Jay Perez tops iTunes Latin Albums chart with ‘El Maestro’

El Maestro, the highly-anticipated new album from Tejano icon Jay Perez, reached the top of the iTunes Latin Albums chart less than 24 hours after its release on May 28 from Freddie Records.

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It’s the first time in his 27-year solo career for Perez to reach the top spot of the albums chart. “The Voice” recorded the album during the pandemic and says he was challenged by his longtime producer, who helped the vocalist take it to the next level for the 12-track album.

“This album here was a big challenge for me because my producer, Mario Ortiz, he set the bar too high for me,” Perez tells Tejano Nation. “I thought when I first walked in I listened to the songs and I was, ‘Man, I can’t do this. I can’t sing this style, I’ve never sang that style.’ Pero (but) he made me work. He gave me the freedom to run with it and experiment with certain melodies that I’m not use to, just out of the norm for me.”

Perez added he used the time off from touring during the pandemic to work on his latest album.

“You know, we’re home writing music, writing songs and going over the arrangements and the melodies,” he said. “We had all this spare time, so we finally put it together. It just took a long time, almost a year for us to get 12 songs, so imagine that.”

“Eres” is the lead single from the album, a song written by Perez for his wife, Roxie Perez, and one of a couple of songs penned by the singer for his latest album.

El Maestro is the follow-up album for the five-time Latin Grammy-nominated singer’s 25th Anniversary Contigo album released in 2019, which received a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Tejano Album at the 21st annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2020.

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