Jacob Forever and "Hasta Que Se Seque El Malecón": the cubatón anthem
From Gente de Zona to solo artist: the story of Jacob Forever and the Cuban song that topped the charts and is sung today at festivals worldwide.
Few Cuban songs of the last decade have travelled as far as "Hasta Que Se Seque El Malecón". Behind that chorus, sung at festivals around the world, stands Jacob Forever, an artist from Camagüey who went from singing inside a group to writing one of the most recognizable anthems in cubatón. His is the story of a musician who knew exactly when to make the leap.
From Gente de Zona to solo artist
Yosdany Jacob Carmenates, known professionally as Jacob Forever, was born in Camagüey, Cuba. In 2005 he joined Gente de Zona, the group he stayed with for around nine years and with which he recorded works such as "Lo mejor que suena ahora vol. II". That period was his real apprenticeship: he learned the craft of Cuban urban music from the inside, on stage and in the studio, surrounded by some of the names that would go on to define the genre. In 2013 he decided to launch a solo career, a bold step that would soon transform his path entirely.
"Hasta Que Se Seque El Malecón"
In 2015, now a soloist, Jacob Forever released "Hasta Que Se Seque El Malecón", a track included on the album "El Inmortal". The song became a phenomenon that is hard to match: it dominated the Billboard Latin charts in 2016 and stayed for two months in the top 10 of digital sales, a run that led to a deal with Sony Music Latin. Its video, filmed in Havana, has tens of millions of YouTube views and is, in all likelihood, the most internationally recognizable cubatón anthem of all. Rarely has a Cuban song connected so immediately with audiences so different from one another, on and off the island.
An anthem for festivals in Europe
The sheer force of "Hasta Que Se Seque El Malecón" makes it a climactic moment at any Latin festival: that instant when the whole crowd sings the chorus at once and the floor lifts. And thanks precisely to the strength of that chorus, the song crosses borders and pulls in non-Latin European audiences who recognize it from the very first bar. Jacob Forever's repertoire fits large-scale productions —horns, full band, festival format—, built for wide stages and for those moments when Cuban music gets thousands of people dancing at the same time.
Jacob Forever is available for festivals and events in Europe through Cubita Producciones. If you would like to bring this cubatón anthem to your programme, get in touch via contacto.