Born Juan Esteban Aristizabal in Medellín, Colombia, Juanes began at age seven to learn how to play guitar from his father and older brothers. His passion for the instrument led him to learn traditional Latin sounds such as boleros, tangos, and cumbias as well as Colombian folk music styles such as vallenato and guasca.

As a teenager, Juanes and his guitar playing drifted toward heavy metal, influenced greatly by Metallica and other bands of that ilk. This led to his founding of the metal band Ekhymosis, which went on to considerable success, releasing seven albums in 11 years and enjoying a sizable following in Colombia. He eventually chose to depart the band, however, and pursue a solo career. With guitar in hand, he moved to Los Angeles and brought along a cassette demo that got passed along to producer Gustavo Santaolalla, an Argentine transplant. Santaolalla heard promise in the demo, contacted Juanes, and ultimately signed him to his record label, Surco.

In 2000 Juanes and Santaolalla began work on what would become Fijate Bien, and the singer/songwriter/guitarist partnered also with manager Fernan Martinez, a fellow Colombian who had previously stood beside Enrique Iglesias during that artist's rise to international fame. Within everything in place for Juanes, Surco, in association with Universal Music Latino, released Fijate Bien on October 17. Initially, the album did very well in Colombia, where it spent ten weeks at number one, but it was slow to catch on elsewhere, spinning off a few modest hits: the title track, "Nada," and "Podemos Hacernos Dañoo." It was a surprise, then, when it was announced in July 2001 that Juanes had received a whopping seven Latin Grammy nominations. Such recognition brought a lot of international attention to Fijate Bien, especially once Juanes cleaned up at the Grammy ceremony, winning three, including Best New Artist. He also performed. Later that very night, October 30, 2001, he returned to Santaolalla's Surco studio in Los Angeles, bringing with him demos for over 40 new songs that would become the basis of Un Día Normal. He completed work on the album in February 2002 and the lead single, "A Dios Le Pido," was sent to radio stations throughout the U.S. and Latin America in April. The song, which roughly translates to "I Ask God" in English, became an anthem in much of Latin America, a sort of prayer for peace throughout that often troubled part of the world. It went on to top the charts in 12 countries on three continents, and spent 47 consecutive weeks on Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks chart, a large percentage of those weeks spent firmly lodged in the Top Five.

Surco/Universal unveiled Un Día Normal on May 21, and it lived up to the promise of its lead single and its predecessor, becoming perhaps the most successful Latin album ever released to date. The album was much brighter than the relatively gloomy and troubled Fijate Bien (Juanes himself described Un Día Normal as the dawn that followed the night of its predecessor), and it spun off numerous hit singles, most notably a duet ballad with Nelly Furtado, "Fotografía," which the duo would go on to perform at the following Latin Grammy ceremony. The album itself sold millions of copies worldwide, spending 92 weeks in the Top Ten of Billboard's Top Latin Albums chart. Its accolades are far too many to list, as seemingly the entire world seemed to celebrate Juanes throughout the remainder of 2002 and into the following year. He toured the world and set all kinds of attendance records, performed at all kinds of ceremonies and telecasts, and inspired gushing praise from critics left and right .