Mora doesn’t talk much. He’ll admit that himself. “I swear to you,” he said in a recent interview, “I hardly like to talk, and I really go to interviews with anxiety… ‘Don’t ask me, don’t ask me!’” But somehow, despite his low profile and refusal to play the celebrity game, the 29-year-old singer, producer, and songwriter from San Juan has quietly become one of the most influential artists in Latin urban music today.
He’s sold out the Coliseo de Puerto Rico for three nights straight. He’s collaborated with Bad Bunny, Feid, and Jhayco. And his most recent album, Lo Mismo de Siempre, plays like a wink to fans who know he’s anything but formulaic.
Born Gabriel Armando Mora Quintero in San Juan—not Bayamón, as he’s quick to correct—Mora grew up immersed in music. In a 2021 profile by Billboard, he described skipping business classes in college to make beats at his cousin’s studio. He later dropped out of Berklee College of Music. The music called louder.
Even in early interviews, Mora made it clear that production came before performance. Before releasing his own tracks, he composed and produced for artists such as Eladio Carrión and Jon Z. This work eventually caught the attention of Rimas Entertainment. This label also manages Bad Bunny. According to Billboard, Mora’s song “Que Habilidad” circulated among Benito’s inner circle before landing him a deal.
Soon after, Mora’s writing showed up on Bunny’s albums YHLQMDLG and El Último Tour del Mundo. But by 2021, with the release of Primer Día de Clases, Mora was ready to step out on his own.
In 2023, Mora returned to Puerto Rico after a worldwide tour to headline three sold-out nights at the iconic Coliseo de Puerto Rico. “The Puerto Rican audience is a little different,” he told Flaunt Magazine. “This is my country, so there’s a deeper level of pressure.”
Produced by Noah Assad Presents and Move Concerts Puerto Rico, the shows featured surprise appearances by Yandel, Arcángel, RaiNao, Elena Rose, Saiko, Quevedo, and more. Visuals leaned heavily into sci-fi territory, projecting futuristic imagery that hammered home what Flaunt called “the notion that fans were in fact witnessing the future of Urban Latin music.”
Mora confessed to feeling nervous. “At first, the first three or four songs, I was still getting used to [being back home].” But the anxiety faded. He added, “Arriving to PR after a super-long tour and feeling like I’m here—that’s enough for me.”
In our own interview with Mora, he spoke about his latest album Lo Mismo de Siempre, calling it a mix of his signature sound and “a little bit of something new.” The title, which translates to “Same as Always,” was a tongue-in-cheek choice. “I’m sarcastic,” he said. “I like to joke around.”
The album experiments with genres Mora hadn’t previously explored, like bachata. “I go with what flows to me,” he said. “If I feel like doing a reggaetón, I’ll do that. If I want to do a ballad, I’ll do that too.”
He also revealed that the cover art was inspired by a scene from Harry Potter. “It’s not the exact staircase,” he said, laughing, “but that was the inspiration.”
Despite his growing fame, Mora stays grounded. In multiple interviews, he has talked about how central his mother has been to his success. “She supported me from the beginning,” he told Flaunt. “Maybe there were moments when she didn’t agree with the decisions I was making… but she figured it out quickly.”
His current focus? Fatherhood. Mora became a dad four months ago. “It’s an incredible feeling,” he told us. “At first, it was like, ‘Damn,’ but now I look at her and it’s clear who I’m doing all of this for.”
There are still some ordinary things that shape his life. He’s allergic to shrimp and crabs. “I’ve never even tried them,” he said, “but everyone always says, ‘You don’t know what you’re missing.’” It’s a tough allergy to have when you live in Puerto Rico, where seafood is everywhere.
“If I eat one by mistake,” he warned, “there’s a good chance my face swells up and we’re headed to the hospital.”
Lo Mismo de Siempre marked a turning point. Mora sees it as a moment of growth. While four years ago he was sure he had cracked the code to security and confidence, this is definitely a new era.
“Lo Mismo de Siempre” was released on May 18 through Rimas Entertainment and marks a new phase in Mora’s career, framed by his experience of fatherhood. And while the songs do not reveal his personal life, they do offer a wide variety of collaborations with talents such as C. Tangana, Young Miko, Sech, Ryan Castro, and Omar Courtz.
In the end, Mora doesn’t reinvent himself every album. He builds. Quietly, methodically, and with patience.