J Balvin Shakes Up Tomorrowland Lineup

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j balvinYo Te Lo Dije,’ may have only peaked at #13 on the Bilboard.com Hot Latin Songs Chart but, it was only the beginning for J Balvin. Fast-forward just five years and he’s casually talking to NPR about world domination like it’s no big deal. Almost 2 billion Youtube views of his ‘Mi Gente,’ song makes that a bit easier to say. Despite that fact, most of the world went to bed Thursday night with no clue who J Balvin is.

Friday morning came with a surprise that many Tomorrowland fans and attendees can attest to. In typical fashion, organizers announced another wave of headlining acts for this year’s festival including A-Trak, Alesso, and David Guetta, They made a hilariously blatant attempt to gloss over J Balvin’s addition. dropping him right in the middle before Netsky and Richie Hawtin.

If EDM fans are known for anything, it’s scrutinizing every festival lineup with a magnifying glass. These phased announcements are a product of that. The other thing EDM fans are known for is criticizing those lineups almost ritualistically.  To the chagrin of J Balvin and his supporters, those criticism muscles were in full flex on Twitter yesterday and heads were not feeling it.

Some were subtle in expressing their displeasure…

Others, less so…

It goes on like this for a bit.

Tomorrowland’s always booked the biggest acts in the world, so why all the hatred for J Balvin, one of the most popular Latin acts of all time? After a quick perusal of a Reddit feed asking how people feel about hip-hop’s infusion into EDM festivals, it’s pretty obvious.

EDM heads are very protective of their events. They don’t want anything mixed in, including hip-hop which was only recently, begrudgingly allowed in. Maybe it’s not about J Balvin after all, but either way his quest for world domination continues. Witness the movement coming to a Tomorrowland stage near you.