Latin music artist Raymond Ayala (a.k.a. Daddy Yankee) is back on the music scene after announcing his retirement in 2022. He had experienced a pause in his own music that “never happened” before. Now, Ayala has returned with “music with a purpose,” earning a Latin Grammy for best urban song, “Bonita.”
“I’m not ashamed to tell the whole world, that Jesus lives in me and I live for him,” Ayala told thousands of fans at his final concert in 2023.
Daddy Yankee ‘Can’t Simply Convert and Stay Silent’
Ayala’s 2023 tour, which was supposed to be his last, grossed nearly $200 million, making it the second highest grossing Latin tour at the time. The final night of that tour, as retirement awaited him the following day, Ayala shared his newfound faith in Jesus.
“Tonight, I recognize, and I’m not ashamed to tell the whole world, that Jesus lives in me and I live for him,” he told thousands of fans in attendance. “A story ends and a new story begins.”
He then went into retirement, deepening his faith and participating in the Christian life. “But it was part of the process to arrive at a total dependency on God,” Ayala said to Billboard. “He said, ‘Even if your muse is gone, remember, I am your muse. I am your inspiration.’ Today, I’m making music and I’m building a new catalog.”
“Everyone who’s inside the faith has to go to the world and preach the gospel,” he told Billboard. “I can’t simply convert and stay silent, you know? This isn’t simply making Christian music; the challenge is to make the kingdom part of pop culture.”
“My vision [in the past] was to transform the industry when they told me I couldn’t,” he added. “Now I’m in the same situation with a different purpose: revolutionize and reinvent.”
Ayala recognized a desire to return to music, but with a different focus. “Having a life of success is different from having a life of purpose,” Ayala said. “Before, my interest was transforming the industry [through music], and that purpose had to do more with business and money, influence, success. Now my purpose is to transform lives with that same instrument. They’re very different purposes.”
Ayala returned to the music scene with a single, “Bonita.” Using TikTok for distribution, this song gained more than a billion views, likes, and shares, taking center stage for other video creations. In his next release, “Donante de Sangre,” Ayala told his conversion story using rap.
His Instagram account has sprinklings of his faith and outlook on life. “A normal guy but always with God’s grace. Everyone have a nice weekend. Smile at life,” a translation of one post said.
In another post, Ayala described an “unforgettable and pure teaching experience in Kenya.” He was with a group serving at a school in Kenya.
“God always finds a way to land us. We give thanks for life, because we breathe, we have food, we have clothes, we have health and a roof to live in,” shared Ayala. “We could share what we have with our neighbor but the most important thing was that we shared the spiritual bread with our brothers.”
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