Daddy Yankee may be the pride of Puerto Rico, but international superstardom has made him a citizen of the world. The reggaetón star/standard bearer picked up some new sonic influences while touring and racking up passport stamps, and his latest album, “Mundial,” incorporates some of the sounds he heard while traveling the globe.

Bringing in a new set of musical influences makes sense, in theory. Reggaetón is itself a stew of bacahata, plena, dancehall and hip-hop, among other genres, so it’s already well-established that Daddy Yankee knows how to play around with different sounds to good effect. On “Mundial,” he blends in some cumbia and batucada, but he’s also developed a frightening appreciation for European electronic dance music, which he liberally splashes all over the project. Tracks like “El Mejor de Todos los Tiempos” and “Vida en la Noche” reek of Euro-trash club, veering dangerously close to Sprockets-style parody.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/26/AR2010042603952.html