El Alfa has created several viral songs, including "4K" and his most recent, "ESTE." The singer shares with Billboard how he creates his viral songs, what his fans can expect from his new tour "El Mejor del Planeta," what it was like to work with Natti Natasha, and more.
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00:00And I ask him, which one do you want? This one or this one?
00:02This one? This one? This one or this one?
00:05Pour some saliva on him, he's gone!
00:07Hi, how are you guys? I'm Alfa and this is Billboard News.
00:13The best on the planet, TOUR.
00:16Yes.
00:17I want to know, Alfa, where did the name for this tour come from?
00:20Actually, we came up with the name together with the team.
00:25But by doing dembow, getting people to have fun, to dance,
00:30we're the best at that.
00:31That's true.
00:32The exponent, in fact, I was seeing that you have a number one single
00:37on the Billboard charts, more than 20 songs in the Hot Latin Songs,
00:41so no doubt.
00:42Right now I have a very hot song.
00:45It's difficult for urban music to be successful.
00:49Maybe you can get in good positions,
00:53but for the public to choose, like the songs before,
00:59I had around 12 months that I didn't hit a song as hard as I hit it now.
01:06But I'm enjoying the process.
01:09I'm seeing how it changes, the business keeps changing.
01:13I'm totally happy.
01:15I just got back from a tour in Europe,
01:18which I started by opening a world tour.
01:25My lineup was for 7, 7.30 at night,
01:30and we ended up closing the show at 11 at night.
01:34They said, this is the guy who has to close,
01:37and Alfa is always in charge of giving his best.
01:40That's why when things get a little uncomfortable on stage,
01:46I go out where there's nothing, because I always like to give my best.
01:50The energy too, I imagine.
01:52Yes, I'm not satisfied like that.
01:54At the show level, Alfa has no comparison,
02:00because we're in one area.
02:02In fact, I wanted to ask you, for someone who hasn't been to an Alfa show,
02:06what can you expect in this tour?
02:08Well, someone who goes to an Alfa show, repeats.
02:13Because in the numbers and everything,
02:17in my artistic career, I've noticed that people go crazy.
02:20I've filled Madison Square Garden twice.
02:23I never thought I would come to a venue of that magnitude.
02:28First, there were about 12,000 people.
02:32It was in Solago.
02:33The last one was completely open, 14,000.
02:37You enjoy it a lot.
02:38I mean, when Alfa is on the sand, it moves.
02:42Because there are so many people jumping at the same time.
02:45The places move.
02:47It's like an unforgettable experience.
02:50Now, you mentioned that you spent almost a year
02:52without having a viral success on social media,
02:57like this one is doing.
02:59Yes.
02:59It's not the first one.
03:00It's one of many that have gone viral on social media.
03:034K, Singapore, La Mala Mamá.
03:06Well, I think that, not to tell you that I'm number one,
03:11but I think that Latinos, urban musicians,
03:15I think I'm one of the most successful urban artists on TikTok.
03:19Because I started to search on other days,
03:21and there were many songs that hit me.
03:26I counted 14.
03:2714 that had more than 2 million videos uploaded.
03:31Wow.
03:33As a result of that, Alfa, your way of creating music has changed.
03:37It's like you go to the studio thinking,
03:39this rhythm is good for a TikTok dance, or not?
03:42No, I don't think about that.
03:43I didn't even use TikTok.
03:45I've been using it for about 5 or 4 months now.
03:53I didn't use TikTok.
03:54And I don't use it because I don't dance a lot.
03:58I make the material for others to dance,
04:04but TikTok is a rock where you dance a lot and interact a lot.
04:13I do things like that when they come out of my heart.
04:17I remember that one time I released a song with Noriel
04:22and an Argentine artist called Trueno.
04:26And I made a video dancing, and it came out.
04:30I put the music down and it stuck.
04:33But then they asked me for the same video again and I couldn't do it.
04:36So I stopped another song.
04:38The label told me, look, if you make a video similar to this one,
04:42I said, I don't know, I can't.
04:46This song was something very different.
04:49When I came to see it in a single day,
04:52400,000 videos were uploaded,
04:56which was the third day of the release of the song.
04:58It's crazy.
05:00It's crazy.
05:02I'm not one of those artists who make a budget to invest in a song.
05:09That song is not...
05:11Organic.
05:12Yes.
05:14And even now, it's the most viral song in Spain.
05:21It's number one.
05:24And five days ago you released Parararara.
05:27Yes, I did that with Chimbala.
05:29And I know you two got together two years ago with Naty,
05:32but I feel like people were waiting for that meeting
05:35because you two have been friends for many years.
05:37Yes, we made a song for Naty Natasha.
05:42But he and I had never made a song together
05:46and we've been friends for 14 years and we've been working on music.
05:52And the first time it happened was back in Europe.
05:56It was an experience, it was a success.
05:58We both did it together in the studio.
06:00It was a success.
06:02The song came out a week ago
06:04and people are still dancing to it a lot.
06:08But I'm letting everything happen organically.
06:12Alpha, what's coming up for the rest of 2025 that you can tell us?
06:17Well, I'm going to keep working hard.
06:20I'm going to be doing a lot of shows with Tita Mexicano.
06:26I'm also going to do shows in Argentina and any other country.
06:32I'm going to try to do a djembe,
06:35just like the collaboration I did with Camilo.
06:38Everyone thought it was going to be a pop or a djembe,
06:43but it ended up being a bachata.
06:45He's not a bachatero, nor am I.
06:48I mean, inventing in various waters, doing fresh things.
06:52Nowadays, what's working is the freshness and the genuineness
06:58with which a song is made.
07:00Well, Alpha, to finish, I'm going to ask you five quick questions.
07:04It's the East or West Challenge.
07:07If that's what you prefer.
07:08Go by.
07:09Mangu or chimi?
07:11Mangu.
07:12Bachata or merengue?
07:14Bachata.
07:15La Romana or Punta Cana?
07:18La Romana.
07:19Mama Juana or Guava Berry?
07:21Mama Juana.
07:23Going to the studio at night or during the day?
07:25At night, but I also like it during the day.
07:28Living there, then.
07:30Yes.
07:32Well, thank you.