Alex Sensation's MiamiBash Aims to Bring Miami Together

Colombian radio personality, DJ, and musician Alex Sensation is set to host one of the biggest bashes Miami has ever seen.

MiamiBash will go down this Saturday, April 14, at the American Airlines Arena. It'll present some of the hottest names in Latin music. Sensation, who runs a related event in New York, his home base, has been preparing for five months. The concert series, in its fifth year, sold out three weeks after its announcement. Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, and Pitbull are expected to perform.

“It gets bigger and bigger every year. We had to open the entire arena, meaning the backside behind the stage, because people want to be in there. What makes this show unique aside from the crazy energy are the guest appearances people don’t expect,” Sensation says. “It also goes beyond the regular time of a concert — it’s like four hours-plus. It’s a festival in an arena. We originally planned it for a 12,000-seater, so now since we opened the full arena, we’re expecting 17,500 people. It’s pretty amazing.”

MiamiBash invites fledgling musicians. Sensation says his goal is to give stage time to as many artists as he can. In the past, Maluma and J Balvin performed, then successfully launched careers.

The DJ also is a rare Latino radio personality who has crossed over into music. His first single, "La Buena y la Mala" with Gente De Zona, reached number one in its genre on the Billboard charts. Although his approach to music is guided by his radio career, he still had to train hard as an artist to dominate the world of music as a singer. “I get to understand artists a little bit more when they drop a record and they’re really excited about it," he says.

Another area of growth for the artist has been navigating the Miami market. Latinos here are less united, he says. "What I like to do is bring people together. When I got to Miami, I saw a lot of division between the communities here. Certain people won’t go to other clubs. We don’t roll like that [in New York]. If you come to one of my parties, you’ll find all of the nationalities,” he says. “One of my goals was to create that unity... [in Miami] and also get more involved in the big nightclubs that didn’t do Latin nights or events. I was able to achieve that goal and do those events, and we showed these club owners we can get the nights packed with all types of people supporting Latino music.”
With the support of his family and words of encouragement from Pitbull, he has been able to make the crossover from DJ to artist. He signed with Universal Music and released singles with Ozuna and Bad Bunny.

The pipeline also holds records with Nicky Jam and J Balvin before the release of Sensation's full-length album this summer. He also has a song ready for Cardi B to jump on after the birth of her baby. Sensation says he's in talks with the producers of Ultra to create a Latin-flavored festival.

“Everything that I do — whether it’s radio, music, DJ the clubs, host events, or when I’m creating music — I do with a lot of love, and I put all my heart into it. I want to stay on the positive side of things and always try to block out any negativity... It’s about showing people anything is possible, and I’m an example of that.”

MiamiBash. 8 p.m. Saturday, April 14, at the American Airlines Arena; aaarena.com. Tickets start at $59 via ticketmaster.com.