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" Despacito" (; ) is a song by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi, originally written in 2015. In 2016, Luis sent the song to Puerto Rican rapper and singer Daddy Yankee to give it an "urban injection", and released it as the lead single from Fonsi's 2019 studio album Vida.
Released on January 13, 2017, the song was written by Fonsi, Erika Ender, and Daddy Yankee, and produced by Mauricio Rengifo and Andrés Torres. 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 language 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 when it was overtaken by Pinkfong's Baby Shark, and became the first video on the site to reach the milestones of three, four, five, six, seven, and eight billion views.
Luis Fonsi does not consider it a reggaeton song, but feels, "it does have a reggaeton energy and an subtle urban beat". Ender stated that the track "went through several arrangements" until Fonsi got "exactly the arrangement he wanted". Fonsi described "Despacito" as a very melodic song that can adapt well to many other music genres. Due to the sensual nature of the song, they "needed to be responsible with a good lyric" and Ender's approach to writing for Fonsi was "to take care of how to say things with a good taste". In April 2017, American singer and songwriter Nicky Jam revealed that the original version of "Despacito" featured him instead of Daddy Yankee, but had to decline due to the song's release interfering with the launch of his album Fénix.
Bieber sang in Spanish for the first time in his career with the help of Colombians musician Juan Felipe Samper. What was most difficult for Justin Bieber was the 'ere' (ɾ) sound in words like "laberinto" (labyrinth), "paredes" (walls) and "manuscrito" (manuscript). Samper wrote the Spanish-language lyrics phonetically to ease Bieber's pronunciation, which was "perfectly" achieved in two hours. After a four-hour recording session, Gudwin sent Justin Bieber's vocal tracks to Australian sound engineer Chris O'Ryan for vocal tuning. Gudwin concluded the remix's production in Parrot Cay, Turks and Caicos Islands with the mixing of Luis Fonsi's English-language vocals, whose lyrics were written by American songwriter Marty James. The entire process until the release date took six days. In June 2017, English musician Ed Sheeran revealed that he wanted to record a remix version of the song, but lost out to Justin Bieber.
Mauricio Rengifo and Andrés Torres produced "Despacito" using Pro Tools and the final mix consisted of 47 tracks. The song begins with a Puerto Rican cuatro played by Christian Nieves, which is accompanied by an acoustic guitar played by Torres when Luis Fonsi starts performing. Rengifo stated that the guitar "was actually played, but then they chopped it and made it really digital." The producers decided to record a cuatro because they wanted "to feel very Puerto Rican and ethnic" and that it "gives the song a really unique character". Nieves played salsa music-influenced melodies during the chorus and the hook, which contains "old school pop" effects based on American producer Dr. Luke. Percussion instruments guache and güira were synchronized with a Hi-hat in order to highlight the track's cumbia influences.
The song uses the side-chaining production technique in order to make the chorus "more prominent", silencing the music as the kick drum hits. It also makes heavy use of text painting when the music is slowed down as the word "despacito" (slowly) is performed at the beginning of every chorus. Its percussion consists of guache, cowbell, timbales, güira, and sequenced drum patterns. The remix featuring Justin Bieber maintained the original rhythms and Luis Fonsi translated some lines to English, singing a verse in Spanglish, while Daddy Yankee's verses were kept from the original version.
Sebastian Wernke-Schmiesing of Dance-Charts journal stated that "a simple 4/4 time, Flamenco guitar sounds, a crisp bass, and the excellent vocals by Luis Fonsi and Daddy were enough to get a hit single from the start." Leila Cobo of Billboard praised its "undeniable immediate catchiness" and wrote that the song "is a clever blend of romantic Latin pop with a reggaeton beat and subtly naughty lyrics". Robert Joffred of Medium's culture blog That Good You Need highlighted the use of a steel-string guitar to play flamenco-style melodies instead of a nylon-string guitar, as well as the presence of "swung rhythms" when the word "Despacito" is sung at the beginning of the chorus He referred to the text painting as "pretty genius". Raisa Bruner of Time magazine described the single as "an infectious Latin melody amped up with reggaeton grooves and an irresistible dance tune".
Spanish record producer Nahúm García stated that "the way the rhythm breaks before the chorus is genius" and that this "trick" in particular is not common in pop music. Joshua Barrie of Irish Mirror gave a negative opinion about the lyrics, referring to them as "quite rude and a bit creepy" and stating that "some people might find them offensive". On the other hand, an editor of Spanish music website Jenesaispop stated that "the melody is very good, the lyrics are sexy without being vulgar and above all its structure is interesting." Felix Contreras of NPR praised the writing, arrangement and performances.
The remix version featuring Justin Bieber was released on April 17, 2017, by Universal Music Latin, Republic Records, Def Jam Recordings, RBMG Records and Schoolboy Records. Its official audio video garnered 20 million views on YouTube on its first 24 hours, making it the third-highest debut for a music-related video in 2017 as of September. Caroline Soriano of Ernstars magazine stated that Bieber's voice "sounds appealing with the song", whose remix version make it sound "a little bit better". Mike Senior of Sound on Sound gave a negative review of the remix's mixing by criticizing its polarity inversion regarding the original version and Justin Bieber's louder vocal track than Daddy Yankee's. As to the original version, Senior referred to the first appearance of the "Despacito" hook line as a "masterstroke".
In July 2017, officials from the Government of Malaysia reported that "Despacito" was being banned from airing on government-owned broadcast stations as a result of public complaints. Government ministers said that the song was considered un-Islamic and that its lyrics were "not suitable to be heard".
Billboards critics ranked the original version the fourth best song of 2017 and the fifth best Latin song of all time, referring to it as "one of the biggest hits in Latin music history" and "one of the biggest singles of all time." Rolling Stone and Time selected it as the seventh and third best song of 2017, respectively; the latter stating that "in a year where xenophobia reared its head worldwide, it inspires hope that the charts were dominated by such a universal, multicultural hit." Spin magazine ranked the remix version the 38th best song of the year, stating that "it managed to transcend genre, time, space, and even personal taste in a way that was unprecedented." It was also included among the 100 best singles of 2017 by PopSugar, The New York Times, National Public Radio, The Village Voice, and The Guardian. Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee were selected as the "Stars of the Year" by People en Español.
Rolling Stones critics ranked the track 91st in its "100 Greatest Songs of the Century So Far" list and included it among the 50 greatest Latin pop songs of all time, describing it as "one of the most successful hits in pop music history". Billboard selected it among the best Latin summer songs of all-time and included it among the 100 songs that defined the 2010s decade. The song was inducted to the 2019 edition of the Guinness World Records for achieving seven milestones.
On the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, the single debuted at number 88 on February 4, 2017, becoming Fonsi's third entry and Daddy Yankee's seventh. It subsequently peaked at number 44 on April 15, 2017, before the release of the remix version featuring Justin Bieber. "Despacito" reached number one on the Hot 100 on the week ending May 27, 2017, becoming both Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's first number one on the chart and Bieber's fifth. It topped the Hot 100 for 16 consecutive weeks, tying with "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men as the longest-leading number-one single in the chart's history at the time, before being surpassed by "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus on August 3, 2019. It also became the first mostly-Spanish-language song to lead the all-genre US Digital Songs chart, as well as the first non-primarily-English-language song to top the all-format Radio Songs and Mainstream Top 40 charts. On October 21, 2017, "Despacito" and "Mi Gente" by J Balvin and Willy William featuring Beyoncé marked the first time ever that two non-primarily-English-language songs ranked within the top 10 of the Hot 100 simultaneously. The song spent 52 weeks on the Hot 100 and was removed through a recurrent rule.
"Despacito" was the best-selling and most-streamed single of 2017 in the United States, with 2,692,000 downloads sold and 1,322,799,000 streams. It was also the sixth most-played song of 2017, with 608,000 spins across US radio stations and an audience of 3,076,935,000. It ranked at number two on the Hot 100 year-end chart and was the best-performing single on Hot Latin Songs for two years in a row in 2017 and 2018. In the United States, the single sold 2,983,000 downloads as of June 20, 2019 and received a 13× platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on January 6, 2020, for units of over 13 million sales plus track-equivalent streams, making it the 14th highest-certified single of all time in the United States. It became the first Latin and 18th overall single to receive a diamond certification by the RIAA. It was the ninth best-performing single of the 2010s decade on the Hot 100 and was ranked at number one on the Hot Latin Songs chart. It is the best-performing track of all-time on Hot Latin Songs and the 33rd best-performing on the Hot 100.
In the United Kingdom, "Despacito" was the second best-selling and most-streamed song of the year, with 2.3 million combined sales. It was also the best-selling single of 2017 in Canada, with more than 300,000 digital sales. It topped the 2017 year-end charts of 16 countries and was the second best-performing song in 15 others. In Latin America, it was the most-played radio song of 2017, with 580,450 spins, as well as the best-performing foreign song of the year in Brazil. "Despacito" was the second best-selling single of 2017 across the world, with 24.3 million sales plus track-equivalent streams. In 2018, it was the sixth best-selling song of the year, with 11.8 million sales plus track-equivalent streams, and was the 72nd most-played song in Latin America, with 107,980 spins. "Despacito" also peaked at number 114 on the recently inducted Billboard Global 200 chart on the issue date August 7, 2021.
"Despacito" became the world's most-streamed song of all time in July 2017, with 4.6 billion streams between the original and remix version. By this time, Universal Music Group awarded Luis Fonsi with a "Plutonium Disc" in recognition of global sales of "Despacito". It was streamed 7.5 billion times as of April 2018. The remix version became the first primarily-Spanish-language song to surpass one billion streams on Spotify in February 2018, while the original became the first non-English single to reach the milestone in June 2019. In the United Kingdom, it became the longest-reigning foreign language number-one and is the 30th best-selling single in the country with 1,900,599 combined sales as of September 19, 2017. It also became the song with the most weeks at number one in Switzerland and Germany.
British Official Charts Company recognized it as the song that "helped Latin pop crossover to the mainstream once again." Nielsen Holdings's Erin Crawford stated that the track had "a halo effect on several other Latin hits ripe for crossover success", most notably on J Balvin and Willy William's "Mi Gente" Rolling Stone stated that the song "hastened a massive historical turn in American music, demonstrating the mainstream viability of Spanish-language pop." John Ochoa of Rolling Stone stated that "the resulting so-called 'Despacito effect' has advanced a wave of subsequent Spanish-language hits and mainstream crossovers."
The Recording Industry Association of America reported that Latin music revenues grew 37% in 2017, mostly due to music streaming. Latin music's consumption in the United States increased 15% between the first half of 2016 and the first half of 2018. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) reported that revenue in Latin America grew 17.7% in 2017 and described "Despacito" as a "game-changing hit." In 2018, eight out of the 10 most-viewed YouTube music videos of the year were for songs performed in Spanish and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation referred to it as "the 'Despacito' effect."
Sony/ATV Music Publishing President Jorge Mejía stated that the song marked a "before and after" in the global consumption of Latin music. Before its success, Sony "had a big Latin single roughly every two years," a situation that reverted into an "avalanche of Latin songs around the world." Andrew Unterberger of Billboard stated that "2017 was the year that Latin pop took over the United States" due to the song and its quick impact on "Mi Gente", Camila Cabello's "Havana", and the chart performance of acts including Maluma, Ozuna and Bad Bunny, who achieved their biggest hits in the country.
In July 2017, it was reported that tourist interest in Puerto Rico increased by 45% since the worldwide success of the song. Tour operators cite the song's music video for increasing interest in locations such as La Factoría and La Perla district in Old San Juan, which were featured in the video.
Jorge Muñíz Ortíz of EFE stated that the music video "highlights some of the main cultural and folkloric symbols of Puerto Rico" by showing its "splendid beaches, the colorful landscape of La Perla, the rattle of the Puerto Rican cuatro and the barrels of the autochthonous genre of bomba, Zuleyka Rivera's hips movement and a pair of men enjoying a game of dominoes."
The music video received a Latin Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video at the 18th Latin Grammy Awards and a Billboard Music Award for Top Streaming Song (Video) at the 25th Billboard Music Awards, and was nominated for an American Music Award for Video of the Year at the 45th American Music Awards.
Luis Fonsi performed "Despacito" on American talk show Conan on June 12, 2017 -his first late-night television appearance in the United States- and on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on September 14, 2017. He also performed the song with random lyrics alongside American television host Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on January 30, 2019.
Both Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee included the song on their setlists for the 2017–18 Love + Dance World Tour and the 2017 Tamo En Vivo Europe Tour, respectively. On November 16, 2017, Luis Fonsi sang "Despacito" featuring Puerto Rican singer Victor Manuelle, Colombian band Bomba Estéreo and American disc jockey Diplo at the 18th Latin Grammy Awards. On January 28, 2018, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee performed the song at the 60th Grammy Awards on the Madison Square Garden, becoming the 12th and 13th Latin artists ever to perform at the Grammy Awards. Fonsi also participated on United States President Joe Biden's inauguration by performing "Despacito" at the Celebrating America special on January 20, 2021.
The song has been Cover version by a wide range of artists around the world, including Korean singer J.Fla, a classical crossover by Croatian-based duo 2Cellos, a metal version by Norwegian musician Leo Moracchioli, a piano version by Hungarian pianist and world record-holder Bence Peter, an acoustic version by American band Boyce Avenue and a Broadway theatre-style cover by American musical collective group Postmodern Jukebox. These covers garnered between seven and 47 million views on YouTube except for J.Fla's video, which has 217 million views. Leo Moracchioli's version peaked at number 35 on the Hungarian Single Top 40 chart on August 10, 2017. In 2017, American-Greek parody artist So Tiri released a viral Greek-language parody titled "Pastitsio" on his YouTube channel. "Weird Al" Yankovic covered the song as a part of his 2024 polka medley "Polkamania!".
Десь по світу ("Somewhere in the world") was a Ukrainian version of the song, produced featuring children in Drohobych Raion, to encourage the return of Ukrainians working abroad.
Credits adapted from Tidal and The Latin Recording Academy.
Justin Bieber remix
Credits adapted from Tidal and The Recording Academy.
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