Ares

“Five years ago, this wasn’t possible,” Arcángel tells Apple Music about his unexpected swerve toward moody-but-melodic Latin trap on his fifth studio album, Ares. Despite having racked up a string of bouncy reggaetón smashes over the past decade, the New York-based singer now feels he can finally embrace his inner street-level MC, spitting his alternately soul-baring and snarling rhymes. “If you listen to the lyrics on this album, it’s totally different,” he says. “I’m saying stuff that I’ve never said before.” It’s a claim that’s hard to deny when he’s snapping on haters with a new ferocity alongside “little brother” Bad Bunny on the charged-up “Original.” But although Arcángel says he’s “not pursuing that No. 1 radio record” this time around, he can’t seem to deny those hitmaking instincts with hook-heavy tracks like the funky salsa-meets-trap throwdown “Un Vacilón,” even as his bars wrestle with the darker side of stardom.