Juanes hit a breaking point at the height of his career. Now he says he’s never felt better

By Maria Santana, CNN

(CNN) — For more than two decades, the music of Colombian rock star Juanes has carried far beyond Latin America, winning him several Grammys and sold-out tours.

Born Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez, “Juanes” was an affectionate childhood nickname used by his family long before the awards and songs that would go on to inspire generations of fans.

“My father and my siblings used to call me Juanes, an abbreviation of my first and middle names,” the singer told CNN in a wide-ranging conversation about his 25 years as a solo artist.

Over time, Juanes became something much bigger even as Juan Esteban, the man behind the artist, struggled to protect his private life.

At one point, he said, the demands of being a public figure nearly consumed him. “I collapsed. I burned out, completely burned out.”

After a decade of working pretty much nonstop, Juanes says the pace of touring and recording left him exhausted and increasingly aware of what he was missing at home with his three children.

“I was so tired of traveling, of not being with my kids, of not being able to see them during important moments at school,” he recalled. “I said: ‘No, I can’t do this anymore. I mean, if this is going to be the rest of my life, I have to stop here.’”

Even more painful, he said, was realizing that music, his lifelong passion, had begun to make him unhappy.

“I couldn’t understand how the thing I loved most was making me feel this sadness,” he said.

So he decided to step away for several months, giving himself permission to pause, reconnect with his family, and rethink how he wanted to move forward.

“I thought that if I stopped working, everything would fall apart. It was a very difficult time, but fortunately, I made the right decision,” he said. “I’m still here, I’m OK, and I’m enjoying it.”

Embracing Juanes

That relationship between Juanes and Juan Esteban now sits at the center of his latest musical chapter.

His new album, “JuanesTeban,” looks inward, tracing the many sides of his identity and how they eventually learned to coexist.

“Juan Esteban, in the end, embraces Juanes,” he said.

The album leans into that duality. Co-produced with Argentine producer Nico Cotton, it blends the warmth of vintage records with a more contemporary sound, while Juanes’ longtime band anchors the music.

The tracks move through love, heartbreak, purpose, self-discovery, sensuality, humor and darker emotions, carried by music that draws on cumbia, vallenato, rock and funk, as well as traditional Colombian rhythms and influences ranging from Metallica to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

“I’ve always been very visceral with my songs, with my pain and with my joy,” Juanes said. “If I’m in a good mood and I want to make funny songs, I can. But if I’m in a very, very dark place, I go all the way into the depths of my soul and find music there to reflect what I’m feeling.”

The album also closes with “Madre,” an acoustic ballad for his mother and longtime confidante, Alicia Vásquez, who died last year at 95.

“She loved it so much,” Juanes said of the song, which she heard before her death.

For him, the emotional and musical range captured in “JuanesTeban” also reflects a newfound creative freedom.

“I like having freedom in music and in the way I create it, without putting up barriers for myself,” he said.

“I feel freer than ever to create.”

Crossing over without crossing languages

Juanes is now bringing that renewed energy back to the stage with a 30-date North American tour that begins in Florida in early September and ends in San Diego in October.

Touring the United States, he said, has always carried special meaning. He has performed here since the early days of his solo career, when he and his team traveled by van, played small venues and slowly built an audience.

“Every time I have the opportunity to tour the United States, it’s a way of thanking the public, of connecting with my community in this country, with the people who have appreciated my songs for so many years and with new people, too,” he said.

Along the way, Juanes also helped bring Spanish-language music into mainstream American spaces where it was still rarely heard.

His milestones include the first all-Spanish plaza concert on NBC’s “Today” in 2014 and the first Spanish-language performance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” that same year.

More recently, Juanes became the first Latin artist invited by YouTube to help launch YouTube Stations, joining Bruno Mars, Green Day, Radiohead and Alicia Keys in the platform’s experiment with continuous, 24/7 streams of artists’ video catalogs.

‘Leave me right here’

For Juanes, though, his global reach is less about the number of shows he plays or online views his videos attract, and more about the way his music continues to resonate across generations.

He said few things make him happier than seeing younger fans, some born after songs like 2002’s “A Dios le Pido” were released, singing along at his shows.

“That is beautiful because, in the end, that is the greatest prize,” he said. “The music keeps passing from generation to generation.”

His children — Luna, 23, Paloma, 21, and Dante, 16 — also help him stay connected to younger listeners, pointing him toward artists, sounds and social media habits he said he continues to learn from.

Even so, he insists he doesn’t long for his own youth. Asked whether he would go back to being 20, he did not hesitate.

“No, no, no, wait, please. Leave me right here. I’m doing very well here,” he said with a laugh.

At 54, Juanes said he feels better than ever.

“I play guitar better. I sing better. I’m more present now than I was before,” the singer reflected.

“Obviously, youth is great, and you’re in that period of searching and discovering. But now I feel this sense of calm, and for me that is incredibly valuable.”

That may be the clearest difference between the Juanes who launched his solo career 25

years ago and the Juan Esteban speaking now: less urgency, more patience.

These days, he said, he is less focused on counting the years than on living them, trusting that his songs have told his story all along.

“Most of my life is in my songs. Every time I feel pain, I make a song.” He said. “Every time I feel frustrated or I’m afraid or I am in love, I make a song about it.”

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