Manuel Turizo Unveils Eclectic New Album ‘Apambichao’: Interview

After his acclaimed “La Bachata” that reached No. 1 on the Tropical Airplay, Latin Airplay, and Billboard Argentina Hot 100 charts in 2022, Manuel Turizo was back at the studio cooking more bachata songs. 

“Te Creo,” in fact, was the first track he created almost more than a year ago for what would not only set the tone, but become his fifth studio album, Apambichao, out Thursday (April 9).  

“It sat there, saved as a guitar melody, and later I went on to record other things — but I never forgot it because of the vibe it gave me,” Turizo tells Billboard of the heartfelt bachata tune. “Little by little, you start compiling those energies. You begin weaving a thread that I hadn’t planned on, and I started to realize: this is vacation music.”

Mainly inspired by his summers in Coveñas, a beach near his hometown of Montería in Colombia, Apambichao is home to 13 tracks where Turizo steers away from his signature urban pop sound and seamlessly navigates from bachata to merengue to reggae to afrohouse and from corridos to música popular (regional Colombian music) to boleros. 

“There is a mixture of many things and influences,” the 25-year-old Colombian singer explains. “This has to do with my culture; it isn’t something planned, but rather something genuine and organic, drawn from what exists within my mental archive. I can’t really claim to be influenced by someone like Rihanna when, in truth, I grew up listening to Diomedes Díaz, Kaleth Morales, and Juan Luis Guerra. My ideas are bound to be shaped by that subconscious. It stems from those very flavors — from having been raised on suero, carimañolas, patacones, and arepas de huevo. So when the time comes to make music, that entire subconscious rises to the surface and speaks.”

The album’s name, Apambichao — which includes key collaborations with Maluma, Xavi, Dei V, Luis Alfonso, Emilia, Dalmata, and the late vallenato star Diomedes Díaz — derives from “pambiche,” a slower-tempo Dominican merengue style.

“The mood I was feeling—and the mindset I was living in—was literally just that: I wanted to go on vacation, enjoy life, and just kick back and relax,” Turizo elaborates. “And that is precisely the vibe that came through in the music I created. I felt like I was living in an eternal summer. It’s an album I made while having the time of my life. It’s a feeling.”