payne, Pharrell Williams and, of course, Bey, and he insists the recognition from these huge pop names has helped Latino music go mainstream and the current in vogue pop trend.
He explained: "Working with names like Beyonce helps, it shows it is for real and this movement is really happening, it’s not in my mind, I am not crazy. It was a blessing, it is still a blessing she believes in me and she really wanted to work together.
"It’s gone global and this is just the beginning of a new real beautiful process for Spanish music globalisation. We used to make it just for Latinos and now we’re doing it for the world."