Manuel Turizo Talks Wild Success of ‘La Bachata’ and Singing with Coldplay: ’I Did That!’

Manuel Turizo was in Madrid when Chris Martin called. Coldplay was on tour in South America and the band wanted the Colombian star to join the band in Bogotá to perform his smash hit “La Bachata.”

Turizo immediately agreed and caught a flight to his native Colombia for the show. He’s still windblown: “I was in shock,” Turizo tells Rolling Stone over Zoom from Miami. “The fact that they invited me to perform was insane. It’s like a bucket list moment for sure. I did that!”

“Chris kept thanking me for being there and I was like, ‘What? You’re Chris Martin. You’re Coldplay. You don’t have to thank me, I should be thanking you,’” Turizo adds with a grin. “He has this human sensibility that’s incredible. In this job, people sometimes lose the human side, but they were more human than most of the people I’ve met in the world. It was special.”

The stadium performance with the “Yellow” icons cemented something that the Latin charts — where “La Bachata” has climbed to No. 1 in multiple countries — had already confirmed: Turizo is having a massive moment that’s been years in the making.

Thanks to the song’s honest lyricism about grieving a relationship and a fun bachata rhythm, the hit has resonated with listeners. Turizo says that was the point of sharing it back in May.

“As a listener, I like songs that make me feel things. When I make music, I want people to relate to what I’m singing about,” he says, adding that he’s trying to enjoy the moment and the success of his song. “I never intended for ‘La Bachata’ to be No. 1 or for it to spread as much as it has. Those aren’t things you imagine. I just wanted people to enjoy it. The fact that this happened is simply a blessing.”

“La Bachata” has led Turizo on a journey to create a new album, an experimental follow-up to his 2021 LP Dopamina. This time he’s only featuring two artists on the record, including María Becerra, who sings on the Afrobeats-influenced “Éxtasis,” which dropped Friday.

“It all happened so casually,” he says of tapping Becerra. “She killed it. She has such a sexy voice and it fit the sonics of the track perfectly.”

The new song gives a taste of how he plans to change things up on his third LP. Turizo teases that the album will tap into a wide variety of genres from R&B and reggae to ballads and EDM.

“Not categorizing myself by genre is so important. It’s easy to put people in a box. ‘He does that, She does that.’ But for me, I’m influenced by so many different sounds,” he says. “When I make music, I try to include all sides of me.”

He adds, “If I already did something, I want to change it up. It’s not like ‘This worked so let’s do it 10 times the same way.’ Nope, I want to do new, fresh things.”

After tapping heavyweights like Maluma, Farruko, and Rauw Alejandro on his last album, Turizo says he wanted to really focus on showcasing his personal artistry.

“I didn’t want to have too many features. The two I have are perfect, but I didn’t want to focus on that,” he admits. “I wanted to make an album to show more of who Manuel Turizo is on his own.”