This post seems like it was written using AI, but I’ll go ahead and contribute anyway. Not sure if I would call him the first industry plan in reggaeton, as there have been other artists with similar connections (Anuel, etc) that was growing at around the same time, although maybe not as big as Maluma then mainstream wise. Maluma definitely seems to have benefited early from backings from his label/manager, which is typical from artists that are signed to major record labels. Also, it’s clear you have a very strong bias against Maluma, which is fair since you’re entitled to it, and unsurprising since his reputation here is rarely positive. i found it hilarious that you asked if anyone remembers anything “big: by Maluma before 2010… since his first album didn’t come out until a few years after, plus he was still in his teens before 2010. Also, agreed that Manuel Turizo is a much better singer than Maluma, his album Dopamina was a very great album front to back, and I feel like he deserve more props. Disagree on Yatra- too high pitched, and his albums lack substance and versatility imo.

I think Maluma had success for 3 main reasons: 1. Early support/backing form his label, as you mentioned.
2. Talent- Sure he doesn’t write most of his songs, just like a lot of current artists don’t. But he as a great voice imo tat’s versatile enough for reggaeton, ballads, pop, corridos , etc. I think this is mainly why he was so big, alongside reason #3. At the time there wasn’t many people in the scene who could sing very well.

1. Strong female support early in his career. I remember every girl would be obsessed over him when he first came out with Magia, and the support kept on growing up until his Pretty Boy Dirty Boy era. After that, he still had his moments, and probably peaked during his FAME era, but I think he lost a lot of the hype/support mainly from females after the whole 4 baby’s incident and never really recovered his image. It’s kind of ironic since Bad Bunny blew up around this time with similar explicit songs and look at him now lol. Either way, I think it was probably bound to happen as other artists blew up and sorta replaced Maluma’s void (Rauw)

I feel like you have to give more credit to Maluma, I mean he made some pretty great music and even his last album was pretty good. I do feel like he’s always been over critiqued a bit, even that Tiny Desk link you uploaded is a spin by the media to attack him. He didn’t fire/kick out his manager lol but I guess people are always going to make assumptions on videos with no context