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Juan Carlos Ozuna Rosado (; born March 13, 1992), known simply by his surname Ozuna, is a Puerto Rican singer, born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico to a Dominican father and a Puerto Ricans mother. Five of his studio albums have topped the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart, with Aura (2018) charting at number seven on the Billboard 200. His musical style is primarily defined as reggaeton and Latin trap, although he has collaborated with several artists from different genres and his music takes influences from a wide variety of genres, including Latin pop, Latin rock, hip hop, R&B, reggae, bachata, dembow, and Electronic music, amongst others.
Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he decided to become a singer at age 12 when he was discovered by Puerto Rican producer Fernando “Damian” Acevedo from Element Music and Damian Music in Santurce La Placita, Puerto Rico, where he made his first recordings. Ozuna has mentioned in interviews that Acevedo also told him to use his last name as his artist name. Drawing influence from the Latin American genres of reggaeton, Salsa music, and bachata, he made his musical debut in 2012 with the song "Imaginando", which attracted the attention of recording labels and led to collaborations with Daddy Yankee and Anuel AA. He released several singles before signing with Sony Music Latin in 2017, who funded the recording of his debut album Odisea. His second studio album Aura, released on August 24, 2018, debuted at number seven on the US Billboard 200. His 2018 collaboration with DJ Snake, Cardi B, and Selena Gomez on "Taki Taki" was certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA. He released his third studio album, Nibiru on November 29, 2019. His fourth studio album, ENOC, was released in September 2020.
Since the beginning of his career, he has sold around 15 million records, making him one of the best-selling Latin music artists of all time. On 1 February 2019 Ozuna had the most one billion-view videos on YouTube of any artist and he has won two Latin Grammy Awards, five Billboard Music Awards, twelve Billboard Latin Music Awards, four Guinness World Records, among other accolades. In 2019, Time included him on their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. He made his acting debut in the film Que León. He appeared in F9, the ninth film in the Fast & Furious franchise.
In 2022, he played the song "Arhbo" for the 2022 FIFA World Cup along with Gims, which they also performed during the closing ceremony.
Ozuna was raised in his grandmother's three-bedroom apartment built above a bodega in San Juan. His grandmother instilled a strong Christianity faith in him. He explained that her philosophy centered around the ideal "that nothing is given to us, that you have to work for what you get...a pair of sneakers—we bought those with sacrifice. She would say the same of a pencil, an eraser, simple things. We had to sweat in order to get it." Drawing influence from the Latin music he grew up on, he decided to pursue a singing career at age twelve. That same year, his uncle, who served as a father-figure since his father's death, gifted him his first microphone. His uncle often played music by Daddy Yankee, Don Omar and De La Ghetto, and the teenager would rap along with the songs on the microphone.
To further his career, Ozuna took a job at a local bar called El Corozal, where his earliest musical performances took place. Hoping to escape the violence and poverty of his neighborhood, he moved to the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City in 2010. While there, the artist learned how to produce and promote his own music videos, and made his first video with a budget of under US$100. However, he viewed Washington Heights to be equally violent and impoverished as his hometown, and returned to Puerto Rico with his wife and two children after three years in New York.
In 2017, Ozuna released many singles, including "Dile Que Tú Me Quieres (Remix)" featuring Yandel, "Después de las 12" and, in April of that year, "Tu Foto", which reached the 10th spot on the Latin Billboard list, and reached more than 780 million views on YouTube. He also released several collaborations, including "La Rompe Corazones" featuring Daddy Yankee, "Escápate Conmigo" featuring Wisin, "Ahora Dice" with Chris Jedi, J Balvin and Arcángel among others. "Escápate Conmigo" topped the Latin Airplay chart and reached number 76 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 2017. "Se Preparó" was released on August 10, 2017, and, as of October 2019, has more than 1.2 billion views on YouTube. Odisea spent over 30 weeks at number one on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart, surpassing the 29-week record held by Luis Miguel's Segundo Romance as the longest-charting number one album by a male artist.
On April 13, 2018, Ozuna featured on a remixed version of "Te Boté" featuring Nicky Jam and Bad Bunny. Elias Leight of Rolling Stone described the remix of "Te Boté" as "one of the most indispensable songs released this year in any genre — a hit in both old-fashioned media like radio as well as the warp-speed world of YouTube". In December 2017, Ozuna released the single "La Modelo" featuring Cardi B. Following the release, the song debuted at number 52 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the chart dated January 6, 2018, becoming Ozuna's first entry to the ranking as a lead act, following his featurings with Wisin's "Escápate Conmigo" and Natti Natasha's "Criminal", while all of them hit number three on the Hot Latin Songs chart.
In October 2018, he worked with DJ Snake, Cardi B, and Selena Gomez on the song "Taki Taki". The single reached number eleven on the US Billboard Hot 100. The single became the most-streamed song on Spotify in that month and reached over 20 million views on YouTube in the day following the release of the song's accompanying music video on October 9. "China", released in July 2019 with Anuel AA, Daddy Yankee, Karol G and J Balvin, became his fourth number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. In September 2019, he received four Guinness World Records awards: the most videos to reach one billion views on YouTube, the most Billboard Latin Music Award nominations for a single artist in a single year, and most Billboard Latin Music Award wins for a single artist in a single year.
Ozuna released his third album Nibiru on November 29, 2019. The album features collaborations from Cultura Profética's Willy Rodríguez, Snoop Dogg, DJ Snake and Sean Combs. In an interview with National Public Radio, Ozuna explained the significance of the album title by saying, "I chose the name Nibiru from the theory that the world will end after and I adapted it to my own personal concept: We make music to collide with the world and the public". Also in November 2019, Ozuna performed at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which he called "a dream, because I've seen it on TV for years". Niburu reached the peak position of number 41 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on December 14, 2019, remaining on the chart for eight weeks. It also became his third album in a row to top the Hot Latin Albums chart.
In 2020, Ozuna released the singles "Mamacita, with the Black Eyed Peas, as well as "Caramelo". Both songs topped the US Latin Airplay chart, becoming Ozuna's 19th and 20th chart-toppers, respectively, and putting him in a tie with Daddy Yankee for third most number-ones. "Caramelo" was released as the lead single from his fourth studio album ENOC, which was released on September 4, 2020. In November, he won two Latin Grammy Awards for his collaboration with Rosalía "Yo x Ti, Tu x Mi" in the categories Best Urban Fusion/Performance and Best Urban Song.
Despite being primarily a reggaeton and trap artist, Ozuna cites Dominican-Puerto Rican-American bachata singer Romeo Santos as his favorite singer. Ozuna also greatly admires salsa artist Frankie Ruiz. He is also a fan of rock music, and expresses an affinity for the electric guitar. While many of his songs feature explicit sexual lyrics, he has avoided lyrics that explicitly objectify or disrespect women, and Ozuna himself has stated that his music is appropriate for "the whole family". He has compared himself to Canadian artist Drake, explaining that they are both "very careful not to denigrate women or to hurt young people" and that they both often alternate between singing and rapping. His songs often discuss relationships and heartbreak, inspired by the overt sentimentality of the bachata and salsa genres.
On October 17, 2022, Ozuna became the owner of the basketball team Osos de Manatí (Manatí Bears), in Puerto Rico's National league (Baloncesto Superior Nacional de Puerto Rico).
In August of the same year, he witnessed Carlos "Tonka" Báez Rosa, a drug trafficker, being murdered. He said he heard the shooting and fled the scene leaving his vehicle, a Range Rover truck, and that the victim was his close friend. He was linked to the investigation of the crime when the police found his truck near the scene. On August 7, the car was seized by police, and he received a death threat from a group of drug traffickers. A few days later, police said there was no direct link between his car and the shooting.
In January 2019, Ozuna confirmed he had been the victim of an extortion scam involving an explicit video filmed of him when he was a minor. The FBI investigated the case, and Ozuna's lawyer confirmed that Kevin Fret, a trap singer, was the person extorting Ozuna. Kevin Fret was murdered, and police said that Ozuna was not a suspect in the murder. For the video, which had been edited to cause Ozuna more damage, Ozuna apologized to his fans and family.
Collaborative studio albums
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