Fénix

Debuting in the ’90s as a tough-talking reggaetón prodigy, Boston-born Nicky Jam went on to reinvent himself as a romantic, bringing his melodic bars to a string of fizzy bops. So while it opens with an old-school blast of snarling rhymes, the bulk of Fénix is bright and bouncy, whether he’s dropping a bubbly piano hook on the beach-ready reggaetón jam “El Amante” or crooning sweetly in English for the crossover tropical pop of “I Can’t Forget You”. But perhaps to prove he can still go hard, Nicky occasionally flashes that ferocious double-time flow, ripping the mic on the grimy Arcángel team-up “Despacio”.