At some point during the past turbulent months, as he searched for purpose and faced the pressures of a very public divorce that engulfed both his personal and professional life, the music stopped for Raymond Ayala.

“For the first time in my life, the muse shut down,” says the man long known as Daddy Yankee. “That had never happened to me before. Ever.”

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. In 2022, Daddy Yankee — that rare artist who has garnered both vast commercial success and respect from artists and the industry alike — surprised the world when he announced his retirement from music. He released what was supposed to be his last studio album, Legendaddy, and performed what was set to be his last tour, grossing $197.8 million and selling 1.9 million tickets, then the second-highest-grossing Latin tour in Billboard Boxscore history. But Ayala was spent.

Then, on Dec. 3, 2023, at the tour’s final date at Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, he made yet another shocking revelation: “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 the 15,000 fans that packed his hometown venue. “A story ends and a new story begins.”

Daddy Yankee will sit for his first public interview in three years on Oct. 22 as part of Billboard Latin Music Week. For tickets, go to billboardlatinmusicweek.com.

Ayala immediately started spreading the word of the Lord, in music and in deed. He released songs brimming with positivity, traveled on missions to Africa, made impromptu appearances in churches in Puerto Rico and other Latin countries and saw firsthand the reaction to his new brand of “music with a purpose,” culminating with a Latin Grammy win for best urban song for “Bonita” (Pretty), a non-album single released in 2023.

But in December 2024, Ayala’s wife of nearly 30 years filed for divorce, and an initially amicable split turned sour amid a spate of legal disputes over his many businesses and assets, including his past catalog negotiations. Making music became even more difficult.

“But it was part of the process to arrive at a total dependency on God,” Ayala now says. “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.”

I’m chatting with Ayala in a private dining room at a Brooklyn hotel — his first interview with the press since he announced his conversion to Christianity — over tea and fruit. He is 49 years old, but his trim physique (later, he’ll go to the gym with pal J Balvin) and youthful, unlined face display none of the travails of an artist who grew up in Puerto Rico’s housing projects and whose music career was jump-started by a gunshot to the leg that ended a promising baseball run.

As Daddy Yankee, Ayala is widely recognized as the man who catapulted reggaetón from underground genre to global movement, in large part thanks to his 2004 smash, “Gasolina,” and the relentless string of global hits that followed. Today, he has 105 entries — including seven No. 1s — on the Hot Latin Songs chart, among them “Despacito” alongside Luis Fonsi and his most recent, “Sonríele” (Smile), which is currently charting. At the time of publication, Daddy Yankee was the No. 37 most listened-to artist on Spotify despite the fact that he has released only a few singles in the past two years.

That is a testament to the power of the name and the man. “Without Daddy Yankee, there would be no J Balvin,” Balvin says. “He was, and continues to be, the source of inspiration that has so propelled me to elevate urban music to a global level.”

Now Ayala has embarked on a dramatically different second act, with Jesus as a centerpiece and the goal of releasing music that’s commercially successful but is “music with a purpose,” as he calls it, rather than religious music with evangelical lyrics.

“Having a life of success is different from having a life of purpose,” Ayala replies when I ask what prompted his conversion and the ensuing shift in direction. “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.”

But the vehicle is still the same. On Oct. 23, Ayala will perform as Daddy Yankee at the Billboard Latin Music Awards, his first televised performance in three years. And he will release Lamento En Baile (Mourning Into Dancing), his first album since 2022 — and his first since publicly converting – on Oct. 16. The title comes from Psalm 30:11, which says, “You have turned my mourning into dancing,” and dovetails with its first focus track, “Sonríele,” a peppy merengue brimming with optimism.

It’s the first track Ayala has released under DY Publishing, as well as the first step in rebuilding his catalog. In October 2024, Concord purchased key elements of his music publishing and master-recording catalog, including chart-topping hits “Gasolina,” “Con Calma” and “Despacito.” According to Concord’s website and Billboard reports, the agreement encompasses work from 2002 through 2019 and includes certain name, image and likeness rights. Prior to that acquisition, Billboard reported that parts of his catalog had been quietly acquired around 2021 by Cinq Music and a private fund that asked not to be named, which then sold those assets to Concord. (Concord, Cinq and Ayala himself decline to comment about specifics of the deals.)

“Someone like [Daddy Yankee], someone who is as prolific as he is productive, we imagine it will happen fairly quickly,” says Jorge Mejía, president/CEO of Sony Music Publishing Latin America and U.S. Latin, which continues to administer all songs written by Ayala for the world. “This is not an unusual situation for us. Artists inevitably evolve throughout their careers — growth, change and reinvention are all part of the creative journey.”

Ayala is releasing his new music on his own DY Records through a license deal with HYBE Latin America, which announced the signing in July in tandem with the release of “Sonríele” and is betting big on Daddy Yankee as its first major and established artist. “Obviously, partnering with [Daddy Yankee] is extremely important for us,” HYBE Latin America COO Juan Sebastián Arenas says. “We’re partnering with a music icon, supporting a new project. Our goal is to tell the industry we’re here to do something new. There’s no one better than [him] to accomplish that.”

Likewise, in HYBE, Ayala found a label partner that’s young (HYBE Latin America launched in 2023), inquisitive and eager to break molds. This summer, Ayala, who has a big following in Asia, went to South Korea for the first time and shot the video to his upcoming single “El Toque,” incorporating elements of Korean dance.

“I am my own manager now and I’m managing myself 100% alone, and I have good allies,” Ayala says. “HYBE is a good ally. They have a progressive mentality and they’re in constant reinvention. That’s very compatible with my new vision.”

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If you listen closely, it’s clear the seeds of Ayala’s conversion were planted in his music long ago. On 2007’s “Coraza Divina” (Divine Shield), for example, an autobiographic rap set over salsa tumbao that narrates his rise from the hood, he named a higher power: “Evil realized he was the chosen child and sought to destroy him/But you know what? I have a divine shield, the power to light my path,” he says in the chorus.

“Many people don’t know that I converted to the Lord for the first time at 19 years old,” Ayala says. “But I diverged from the path. My lyrics were clean, but I knew they belonged to the world, [not to God].”

Still, in a genre rife with sexually graphic lyrics that often glorify drugs and violence, Ayala always stood out as a rapper with a conscience who delivered mostly G-rated material, but nevertheless oozed swagger and braggadocio. The strategy let him open the door for reggaetón to find success among mainstream Latin audiences and beyond: He was the first Latin urban artist to consistently place hit songs on radio when that medium was the key driver to success.

But clearly, the content of Ayala’s music went deeper than a commercial play. On 2004’s Barrio Fino, the breakout album that includes “Gasolina,” there were tracks that referenced God and resilience. It’s a theme that appears again and again in his work — through to 2016, when, unbeknown to the public, he privately converted. He didn’t announce it, he says, “because I had many agreements I had signed and committed to” — label deals, recordings with other artists, brand deals, a major tour — “and I had to deliver.”

Ayala is known for keeping his word. He’s a man of habit and discipline: makes his bed every morning, works out, reads, eats healthy, goes to the studio, repeats. As the “Big Boss” of reggaetón and the urban movement itself, he couldn’t conceive of not fulfilling his contractual obligations. So he kept his allegiance to Christ to himself, until that 2023 show where he told the world about his new path.

“I wanted to get to where I am now and not owe anything to anyone,” he says. “I wanted to be in peace and complete liberty.”

And he was, for a while.

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Daddy Yankee’s reentry into the world of music as an artist led by faith in Jesus initially appeared seamless. He returned with the single “Bonita,” an uptempo reggaetón fused with horns and merengue that was all about positivity and happiness.

It was the first of a handful of tracks distributed through SoundOn, TikTok’s distribution and marketing platform, prior to his HYBE deal, and it benefited from TikTok support and exposure. Users have created over 1.2 million videos with “Bonita,” which generated over 1.1 billion views, and Daddy Yankee-posted content got more than 48.5 million likes, 1.7 million comments and over 3.8 million shares.

The fact was, Ayala had announced his retirement from music in 2022. “The perception was that Yankee had retired and [now] we wanted to say he hadn’t,” says Gabriel Llano, head of artist services for U.S. Latin and Latin America at SoundOn at TikTok. “When he made this musical shift, we wanted users to take those songs of his with positive messages to tell their own stories.”

After “Bonita,” Ayala released “Donante de Sangre,” a rap track where he addressed his conversion head-on for the first time. The song, which was also a metaphor for life, was used for a Red Cross blood donation campaign in Mexico, adding a dimension of social good to his new music.

Other like-minded singles trickled out, even as, in October 2024, Concord announced its purchase of parts of Daddy Yankee’s catalog. Then, on Dec. 2, 2024, Ayala made yet another surprise announcement.

“After more than two decades of marriage and after many months of trying to save my marriage, which my wife and I share, today my lawyers respond to the divorce petition received [from] Mireddys,” he wrote in a letter shared to Instagram, referring to Mireddys González, his longtime wife and high school sweetheart. “I’m grateful for the time we shared, full of blessings and values, of love and with a beautiful family that will continue to be our priority.”

González was not only Ayala’s wife but also the president of his label, El Cartel Records, and a member of its board of directors. Within weeks of the divorce announcement, on Dec. 17, Ayala filed two legal motions seeking an injunction against González and her sister Ayeicha González-Castellanos (El Cartel’s secretary/treasurer), alleging they withdrew tens of millions of dollars from his business bank accounts without authorization, according to court documents.

It was the first of a series of back-and-forth complaints, some of which are still in litigation, that have been reported widely by the press and touch many aspects of Ayala’s career and assets, including information surrounding the initial sale of catalog assets in 2021.

Although the cases are public, Ayala has not spoken about them — save for perfunctory comments as he’s gone in and out of court in Puerto Rico — and he declined to answer questions now. But he has definitely learned some things.

“Be on top of everything, even if you have lawyers and accountants,” Ayala says. “Now I’m alone, so I have to be 100% [involved]. Things I used to delegate, I don’t delegate anymore. It’s my responsibility, and I feel good and I feel I’ve learned so much more. You think you know everything about the music business and the rules keep changing. The smallest things can make a great difference.”

And, he cautions new artists, male and female: “Even if you’re not famous or successful and your career is only beginning, get married with a prenup. Music is unpredictable.”

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Whatever challenges Ayala has faced over the course of his lengthy career, they’ve been impossible to discern from the outside. Through the years he’s been unflappable, even-keeled, scandal-free. He has never even been attacked on social media — a feat in this day and age. But the past year shook him up.

“I’ve always taken good care of myself, [but now] I’ve learned to give myself more self-love,” he muses when I ask what he has taken from this experience. “It’s very important to be clear on what self-love is and establish limits. All kinds of healthy limits. Learn how to say no. I learned that we sacrifice ourselves for many people, and you do it so much that you normalize it. And that’s not the way it should be. You need to set limits. I’ve learned to be more assertive.”

When I point out I always found him assertive, he nods. “I’ve always been assertive with those outside my close circle. But you also need to set limits on those close to you.”

And eventually, Ayala learned how to make music again.

“I never thought I’d be in this situation, but I found myself in it,” he says. “And the strength I found to record an album full of joy in the most unexpected moment of my life is what helped me regain my strength. When we’re in the middle of a crisis, one of our biggest fortitudes lies in adoring and praising the Lord because it brings joy.”

Despite the change in content and the change in purpose, Ayala intends to tackle the marketing and promotion of his “music with a purpose” with every tool at his disposal, something that has proved tricky in the Latin world for religious artists who previously made secular music. Many Latin acts, particularly from Puerto Rico, are devout Christians but don’t share their beliefs in their music. And many others have publicly announced their conversions and released evangelical music with mixed results.

“From a programming perspective … it will all depend on the lyrics,” iHeartLatino senior vp of programming Pedro Javier González says. “Yankee is being smart in how he’s handling it. He knows he has global impact and is looking for the best way to take the message without alienating anyone. Up to now, it’s been positive lyrics that don’t sound religious. A lot of people are looking for this kind of content.”

HYBE’s Arenas agrees. “HYBE likes to send positive messages to the world, and I do see a trend coming with inspirational music, music that has undertones of faith,” he says. “We’ve seen it in the Anglo world, and we’re starting to see it in Latin as well. I think there’s an audience for these fans, but the right platform for the music hasn’t existed before.”

For Ayala, it’s simply part of who he is now.

“Everyone who’s inside the faith has to go to the world and preach the gospel,” he says, an obligation that applies to all, not just pastors or evangelizers. “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. Now I’m in the same situation with a different purpose: revolutionize and reinvent.”

This story appears in the Oct. 11, 2025, issue of Billboard.

Justin Timberlake joined the loud and passionate chorus of musicians and fans paying tribute to R&B icon D’Angelo following the singer’s death on Tuesday (Oct. 14) at age 51 following a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

In a heartfelt Instagram Story post on Tuesday night, Timberlake went deep on how much D’Angelo’s music meant to him and inspired his own music, as well as reminiscing about the first time they met. “I’ll never forget hearing Brown Sugar for the first time. It changed me. You changed me,” JT wrote about D’Angelo’s beloved 1995 debut album, which is considered a stone cold neo soul classic thanks to the silky smooth title track and his indelible, languid cover of Smokey Robinson’s 1979 single “Cruisin’.”

“It was the most pivotal moment in establishing confidence in my own voice,” Memphis native Timberlake continued. “For the first time, I heard a sound that reflected the sounds I grew up with — early R&B, but ‘now’ it was intertwined with a modern edge. The chords and arrangement carried a mixture of church/jazz/funk. The harmonies delicately dancing with one another. It sat in my spirit and always will.”

The “SexyBack” singer also had high praise for D’Angelo’s 2000 sophomore album, Voodoo, which critics and fans agreed was well worth the five-year wait thanks to such soul-stirring, slow-cooking burners as “Devil’s Pie,” “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” and the Method Man/Redman team up “Left and Right.”

“And then???! Voodoo??? Where do I begin with this one???,” Timberlake wrote. “Maybe my favorite mixed album of all time. The rawness, that took time to cultivate and process. Created an absolutely transcendent listening experience. The legendary players and collaborators, the sounds, the way it made colors dance around my head. It grabbed me, it shook me, I was changed once again.”

Timberlake also shared a photo of the first time the two singers met backstage at Radio City Music Hall, where the then-19-year-old boy bander saw D’Angelo on his Voodoo tour. In the snap, D’Angelo has his arm around Timberlake’s shoulder as the two men stare into the camera.

“The Voodoo tour at Radio City was one of the best concert experiences of my life,” Timberlake wrote. “You. Quest. Pino. Poyser. And everyone on that stage had just ripped the faces off that crowd. And then I was lucky enough to grab a sacred moment with you backstage and tell you how in awe of you I was. (The picture before is from that moment…) You were kind, under-spoken. I will never forget that.”

Though D’Angelo only released three studio albums in his lifetime, Timberlake said he was fully there for every note, also lavishing praise on D’s third — and at this point, final — studio album, 2014’s Black Messiah. Saying he could “go on and on” about that LP or his favorite “Lauryn [Hill] collab,” “those beautiful covers captured in live recordings,” Timberlake said one thought summed up his fandom.

“You took R&B and put it in all capitals,” JT said, dubbing himself “one of your biggest” fans. “Meshed it with something else and changed the landscape, made it something more. Your contribution will always be remembered,” he added, dedicating his post to “1 of 1. RIP Trailblazer.”

Timberlake joined a long list of musicians who flooded the zone on Tuesday with high praise and emotional memories of the high priest of neo soul, a roster that included Tyler, the Creator, Doja Cat, DJ Premiere and Beyoncé, who wrote that D “changed and transformed rhythm & blues forever.”

At press time no information about memorial services for D’Angelo had been announced.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a decade since K-pop boy band SEVENTEEN came together. But on Nov. 7, Carats will have a reason to celebrate the boy band’s aluminium anniversary with a new four-part Disney+ doc series called SEVENTEEN: Our Chapter.

Produced by their label, Pledis Entertainment, the docuseries will track the first 10 years of the group’s journey, featuring interviews, performance videos and behind-the-scenes footage of their training and life on the road. According to a release announcing the project, the series will drop a new episode every Friday, following S.Coups, Jeonghan, Joshua, Jun, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Woozi, The8, Mingyu, DK, Seungkwan, Vernon and Dino from their beginnings to the 2024-2025 [RIGHT HERE] world tour that played to more than one million fans, this year’s SVT 9th fan meeting “SEVENTEEN in CARAT LAND,” and the studio sessions for their their fifth album, May’s HAPPY BURSTDAY.

A one-minute teaser trailer that dropped on Wednesday (Oct. 15) counts up the years from the group’s 2015 formation over a montage of footage from their concerts as the members ask probing questions about the ceiling on their global fame. “How far can we go?,” “for how long can we do this?,” “how honest should we be?” they ask.

The trailer dropped a month after two of the band’s members, Woozi and Hoshi, enlisted in the South Korean army to begin their mandatory military service. As with K-pop superstars BTS, SEVENTEEN have said that its individual members will release solo material throughout the two-year military stints, though four members are exempt, S.COUPS because of a knee injury, The8 and Jun because they are Chinese citizens and Joshua because he’s a U.S. citizen.

“This is something that has been inevitable for us all along,” Hoshi told The Hollywood Reporter in May of enlisting. “We have been prepared. We have a lot of projects that we have discussed with [Hybe] very thoroughly up until now.” 

SEVENTEEN are currently on their NEW_ world tour, with upcoming shows in Los Angeles on Thursday (Oct. 16) and Friday (Oct. 17), followed by gigs in Austin, Texas, Sunrise, Fla. and Washington, D.C. before wrapping up with 10 shows in Japan.

Check out the trailer for SEVENTEEEN: OUR CHAPTER below.