Alvaro Soler

Spanish-German singer Álvaro Soler (January 9, 1991) has earned a special place in Latin American music after making his major international breakthrough in 2015 with “El Mismo Sol,” an uplifting anthem celebrating diversity, originally released as a solo record and later remixed as a dance track featuring Jennifer Lopez. Born in Barcelona to a German father and a Spanish-Belgian mother, he was multilingual from a young age, growing up in Japan after his family moved there when he was 10 years old. Learning piano as a child, he formed the indie pop band Urban Lights as a teenager with his siblings after moving back to Barcelona. Winning a local music contest, they reached the final of a 2013 Spanish music casting contest and released a self-produced album, Soler combining his music with studies in industrial design and a modeling career. Basing himself in Berlin in 2014 after meeting his manager Benjamin Budde at a songwriting camp in Austria, Soler launched his solo career with the single “El Mismo Sol,” co-written with Ali Zuckowski and Simon Triebel, which was inspired by his experience living in a multicultural society, going to a German school while living in Japan. Originally recorded in Spanish, it initially charted in Italy but went on to become a major hit across Europe, while the remix featuring Jennifer Lopez confirmed his growing status as a major new star of Latin music. Soler followed up with his first album Eterno Agosto (2015) and became a judge on the Italian version of The X Factor. That same year, he topped the Polish charts with “Agosto.” In 2016, Álvaro Soler released the chart-topping single “Sofia,” collaborated with Monika Lewczuk on “Libre,” and performed with Mexican singer Lucero at the Latin American Music Awards. He had another major hit in 2017 with Morat when the song “Yo Contigo Tú Conmigo” was featured in the movie Despicable Me 3 and was back again in 2018 with the album Mar de Colores. After dropping the track “Barrer a Casa,” inspired by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, Álvaro Soler returned in 2021 with the single “Magia,” the title track of his third full-length.