Myke Towers’ ‘La Vida Es Una’: Inside His Most Adventurous Work Yet

Myke Towers is eager for his fans to get their hands on his third studio album, “La Vida Es Una” (“You Only Live Once”). Though much of the 23-song set had been completed not too long after his last studio album, his 2021 major-label debut “Lyke Mike,” Towers purposefully held the record back to orchestrate a sense of delayed gratification that he says has been achingly difficult to maintain.

“I know my fans are ready for original solo music but I wanted this to be a record that people could take their time with, really listen to and appreciate,” Towers tells Variety. “I think people had gotten used to my way of rapid releases. … It was like every week, there would be a new song or collaboration – and I wanted there to be a palpable difference between this record and ‘Lyke Mike.’”

With “Lyke Mike,” Towers took a step back from the reggaeton and urban styles that helped launch a successful career in the U.S. and instead opted for rap and trap flavors in a conscious effort to step outside of the commercial success of his Latin pop collaborations, like the Cardi B- and Anitta-assisted “Me Gusta,” and Selena Gomez’s “Dámelo To’,” a track from her Spanish-language EP “Revelación.”

On the new collection, a series of high-energy tracks with featured appearances from Daddy Yankee, Ozuna, J Balvin, Arcángel and Argentinian singer Chita, Towers puts his melodic range on display — paying homage to his Caribbean background, while also experimenting with new flavors. At the same time, he exudes a desire to reconnect with his listeners, both on- and off-stage.

“I made [‘La Vida Es Una’] with the idea that I could play the songs live and people could really enjoy them. There are songs that pay homage to my Puerto Rican roots and others that are new territories for me,” he says. “But really, truly, my hope is that after releasing this record I can go on tour.”

Indeed, Towers is chasing the “indescribable feeling” of seeing crowds singing along to his every word and getting down to the swaggered tempos of tracks like “Tu Rehén,” a bumping beat produced by Colombian hitmaker Sky Rompiendo (Anitta, Maluma, Feid), and “Flow Jamaican,” a song he says was practically “begging to be made on my part, since reggae music is my top favorite genre — the one-drop rhythms and the overall style are something I’ve experimented with a ton behind closed doors.”

Describing his music tastes as “all over the place,” Towers’ listening habits heavily influenced the DNA of his new record. The rock-influenced “Extrañar” was the last song recorded for the album and came as a result of the influx of immersive music Towers was delving into at the time, namely the rugged guitar solos of Jimi Hendrix. There are also rare tinges of pop scattered throughout the songs, just one of the many suggestions made by friends, collaborators and mentors who were nudging Towers to share his musical range with the world.

Among those motivators were what Towers can only describe as the “best army of producers” he could’ve ever asked for. On the roster? Tainy (Bad Bunny, Karol G), Nesty (Wisin y Yandel), YannC Full Harmony (Villano Antillano, Ozuna, Yandel) and Di Genius (Drake, Shakira, Burna Boy), among numerous others.

“The combination of having this group backing me while also trying new sounds and methods gave life to this album, but it also made me a better artist, having had that experience,” he says. “It was the least pressure I’ve ever felt in the music-making process. I was up for a challenge because there were sounds outside of urban music that I wanted to try. It’s not that I feel underestimated, but people don’t know these other sides of me.”

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Other tracks like “Don y Tego” with Arcángel are a direct product of both of the performers’ island upbringings. “Hearing his verse really does remind me of something I would listen to when I was a kid,” Towers says of the artist’s rapturous flow. “The nostalgia is very real, deep and reminiscent of where we came from. It’s also my favorite verse of [Arcángel’s] to date.”

When it comes to collaborations, Towers likes to keep things methodical. “I have a list of artists and new music that I keep — I try to listen to at least one of them every day,” he says, adding that his Warner Music Latina label is also keen on introducing him to global acts. This combination has led the way for global crossovers like his February release with French-Malian pop singer Aya Nakamura, who is on Warner Music France.

Other times, collaborators come by way of mutual respect, as was the case with Mexican music-makers Fuerza Regida, who recently spilled to Rolling Stone that they had met up with Towers in Miami after learning that he was a big fan of their reinventive corrido ballads.

“They really impressed me when we first met,” Towers says of the California-based band. “It was like we met one night and then the next day we were in the studio, filming the music video to a song that hadn’t even been recorded yet,” he adds with a laugh.

While a song now does exist, neither side has plans to release the record just yet. Towers admits he was “really nervous” that his voice wouldn’t flow with their traditional sound, since “we live in completely different worlds in terms of music. I have an incredible respect for their style, so I was slightly intimidated. I listen to [corridos] but it’s not the same as putting yourself in the position to record them. But they fell in love with it and I’m honestly really proud of how I sound in it.”

Towers says he plans to release a deluxe version of “La Vida Es Una,” or possibly a string of singles using the songs that didn’t make the album. “It was a pain,” he says of the decision-making process, “but this project was built the way it was for a reason.”

It was for that reason that the record also experienced a change of title. “La Vida Es Una” used to be called “Michael,” but changed to the motivational saying as a much-needed reminder for Towers — a self-proclaimed “workaholic” — to simply enjoy life in the midst of madness.

“I feel like I am in a golden era of my career. It’s a privilege, really, to be in urban music at this time, because we are the new generation, and to have had the support of artists and mentors from your barrio (neighborhood) — the support of Yankee, for example… I hope to do the same at some point in my career.”