Luis Fonsi – Despacito ft. Daddy Yankee
“Despacito” (Latin American Spanish: [despaˈsito]; transl. ”Slowly”) is a song by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi featuring Puerto Rican rapper and singer Daddy Yankee as the lead single from Fonsi’s 2019 studio album Vida.[1][2] Released on January 13, 2017, the song was written by Fonsi, Erika Ender and Daddy Yankee, and produced by Mauricio Rengifo and Andrés Torres.[1] A remix version featuring Canadian singer Justin Bieber was released on April 17, 2017, which helped to improve the chart performance of the song in numerous countries, including various number-one positions. “Despacito” has been widely credited by music journalists as being instrumental in the renewed popularity of Spanish-language pop music in the mainstream market.
It is a reggaeton and Latin pop song composed in common time with lyrics about desiring a sexual relationship, performed in a smooth and romantic way. “Despacito” received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who praised the fusion between Latin and urban rhythms, its catchiness, and its text painting. It has received Latin Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Urban Fusion/Performance, and Best Short Form Music Video at the 18th Latin Grammy Awards. “Despacito” has been also ranked among the best Latin songs of all time and the best songs of 2017 by various publications, which referred to it as one of the most successful Spanish-language tracks in pop music history.
The song topped the charts of 47 countries and reached the top 10 of six others. In the United States, it became the first song primarily in Spanish to top the Billboard Hot 100 since Los del Río‘s “Macarena” in 1996, subsequently tying the longest-reigning number one on the Billboard Hot 100 at the time with 16 weeks, as well as becoming the longest-running number-one on the Hot Latin Songs chart with 56 weeks. It also became the first Latin song to receive a diamond certification by the Recording Industry Association of America. The music video shows both artists performing the song in La Perla neighborhood of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico and local bar La Factoría. It was the most-viewed YouTube video of all time from August 2017 to November 2020 and became the first video on the site to reach the milestones of three, four, five, six, seven, and eight billion views. It is now the second most-viewed video on the site, with “Baby Shark” by Pinkfong being the most-viewed.
