Colombian folk-pop band Morat has renewed its recording contract with Universal Music Spain, Billboard has learned. The group of Martín Vargas, Simón Vargas, Juan Pablo Isaza and Juan Pablo Villamil also signed a deal with the label’s management company, Global Talent Services (GTS), with Pedro Malaver as co-manager.
Morat has been with Universal since 2014, which is when the four then college students kicked off their careers and have since collaborated with artists such as Paulina Rubio, Juanes, Sebastián Yatra, Alejandro Fernández, among others.
“With this renewal, we celebrate everything we have enjoyed and achieved, and all of the new joys that will come our way,” Morat said in a statement. “Thank you Universal and GTS for making us feel at home outside of our own country.”
Narcis Rebollo, Universal Spain and Portugal’s CEO, added: “It is an honor to renew our commitment and future as a recording company and management office for Morat, a band we’ve seen develop, grow and consolidate itself as one of the most relevant pop groups within the current Latin landscape, highlighting its great artistic quality, for both its compositions, interpretations and live performances, as well as its incredible professional and personal human quality and for the many successes and challenges we will continue to reach together.”
In 2016, the band, who got their start hand-delivering CDs in their native Bogotá and playing gigs in local bars, released their first album titled Solo El Amor Y Sus Efectos Secundarios and that same year, received a Latin Grammy nomination for best new artist.
With more than eight million monthly listeners on Spotify, Morat is currently working on a new album, which will follow their Latin Grammy-nominated set Balas Perdidas and the A Dónde Vamos?, released last year. According to a press release, the new album’s first single is set to be released in February.