As part of the Wall Street Journal’s El Futuro de Todo Festival, J Balvin announced the launch of his OYE app. In his role as an entrepreneur worked with Mario Chamorro, happiness activist and virtual education executive, Patrick Dowd, global creative and social impact executive, and Isaac Lee, journalist and media executive, to create a tool that would facilitate access to content around the mental health to the Spanish-speaking public.
In an interview with journalist Ellie Austin, the singer confessed that he never thought he would suffer from mental health problems and that he is lucky to have the right treatment to balance his brain chemistry. Hence he has decided share their experience, to make it visible that anyone can find themselves in this situationand who had the idea of developing this technological tool, to facilitate access to care for those who do not have the same privileges.
It is a Latin American development, which is important for J Balvin, because what is available on the market is in English and the few products that are translated actually give a poorer experience than the one in the native language. . For him, launching the application in Spanish is making it carry part of his DNA and he hopes that the same thing happens with his music, that the success of the development will lead him to cross other borders. He is also available in English and another important feature, within the application, is the use of inclusive language.
In addition to the investors, Carlos López, J Balvin’s personal therapist, and Mari Sierra, an expert in the mind-body connection, work on the application. The tool will offer daily wellness practices, to help its users change their mood through guided reflection, to transform negative emotions into positive thoughts through movement, and to improve their personal relationships through listening.
OYE will also explore the balance between emotional well-being, physical health and social relationships through audio and video content. Those who sign up before launch at oye.cothey will have free access to the service for six months, after which a subscription will be charged.
The artist has realized from his experience, that mental health is not a matter of socioeconomic status and that anyone, from the richest in the world, to people in the poorest neighborhoods in Latin America, can have problems with depression and anxiety, among others. Additionally, in Latino communities, conversations around mental health are stigmatized by cultural biases around it.
At the interview, also referred to criticism that have been made to him for not having referred to the situation of public order in Colombia during the national strike and his recent fatherhood. Regarding the first issue, he stated that whether he spoke or not, there would always be people who would disapprove of his way of acting and that it is necessary to be more informed before letting himself be carried away by the noise of the environment, and regarding the second, he said that he does not want to transmit to his son the same fears he has.