At some point during the past turbulent months, as he searched for purpose and faced the pressures of a very public divorce that engulfed both his personal and professional life, the music stopped for Raymond Ayala.

“For the first time in my life, the muse shut down,” says the man long known as Daddy Yankee. “That had never happened to me before. Ever.”

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. In 2022, Daddy Yankee — that rare artist who has garnered both vast commercial success and respect from artists and the industry alike — surprised the world when he announced his retirement from music. He released what was supposed to be his last studio album, Legendaddy, and performed what was set to be his last tour, grossing $197.8 million and selling 1.9 million tickets, then the second-highest-grossing Latin tour in Billboard Boxscore history. But Ayala was spent.

Then, on Dec. 3, 2023, at the tour’s final date at Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, he made yet another shocking revelation: “Tonight, I recognize, and I’m not ashamed to tell the whole world, that Jesus lives in me and I live for him,” he told the 15,000 fans that packed his hometown venue. “A story ends and a new story begins.”

Daddy Yankee will sit for his first public interview in three years on Oct. 22 as part of Billboard Latin Music Week 2025 in Miami. For tickets, go to billboardlatinmusicweek.com.

Read Daddy Yankee’s full Billboard cover story here.