Though Feid’s rise to the top might seem recent, it’s actually been a decade in the making. The Colombian superstar has consolidated his years as a singer-songwriter with new ventures in producing and rapping into ‘Ferxxo Vol X: Sagrado’, an ambitious and experimental album that pushes his nostalgic reggaeton to the next level with elements of hip-hop, R&B and Afrobeats in the mix.
Feid hails from Medellín, Colombia, which has become a hub for reggaeton following the success of J Balvin, Maluma and Karol G. He was a hidden figure in putting his hometown’s scene on the map, as a co-writer on J Balvin’s breakthrough hit ‘Ginza’ and most of his 2016 album ‘Energia’. While Feid’s contemporaries were taking cues from reggaeton’s roots in Puerto Rico, he made his mark in 2020 with ‘Ferxxo (Vol 1: M.O.R)’, where he adopted the Ferxxo nickname and fused the genre with swagger and slang from Medellín. Feid’s sonic palette has since expanded, but ‘Ferxxo Vol X’ proves that Colombia is still at the heart of his music.
Feid opens the album by showing another side to his artistry and a different region of Colombia in the enticing ‘Caferxxo’. Nidia Góngora, the Afro-Colombian voice of the country’s pacific coast, collides with hip-hop beats and Feid’s paisa flow from Medellín. In Spanish, he declares: “We don’t make songs / Now we make anthems.” Feid delivers on that promise in the atmospheric reggaeton of ‘I Mixx U’, where, in a possible ode to his relationship with Karol G, he compares “her backside” to a sculpture by Colombian artist Fernando Botero.
The record’s flow, though, is briefly disrupted by an unnecessary, sudden stop in ‘Ru Mor,’ where Feid trolls the listener with a preview of an upcoming song. But that moment ends quickly enough, and he soon morphs into a rap star in the slick ‘Ando Xxil’ and taps into his pop potential in the Timbaland-esque ‘Priority’.
As the LP’s lead producer, Feid also takes more creative risks that result in refreshing reggaeton fusions. He seamlessly blends the genre with twinkling R&B in the dreamy ‘Dallax’ featuring Ty Dolla $ign, while elevating the romance behind the alluring ‘Pida Lo Que Quiera Mami’ with elements of Afrobeats. He also pays homage to reggaeton’s underground days in Puerto Rico with the DJ Playero-inspired ‘No Me Dejo Xximbiar’ and brings that classic sound into the future in the Chiptune-like ‘Keloide’.
On ‘Ferxxo Vol X: Sagrado’, Feid continues to reshape the sentimental perreo that he’s known for while proving that his star power isn’t tied to one genre. As a spiritual successor to his groundbreaking ‘Vol 1’ album, ‘Ferxxo Vol X’ proves that he’s still in a league of his own with his progressive spin on Latin music that’s proudly rooted in Colombia.
