Danny Ocean Returns With Reflexa, Blending Electronic Beats With Latin Pop

Danny Ocean is no stranger to success. The 31-year-old Venezuelan singer-songwriter first got the industry's attention in 2016 with his multiplatinum single, "Me Rehúso." The track, which has amassed 1.7 billion streams on Spotify, is still being played in clubs the world over.

He's also collaborated with and penned songs for countless artists, ranging from Reik to Karol G and Justin Derulo, all while maintaining momentum on his own career and releasing hits like "Dembow," "Fuera del Mercado," and "Swing."

His first two albums, his 2019 debut, 54+1, and 2022's @dannocean, have helped him earn a solid fan base, with his debut being certified three times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling more than 180,000 copies.

Now, he's back with his new album, Reflexa (Reflection), which promises to be more personal and emotional. It invites listeners to reflect on themselves as they tune into its 12 tracks.

"I think reflection is like — I don't know what you call this — a double-entendre," he tells New Times. "You can see yourself in the mirror, and that's a reflection of yourself. And you can have a reflection inside as a person, spiritually. It's a very interpersonal album mixed with electronic music — that was the main goal."

While Ocean's output thus far has focused on Latin pop and reggaeton, electronic music isn't uncharted territory for the musician. His music has always had synth melodies and sounds that lean EDM, but on Reflexa, he borrows influence from house music, which is evident in songs like "La Noche" and "Involucrarnos."

"I think electronic music — house music, EDM, and trance — is always going to be the future," he says. "I just wanted to be in that wave, honestly. I'm just a big fan of the genre, but I try to mix it with a little bit of Latin flavor and a Latin point of view."

He points to producers like Calvin Harris, Skrillex, and Fred Again.. as some of his favorites. However, Danny has a startling confession for someone who calls Miami home. "I've never been to Club Space," he says of the 11th Street dance music mecca.

While he needs to rectify that soon (probably after Space reopens sometime this fall), Ocean tapped into the Magic City for inspiration for many of his songs and projects.
"Miami is like a hub of a lot of cultures coming in and out all the time," he explains. "You have producers from London coming in and from Madrid and France and Europe and Latin America. Guys coming in from L.A., coming in from New York. It's a cultural hub. I think everything is mixed here."

Miami is also home to one of the U.S.'s most unique linguistic phenomena: Spanglish. With many intergenerational households with family members who have varying grasps of the English language, it's not uncommon for bilingual residents to mash up the two. As a Venezuelan immigrant living in Miami, Danny has also incorporated Spanglish into his work, such as on tracks like "Tauro y Piscis," where the singer jumps back and forth between Spanish and English.

"I just love the idea of having two languages in one song and more, mostly Spanish and English. I think there are a lot of people who are kind of tired of segmenting things. People are tired of, 'Oh, this is a Latin song,' or, 'Oh, this is an English song.' Music is free; music doesn't have rules. If you're able to combine two worlds in one place, why not?"

One of his collaborators on the album is Miami native and singer-songwriter Elena Rose, who has writing credits on the tracks "No Te Enamores de Él" and "Ferrari."

"She's just the best, man. She did a lot of songs with me," he says of Rose. "I called her one day and said, 'Hey, I really need your help on this album. I got the ideas of the lyrics and all that. I'm not happy with what I have, and I know that if you come over, and we bounced ideas, we were going to get where I needed lyric-wise.' She came over the next day."

Ocean, who refers to Rose as his "sister," spent three days with her working on the tracks and describes working together as fun. "We have very good communication, and I think that's what makes it special between us because it's just a vibe," he adds.
One track they worked on together, "Ferrari," wasn't penned initially with Ocean in mind. "I wrote that song for a friend of mine. And he suddenly said, 'You know what? Fuck it. I don't want to be an artist anymore. Why don't you sing the song?'"

After recording several demos of the track, he still felt like something was missing and reached out to producer and friend Julio Reyes. "He's one of the biggest Latin producers out there, and he's a piano player. I went to his studio and told him, 'Hey, bro, I've got this song.' I called Elena in, you know, and I told her, 'I still need a second verse on the song.'"

It's hard not to imagine "Ferrari" on the album. It's easily the most personal song on Reflexa. The quiet piano ballad focuses on heartbreak and longing for a former lover from a distance.

Even if this track didn't work out for its initially intended artist, Ocean still enjoys songwriting for other acts and has a long wishlist of collaborators.

"Calvin Harris, for sure. Fred Again.., for sure. Bad Bunny, for sure," he says without hesitation. "Coldplay has always been a big influence on this project; Daft Punk used to be a huge influence. Yeah, there are a lot of artists."

Despite his success and accolades, Ocean remains humble and laid-back. Last week, when he realized that Medium Cool, the South Beach lounge hosting the listening party for Reflexa, couldn't accommodate everyone invited, fans included, Ocean went outside and played bits of his album to a crowd of at least a hundred people waiting in line.

Among the tracks he played for the crowd were "Si No No" and "No Te Enamores de Él," which heavily emphasize poppier, more light-hearted beats juxtaposed with darker lyrics.
"I like being ironic, you know what I mean? Like lyric-wise and with the music," he says of "Si No No," specifically. "It was a phrase in the second verse that ended up being the concept of the whole song. I wanted to do something that mixed electronic music with reggaeton."

Ocean says he tested the songs several times and worked with producer Zulia on the concept before ultimately flying over to Stockholm to finalize the track with producer Oscar Görres.

At 34 minutes, Reflexa's runtime is shorter than his previous albums. Still, picking out the singles was challenging for Ocean since he had been working on the project for a long time.

"I just think there are ones that feel right for the moment, and it's a conversation with your team and everybody. So once you have everybody on track, that's it.

Back at the listening party at Medium Cool, in addition to previewing his new album, Ocean teased the Miami date for his upcoming Reflexa Tour, set for November 12. When asked about the tour production, he's just as forthcoming.

"I'm working on the show right now, actually," Ocean says. "It's about mirrors, reflection — yeah, so that's what you guys are going to see."