The Love & Sex Tape

Maluma just can’t stay away from his <i>Pretty Boy, Dirty Boy</i> tendencies for long. After 2021’s EP-length escapade into reggae vibes on <i>#7DJ (7 Días En Jamaica)</i> and, more recently, his Hollywood turn in both <i>Marry Me</i> and its soundtrack, the Colombian superstar reteams with longtime producers the Rude Boyz for an eight-track affair that moves comparatively closer to the gratifyingly sordid 2020 album <i>Papi Juancho</i>. The beat of reggaetón largely drives this sensual stopgap, favouring slower R&B-friendly tempos over the perreo intenso of the dance floor. This aesthetic choice reinforces the after-hours implications of his explicit lyrics, evident from the international foreplay of opener “Cositas de la USA”. The steamy and tropical “Nos Comemos Vivos” brings additional heat courtesy of the resurgent Chencho Corleone, while the Feid-aided “Mojando Asientos” bluntly prompts a rekindling with a memorable ex. Teasing out an Afrobeats rhythm, the closing “Happy Birthday” departs from the libertine hedonism to face facts about a relationship at its end.