It takes introspection and vast self-assuredness for an acclaimed, successful artist to not only recognize his limitations and weaknesses, but talk openly about them.
Farruko does that in spades in his new single, “Nazareno,” where he talks candidly about the pitfalls of fame: “You’re surrounded by envy and hypocrisy; all eyes on you, everyone agreeing with you ‘cause you’re on top,” muses Farruko in the verse, before laying it out in the chorus: “Everyone’s around in the good times, but in the bad times, they all go their own way.”
The dichotomy here is how catchy “Nazareno” is, a reggaetón/dance track a la “Pepas” with a repeating, hypnotic motif. The video reinforces the divergence: It kicks off with Farruko smoking and drinking at a strip club where the sexy, sexual dancers eventually morph into preying vampires.
“The music is not what’s bad; we make it bad with the messages we put on it,” he told Billboard, when asked how he balances the reggaetón beat with his current mentality. “Before, my competitiveness and my desire to reach a position enslaved me. I didn’t value everything I received from the fruits of my labor because I gave importance and I revered power and material things.
“But that doesn’t control me anymore,” he added. “Now, I control my music and my career goes at my pace, not at the pace of the industry or the public. Carlos, the human being, is above that, and family is above that and God is above me. My relationship with God is the most important priority in my life.”
Farruko’s conviction is in evidence in the “Nazareno” music video, which is accompanied by a warning for graphic images, and which ends with Farruko reflecting and a quote from the Book of Titus.
Watch below.
