Cobardes is the Spanish word for "cowards". It's a powerful and emotionally charged word that you don't typically find in a reggaeton track, making it a unique word to learn.
In the song, J Balvin shows a moment of raw vulnerability, singing, "Pero los cobardes también sienten" (But cowards also feel). After admitting his mistakes, he uses this line to express that despite his flaws and fears, his feelings are real and deep. It's a surprisingly honest and relatable lyric that adds a lot of depth to the song.
Ever check your phone the second you wake up, hoping for a text that never arrived? That is right where Colombian star J Balvin starts in "Otra Noche Sin Ti" (Another Night Without You). He admits he messed up, asking his ex to drop her pride ("Bájale al orgullo" [lower your pride]) while realizing his money cannot fix the problem: "Dime de qué me sirve el cash / ¿Si lo que yo quiero no se compra?" (Tell me what good is cash / If what I want can't be bought?). He is stuck imagining her moving on with someone new, miserably noting that "En tu cama hay un party / Y en ese party no tengo invitación" (There's a party in your bed / And I don't have an invite to that party).
Khalid jumps in on the English verse to double down on the regret. He is sitting alone in Los Angeles, crying in his luxury sports car ("Used to shed tears in the 'rari"), standing outside in the pouring rain, and offering to buy a one-way flight the moment she says the word. Together, both singers turn a smooth reggaeton groove into an open confession of nighttime loneliness and unread messages.
J Balvin grew up in Medellín 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 José Álvaro Osorio Balvín 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 Beyoncé joined the remix, before "I Like It" with Cardi B and Bad Bunny went to number one in 2018. His albums run La Familia, Energía, Vibras, Colores (every track named after a color, and a Latin Grammy for best urban album), José and Rayo, plus Oasis, a joint record with Bad Bunny. In August 2019 he became the first Latino artist to headline Lollapalooza in Chicago.