Madonna has been getting “ridiculously close” to singer Maluma at rehearsals for her much-anticipated world tour, according to backstage sources.
The Material Girl singer sparked gossip among her dancers with her “cosy and very cuddly” relationship with the 29-year-old Colombian singer who she once wrote a song with.
While the pair have been friends since the veteran star introduced herself to the younger singer at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2018, sources said their chemistry was on fire during an intense few days of working together.
“They were cosy and very cuddly — so much so that other people decided to leave them alone to get on with whatever is going on,” said one tour source.
“They spent a few days together during rehearsals where the flirting began — people think it’s likely he’ll be performing on the South American leg of her tour as he’s massive there — and then they hung out all weekend in New York. They seemed ridiculously close and their chemistry is insane.”
The singer also posted a video on her private Instagram account of Maluma in rehearsals. “She gives him a big kiss in front of the other dancers and then she straddles him,” adds a source who has seen the video. “They look very intimate.”
The pair have always had a flirtatious friendship. The video for Medellin, the song they performed together for her “Madame X album,” features them dancing, humping and getting married with one scene featuring Madonna licking Maluma’s big toe.
He later teased that he had kissed her for real on the lips and told podcast “The Rock Star Show,” “We have a good relationship. I can call her and ask her about anything in my life and she will answer me with all the love in the world.”
Last year they once again sparked rumors of a romance after Madonna, 64, joined him on tour in Medellin and they spent a few days together. Madonna, who had just split from her boyfriend Ahlamalik Williams, posted some photographs of the pair hugging on her Instagram stories.
Maluma flew to New York at the start of the month to attend the Met Gala where his Hugo Boss look was based on the historical lothario Don Juan and then spent time rehearsing and hanging out with Madonna.
The singer was born Juan Luis Londono Arias but started calling himself Maluma – based on the names of his mother Marlli, father Luis and sister Manuela – when he decided to start performing aged 15.
One of Latin America’s most popular artists, he has sold more than 18 million records and has 63 million followers on Instagram compared to Madonna’s 18.9 million.
He’s had several singles in the Billboard Hot Latin Songs including “Felices los 4,” “Borro Cassette” and “Corazon” and has also performed with Ricky Martin, The Weeknd and been in a film with Jennifer Lopez.
Madonna has had a string of short-lived romances after splitting from Williams a year ago. After an affair with model Andrew Darnell, 23, ended earlier this year she was most recently connected with boxer Josh Popper, 29, who has been teaching her son David how to fight.
Although she showed off Instagram photographs of them kissing while dressed up for a Purim party (a day typically used for playing tricks on people) the backstage sources claim he hasn’t been seen at rehearsals and they are not sure whether it has ever been a real romance.
The singer has been rehearsing hard for her “Celebration Tour,” celebrating her 40 years of hits, which begins on July 15 with a sold-out Vancouver, Canada, show.
She will then head to the western US and Europe. She’s already announced one date in Mexico in January next year and is expected to reveal more Latin American dates soon. Reps for both Madonna and Maluma declined to comment.
Despite Madonna’s love life always – like her style – being reinvented, her main focus for now is the tour, adds the source.
“Her career has always been her first love,” says the source.
“She’s been thrilled at how many dates have already sold out. She was becoming concerned about her popularity but she feels really validated by the number of tickets that have been sold all over the world.
“She’s put a huge amount of work into making it something special. Although she’s had hip and knee trouble in the past people will be amazed at how much dancing she’s still going to be doing – she has the energy of a woman half her age.”
