The Puerto Rican rapper's new 23-song album has everything from bachata to New Jack Swing
Myke Towers has positioned himself as one of the top Latin rappers and reggaetoneros. With his fourth album, LVEU: Vive La Tuya…No La Mía, the Puerto Rican artist proves that he is a Latin pop star. Towers finds a happy medium between the rap and perreo of his previous albums while pushing his music into exciting, unexpected territory. On top of that, he pulls it all off on his own with no help from a longshot.
With the 2021 LP Like Mike, Towers established himself as a Latin rap phenomenon. His monitoring, La Vida Es Una, saw him explore a range of genres while also making a welcome return to reggaeton. The album also featured his hit “Lala,” which topped Spotify's Top 50 Global chart earlier this year. Now Towers is bridging the two worlds he has dominated as a rapper and singer LVEU: Vive La Tuya…No La Mía.
The big LP features 23 songs, including the aforementioned “Lala.” Towers does Puerto Rico proud with his arsenal of reggaeton bangers. The most tempting of these is “La Falda”, where he serenades women perreando, or twerking, in their miniskirts. Later, Towers parlays his wealth and influence into the explosive “Cartera & Tacos.” He also takes reggaeton to new places with elements of Afrobeats on the playful “Otro Round” and the Jersey club influences of the ethereal “Five Guys.”
Towers further unleashes his versatile flow on knockout rap tracks. Backed by R&B-infused trap beats, he fires his shot with model and feminist activist Emily Ratajkowski on the funky 'Emrata'. Towers perfectly combines trap with electronica and Jersey club on the dazzling “Disco Subterranea”. While spitting rhymes about going crazy in a car, he puts a stylish twist on “En El Carro.” “If the lobby is full, I'll do it in the parking lot,” he sings in Spanish. The song is a perfect blend of the swagger of Towers' mixtape days and the smooth operator he is today.
Then there are the moments where Towers goes in completely new directions. He takes on New Jack Swing, bringing to mind Bell Biv DeVoe's classic 'Poison' with the elegant 'Esa Nena'. Towers embraces more Caribbean music with bachata and merengue on the dreamy 'La Capi' and through the fiery 'La Ronda', produced by salsa maestro Sergio George. LVEU: Vive La Tuya…No La Mía would have benefited from cutting its 23 tracks down to just those where Towers shines the most, but it's still a great album. The title roughly translates into English as “Live Your Life…Not Mine” and is proof that he's living the best moment of his career without limits.
