NPR

A Rock Star In Space: Juanes Seeks The Universal On 'Mis Planes Son Amarte'

The Colombian superstar's new visual album is a collaboration with director Kacho López Mari. Juanes stars as a character in search of eternal love and self-knowledge.
"I'm not gonna be afraid of anything anymore," Juanes says. "I don't want to follow any trends in music. I just wanna [make] music from my heart and my soul — as I did it before."

Since releasing his last album, Loco De Amor, in 2014, Colombian superstar Juanes has hardly sat still. He's undertaken extensive touring, film soundtrack work and high-profile concert appearances around the world — including the Grammys, a John Lennon tribute, a concert for the Pope and, for the third time, the Nobel Peace Prize concert.

After all that, he "chilled out" by writing a series of songs that he then turned into a stunning sci-fi themed visual album. The album and the film are both called Mis Planes Son Amarte ("My Plans Are To Love You") and are the work of a man on a mission, both personally and artistically.

In the visual album, Juanes is an archaeologist and astronaut, the lead character in a story about a search for eternal love that symbolizes his own journey of self-discovery. The film depicts dreams and time travel through a blend of gorgeous cinematography and animations, set to songs that echo Juanes' early musical style. It also draws heavily on indigenous philosophy and the metaphysical, and the sequence of the songs creates the narrative for the film. This is where Juanes takes his artistry to the moon.

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