Jay Wheeler is done playing coy about his nickname. For years, fans have called the Puerto Rican superstar La Voz Favorita — "the favorite voice" — for his soulful, romantic delivery. Now he's embracing it with a 24-track album bearing that exact name.
La Voz Favorita, according to Rolling Stone, blends trap and reggaeton with ambition beyond the genre. The album spans bedroom trap, reggaeton, salsa, pop-flavored perreo, and traptronica.
"I don't know why I always do trap so well," Wheeler says in the interview. "I don't like explicit music too much, but at the same time, I know Puerto Rico loves trap, so I know it's a brand that I always have to keep there." He is not abandoning what built his career, just expanding around it.
The album's sentimental cuts — like the already-buzzing De Lejitos — are where Wheeler's strength shows. "To be able to have a hit by myself is beautiful," he says. His own daughter inspired the song during a livestream.
Wheeler operates across multiple platforms. He maintains a large following on Kick, where fans watch his livestreams, and co-stars in the YouTube series Cooking with the Wheelers with his wife Zhamira. "People love how sincere and funny I am," he explains. "When you are a real person and not trying to be something you're not, it always works out."
The album dropped Thursday, with Wheeler performing on Puerto Rico's El Choli on May 29.
