What’s going on Latin Alt fam? Probably not much since we’re all still in this quarantine, but I hope everyone is staying safe! As the month of April draws to a close and J Balvin releases the last few music videos for his songs “Gris” and “Verde” off his latest album Colores, I thought it’d be fun to talk about them. If you’ve caught onto the visual aesthetics of the album, you would have guessed correctly that the “Gris” music video is entirely in grey and the “Verde” music video is entirely in green. I honestly have to applaud the brilliant Colin Tilley, who directed every single video for the album, and his team for being able to creatively work with one color at a time.
The video for “Gris” serves as a visual representation of a sinking relationship that has lost its light over time. The song lyrics themselves, tell the story of a couple where no matter how good one tries to be for the other person, they never see the good. The majority of the video takes place in a deeply depressing grey bedroom where J Balvin lays down and stays on his bed as scorpions, dead fish, and snakes take turns surrounding his bed.
But what do these animals signify? Scorpions typically represent passion, dominance, and rebirth. Snakes usually represent negativity, fear, and mystery. And dead fish could literally allude to their “dead” relationship. All three collectively could represent the idea that although there was intense passion in the relationship at the beginning, over time, their relationship became extremely negative for the both of them. Toward the end of the video, we see more of this sinking relationship where the room literally becomes filled with water, everything is flooded, and J Balvin is barely keeping afloat.
Now moving onto the video for “Verde”... honestly, the best way I could describe the visuals in this video is by one of the comments I read while watching:
Translation:
How many special effects do you want?
J Balvin: Yes.
She isn’t wrong. Although every other video has used some sort of CGI, this one definitely takes the cake. Centered around a leprechaun who turns J Balvin into one for stealing a gold coin from his pot. We continue to see the tiny J Balvin dancing with bugs, navigating around dogs, and humans. As J Balvin stays busy trying not to get stepped on, Sky Rompiendo, the other artist on the track, is busy spitting his verse, having fun, and eating BBQ.
What I like about the mixed array of music videos is that with every serious video comes a light-hearted one. This is a similar pattern I noticed earlier with the release of “Rojo” and “Amarillo.” “Rojo” was more of a sad and heartfelt video while “Amarillo” counteracted that with its bright visuals. Similarly, “Gris” is more of a somber vibe while “Verde” provides us with more childlike energy.
Now we just have to wait for the video for “Arcoiris” ft. Mr. Eazi!
