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If you’re a fan of Latin music, you are undoubtedly familiar with Andrés Cuervo. The Columbian-born singer-songwriter and model knew from a young age that he was destined for a career in music, and made the move from Barranquilla to Miami, Fla. to pursue his dreams.

The risk paid off in his first studio album, Tras de Ti, which spawned a No. 1 hit in Mexico. Cuervo followed the debut up with 2013’s Este Soy Yo and Historias de Amor last year.

He is set to release a fourth album, Puro del Caribe, on April 15, and its first single, “La Receta,” has already leapt to the top of Billboard’s Tropical charts and is being played on major Latino stations in the United States.

As its name implies, Puro del Caribe blends Caribbean rhythms and tropical music with Cuervo’s Latin roots. The artist recently discussed “La Receta,” the new album and some of his musical influences with Living Out Loud – Los Angeles.

LOL-LA: You are currently promoting your single, “La Receta.” What can you tell us about the lyrics?

A.C.: “La Receta” is a very special song. It is off my new album called Puro del Caribe, and I am very proud of it because it had the No. 1 spot on the Tropical Music chart for a week in the United States. I wrote the song myself, and it’s about having the recipe to happiness, which is really easy. The recipe itself is to sing, dance, love and be positive. It is our own decision, it is a mental decision and it is a perspective towards life. Of course it is a song to dance and have fun to, but it is also about being happy and feeling alive.

LOL-LA: Is Puro del Caribe already finished, or is it just missing final touches?

A.C.: Right now we are working on promoting some songs and also finalizing the last touches on a few songs. It is an album that could launch at the end of April of this year. Right now, we’re just really excited to launch the new album because we’re all very happy with it. It is a tropical and rhythmic album, and being from Barranquilla, it was as if I had become a fan of Barranquilla, and all that it is, all over again. So it is an album that reflects all of that: the Caribbean rhythms, merengue, reggae, tropical music. It really is a rhythmic album.

LOL-LA: It’s very interesting that you made a tribute to Juan Gabriel with “Se Me Olvidó Otra Vez.” What can you tell us about that?

A.C.: After being in Mexico for such a long period of time and doing many festivals, you obviously start to learn more about Mexican artists. I have always admired them, but you really start to know more about them and their music. For example, Mana seems like a great band to me, and has such a great musical career. They did a version of “Se Me Olvidó Otra Vez,” and from there I started getting more familiar with Juan Gabriel’s music and him as a composer, which all seem really cool to me. I really liked the song, so I decided to create a reggae-style version of it.

LOL-LA: Last month we got news that the artist David Bowie had passed, and we saw that you made a tribute to him on social media. What kind of impact did his death have on you?

A.C.: It is so unfortunate because he was such a musical legend and a legend in general. It impacted me because he had just launched a new album, and of course he’s such an important artist. Eery time we lose an artist like David Bowie or Michael Jackson, it’s like a piece of them falls in the music world that they have left such an imprint on. Bowie was such a cool artist, he’s someone that no one will ever forget. He was one of the first artists to explore with visual facets, music, fashion, style and also with the way he reinvented himself and performed. He was an artist that didn’t want to stop, he wanted to keep going, and obviously that impacts you. It is very important to pay a tribute to an artist like him.

Puro del Caribe will be available on April 15. For more information, visit andrescuervo.com.

Karen Cruz and Yuri Shimoda contributed to this story.

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