Sismo literally means 'earthquake' or 'seismic tremor'. It's a powerful word used to describe the shaking of the earth.
In 'Ginza', J Balvin uses this word as a vivid metaphor for intense chemistry on the dance floor. He sings, "Tu cadera con la mĂa / Hacen un sismo" (Your hip with mine / Make an earthquake), painting a picture of their dancing being so energetic and connected that it's powerful enough to shake the ground.
J Balvin's "Ginza" is a straight-up party anthem that tells you exactly what it's about from the very first line. The whole song is an invitation to forget everything and just dance. He sets the scene in a club where "en esta disco todos somos iguales" [in this club we are all equal] and the only goal is to move. Balvin is completely focused on a woman on the dance floor, telling her to keep going because "para eso te traje" [that's what I brought you for]. It's not subtle at all, especially with the chorus telling her to "vamos a pegarnos como animales" [let's get together like animals].
What's really interesting is how the song pushes aside any idea of romance. Balvin sings that "el amor ahora es turismo" [love is now tourism], meaning it's something temporary you just visit for a little while. He's all about the physical connection right now, the "magnetismo" [magnetism] of two people dancing so hard their hips "hacen un sismo" [make an earthquake]. It's a song for the moment, for the feeling of the beat and the energy of the club, with no promises for tomorrow.
J Balvin grew up in MedellĂn playing guitar in a teenage rock band with Nirvana and Metallica on repeat, and spent part of his teens in Oklahoma and New York picking up English. Born JosĂ© Ălvaro Osorio BalvĂn in 1985, he had been releasing music in Colombia for about a decade before anyone outside it paid attention.
"6 AM" with Farruko changed that in 2014, and "Ay Vamos" and "Ginza" followed: "Ginza" held number one on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart for 22 weeks, a record at the time. He kept singing in Spanish anyway, and "Mi Gente" reached number three on the Hot 100 once BeyoncĂ© joined the remix, before "I Like It" with Cardi B and Bad Bunny went to number one in 2018. His albums run La Familia, EnergĂa, Vibras, Colores (every track named after a color, and a Latin Grammy for best urban album), JosĂ© and Rayo, plus Oasis, a joint record with Bad Bunny. In August 2019 he became the first Latino artist to headline Lollapalooza in Chicago.