Anuel AA says a personal reset has become part of the runway to his next major release. The Puerto Rican rapper has said that he stopped drinking and smoking roughly six months ago, a change he connects to getting older, processing what he has learned, and putting more of his day into food, music and business.

He described feeling more alert since changing those habits. That detail matters because the update arrives during a particularly busy creative period: Anuel is preparing Real Hasta la Muerte 2, his first album in four years, while also still completing a second project, Cartel Real Hasta la Muerte.

His framing was direct rather than promotional. “Drugs don’t fulfill you, fame doesn’t fulfill you, money doesn’t fulfill you,” Anuel said. It is a concise statement of priorities from an artist whose next phase is not limited to a return to familiar material. The two-album plan spans the trap and reggaeton sound associated with him and a corridos project shaped by the Mexican music he has been listening to and engaging with while traveling in Mexico.

A reset alongside a long-awaited album return

LLNM2, Anuel’s previous album, was released in 2022. The gap since then has not meant a complete disappearance from music. He continued putting out songs, including “Vuelve,” released October 9, but he has linked the longer album interval in part to time spent with his children and family.

The forthcoming Real Hasta la Muerte 2 also deliberately revisits the title of his 2018 debut. A sequel title can signal continuity, but it does not automatically mean an artist is simply recreating an earlier record. In this case, the wider plan points to two directions happening at once: one album grounded in trap and reggaeton, and another built around corridos and collaboration with Mexican musicians.

Anuel said Real Hasta la Muerte 2 is due November 19. He also said he was still finishing Cartel Real Hasta la Muerte and may release it the same day. That “may” is important: the first album has a stated date, while the timing of the second remains conditional on completion.

The personal update therefore should not be treated as proof of what either record will sound like. It does, however, provide context for the pace and focus he says now shape his everyday life. Alertness, eating well, music and business were the areas he highlighted—not a track list, a promise of a particular lyrical direction, or details about every collaborator.

What separates the two planned projects

Anuel previously outlined a two-album plan at Latin Music Week in October. One project is centered on trap and reggaeton. The other is devoted to corridos, the Mexican style that has occupied much of his listening over the past year.

Related coverage includes Anuel AA Says He Quit Drinking and Smoking Ahead of Two-Album Return.

Trap, in the context of Anuel’s plan, is one half of the sound he named alongside reggaeton for the first album. Reggaeton is the other genre explicitly attached to that release. The supplied details do not offer a granular production breakdown, so it would be premature to claim exact tempos, guest appearances, or a precise balance between the two.

Corridos are the focus of the second project. Anuel described that album as a gift to Mexico after spending considerable time there and listening to the style. More significantly, he said working with Mexican musicians has required him to learn a different way to sing. That is a practical creative distinction: he is not only placing a corridos label beside his usual work, but describing an adjustment in vocal approach.

Fuerza Regida is set to produce songs for Cartel Real Hasta la Muerte, according to Anuel. Production refers to the construction and shaping of recorded music—the musical foundation and arrangement surrounding a vocal performance—rather than merely appearing as a featured voice. The confirmed detail is that Fuerza Regida will produce songs; the available information does not specify how many songs, which titles, or whether the group will also perform on the record.

His corridos connection is already more than a stated interest

The upcoming corridos album would not be Anuel’s first touchpoint with that scene. In July, he joined Luis R Conriquez and Fuerza Regida on “Hay Con Que,” a song from Conriquez’s Muchacho Alegre. That collaboration gives the new project a clear point of context: there is already a released song connecting Anuel with two of the musicians named around his corridos turn.

He has characterized the artists in that world as friends while also describing himself as a listener of their records. For fans, that distinction is worth keeping in view. Cross-genre work can come from a brief commercial pairing, but Anuel’s comments present this as an interest developed through listening and travel as well as collaboration.

Still, genre movement works best when the details are allowed to arrive on the music itself. The facts presently available establish the project’s corridos focus, Anuel’s intent to honor Mexico, a vocal-learning process, and Fuerza Regida’s production role. They do not establish a complete feature list, an exact release schedule beyond the possibility of a November 19 launch, or the full musical form of the finished album.

Why the timing makes the update notable

There are several overlapping threads in Anuel’s current plan: a stated change in drinking and smoking, a family-centered explanation for part of the album hiatus, an upcoming sequel to his debut, and a second record built around a new musical lane. None needs to be turned into a single simple narrative. His comments indicate a person reassessing daily habits while working through an unusually broad release plan.

That makes the project structure more meaningful than the standard “new album coming” headline. Real Hasta la Muerte 2 points back to the name of his first album. Cartel Real Hasta la Muerte points outward toward work with Mexican musicians and corridos. Together, they suggest a return that looks both backward and forward—toward a familiar name and toward a style that has changed how he approaches singing.

There is also a useful lesson for listeners tracking a rollout: separate confirmed news from open questions. Confirmed: Anuel says he has stopped drinking and smoking; he says the change began around six months ago; Real Hasta la Muerte 2 is slated for November 19; and Fuerza Regida will produce songs for the corridos project. Open: whether Cartel Real Hasta la Muerte will actually arrive that same day, and what its complete song and collaborator lineup will be.

For a broader look at how artists and projects can evolve as they move between audiences and settings, read how “Passing Strange” is changing again for its Los Angeles premiere.

What to watch next

  • November 19: the announced release date for Real Hasta la Muerte 2.
  • The second album’s status: Anuel said Cartel Real Hasta la Muerte could also arrive that day, but he remains in the process of finishing it.
  • Fuerza Regida’s role: Anuel has said the group will produce songs for the corridos project.
  • The vocal shift: Anuel has identified learning a different way to sing with Mexican musicians as part of the process, which is one of the clearest creative details attached to the record so far.

Anuel’s immediate message is less about presenting a finished new era than documenting where he is while building it. He says he is clearer and more focused after changing his habits. The music plan in front of him is equally split between recognition and exploration: a sequel bearing a foundational name, followed—or possibly accompanied—by a corridos project rooted in the Mexican music and collaborators that have become central to his recent listening and work.