J Balvin Launches Oye, a Creative Wellness App for Gen Z

It took Mario Chamorro 10 months to help develop creative wellness app Oye with reggaeton superstar J Balvin, Patrick Dowd and Isaac Lee. But it only took him a few minutes of using it to help his mother open up about her mental health. In August, Chamorro’s father had a stroke, and his family was uncertain about the future. His mom has multiple brothers and grew up in Colombia, and talking about her emotions didn't come naturally to her. After some initial reticence, she confided in Chamorro about her feelings of helplessness in the wake of everything. So, Chamorro suggested they turn to Oye to do a mental health practice that essentially “dared” her to be happy. When it was over, things had shifted. “At the end of the practice, she felt relieved and we had this beautiful connection where we were able to have a conversation about our emotions,” he said. His father is doing better these days. And Chamorro can’t stop thinking about how an app he helped create can potentially have a significant impact on a person's well-being. Oye, which means “listen” in Spanish, launches today in honor of Latinx and Hispanic Heritage Month on iOS in both English and Spanish. Created with Gen Z in mind, the app centers on “creative wellness,” the idea that people can work through their emotions through creative actions, encouraging users to track their feelings and create art to stimulate personal growth. They can also watch content—specifically created by people from Latin America—tailored to how they’re feeling, whether it’s a talk from a sex therapist about how to meaningfully connect with others, or a video called “Perreo for Healing,” where people are encouraged to twerk out their insecurities and have fun. “We're telling you, ‘Manage and learn about your emotions, catalyze your emotions, use those emotions to unleash your creative self,’” Chamorro said. Oye co-founders Mario Chamorro, J Balvin and Patrick Dowd. Dream team The idea for Oye came through J Balvin, who serves as the company’s “chief dream officer,” a title he took on to reflect his motivation to always think bigger. His intention for Oye is to not only build “a company to make the world feel better,” according to Chamorro, but to also provide users with wellness approaches that have helped him grow in his craft. "I created Oye to reflect my own personal journey with mental health struggles,” J Balvin told Adweek in an exclusive statement. “For me, once I began to use the powers of creative wellness practices, from meditation to movement, I was able to feel better and expand my creativity as an artist.” J Balvin knew he couldn’t do this alone. He reached out to Chamorro, who was known for being a "happiness activist” and was part of a group of people who created the International Day of Happiness (March 20) through the United Nations. Later on, the superstar met Dowd, who was recovering from burnout and wanted his next role to "support the creation of a virtuous planetary scale endeavor." It was like kismet. Then, they teamed up with Lee, who is a journalist and also an investor with media and entertainment company Exile Content. The four went to work and as of now, Oye has a small team across California, Colombia and Mexico. Oye allows users to track their emotions, generate art to track personal growth and watch content tailored to how they're feeling. Hearing Gen Z The Oye team conducted extensive research to gain a comprehensive understanding of what would make the app resonate with Gen Z more strongly than its competitors. A survey the app conducted among potential users found that 92% of them have a negative response toward the term “mental health,” with some saying that mental health itself is “the worst marketer in the world.” Issues of accessibility, financial privilege and the cultural homogeneity of "wellness culture" also factored in. “When you think about wellness, most people think about the fancy yoga studio or the fancy pilates, and we're saying, ‘No, we're taking these conversations to the streets [to be] for everyone,’” Chamorro said, “And [what] better way to do it by merging urban with wellness, which means, ‘I don't need to have a fancy outfit. I can be myself.’” Dowd also noted that this particular generation “wants to be authors of their lives in a positive way.” Feedback for Oye so far has been positive for the people who have been able to test the app. “They're really liking the brand, and that the photography, the imagery, their colors, just the whole vibe of it is accessible,” Dowd said. “It doesn't feel like medical, it doesn't feel clinical, and it's not. That’s the whole purpose with what we’re doing.” Video content for the app was created by people from Latin America. Hitting the ground running It’s only Day 1 for Oye on the App Store, but the company has already been hard at work with brand partnerships with major companies like Guess, Google, Tidal and Apple. Projects have included creating videos about teens and emotions, curating a playlist for Mental Health Awareness Month and learning "how to build community around Oye," according to Dowd. The next step is to start adding more content and creating some sort of b-to-b offer with other companies that have expressed interest in teaming up. As Oye continues its work in creative wellness, Dowd hopes other marketers who aren’t in communities of color will simply recognize how important it is to serve those communities. “My message is that you should really want to get included,” Dowd said. “You should really want to be included in cultures other than your own.” Membership for the app is $4.99 a month, but if people sign up before Oct. 31, they can receive a one month trial. New Initiative 'Voices' Celebrates the Brazilian Platforms Driving Real Industry Inclusion

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J Balvin Launches Oye, a Creative Wellness App for Gen Z

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Tiffany Moustakas

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