What made Despacito such a mega hit?

[tomsches 16,977]

Luck

Honestly it sounds JUST like every other Reaggeton (spelling?) song. You can literally sing 5 other latin songs over it. It was at the right place at the right time

[Phlop 4,773]

I love how all the news sources that interviewed the original artist boasted that he was the first Latino artist to hit #1 on Billboard since the Marcarena for this long.

Gurl. It was only a hit stateside because of Bieber. Besides that, it was like a Shakira sized hit (YouTube views amazing, huge in Spanish markets, etc). It only smashed so hard and so long because of Bieber.

[MaryJaneHolland 77,348]

I've never listened to the version with the untalented ****boy, but the original one is catchy and a bop 

[LateToCult 36,648]

Because it was very catchy and actually kinda good. What is so hard to understand about that?

[Alexander Blue 1,335]

1. Spanish 

2. Justin Bieber

3. Mediocre 

[Reginald 13,684]

7 hours ago, MarlonBrando7 said:

this song exploded in views the last month(and i love it)

what do you think is the reason?

 5F2 ha impact.  When gaga mentioned her,  people remembered that Madonna used to be cool without having to try to be 

Edit: I just listened to La Isla Bonita six times in a row. Still haven't listened to DesperateForAHitCito once

[xokuba 1,738]

The lack of music taste of some people.

[babs 5,093]

8 hours ago, ECORONA said:

Do you/any of you actually speak Spanish?  

Lol deal with it. The song is a hit and don't compare it to closer. The video is basic, i will give you that but the lyrics and instrumentals are hot, and just because fonsi and Yankee are Latin artist and you had no idea who they were prior to the song does not mean they came out of the blue. They both have successful and extensive carreers. Lol the US is not the world, there's a Latin American music market too, yas sayin 

I'm latino and I understand why it suceeded, but there are way better and catchier reggaeton tunes than this one, let's not pretend like it wasn't Biebs influence. 

Or serendipity I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[StrawberryBlond 13,346]

The Justin Beiber remix was what really made it take off worldwide. That was the main factor. An English language version always pushes it further afield. But I think Hispanic Americans really overplayed it to ensure that a big Latin hit was possible after Trump was elected (everyone's making protest songs right now and this was a different way of doing that). When news spread that it was going to break Mariah's record in the coming weeks, it only increased interest in it. And well, Hispanic music lovers are devoted. When a reggaton hit shows any level of taking off, they support it all the way. You'll notice if you look up any Latin act like Shakira, Enrique, even Marc Anthony, you'll find that they have a lot of Vevo certified videos, a lot of likes and a lot of subscribers. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world. It makes sense that if a Spanish song starts taking off, it'll really take off.

11 hours ago, Lokiy said:

The lyrics are just something else. So f*cking dirty.  The song is THAT bitch empowering female sexuality.

You can see why the English lyrics aren't that dirty. It might not sell otherwise, so it was best to keep the dirtiest parts in another language. Malaysia actually banned it for the lyrics, but it seemed they were the only country to actually bother translating them. A section of it is basically lyrical p*rn. "I'll sign the walls of your labyrinth and turn your entire body into a manuscript." I had to actually have that lyric explained to me because I'm not used to seeing such poetic sexual innuendos.

But I don't know about your assertion of empowering female sexuality. As a woman myself, this isn't usually the most empowering thing a guy can do to you, just saying.

10 hours ago, ECORONA said:

Do you/any of you actually speak Spanish?  

Lol deal with it. The song is a hit and don't compare it to closer. The video is basic, i will give you that but the lyrics and instrumentals are hot, and just because fonsi and Yankee are Latin artist and you had no idea who they were prior to the song does not mean they came out of the blue. They both have successful and extensive carreers. Lol the US is not the world, there's a Latin American music market too, yas sayin 

I can speak so much of it and there's always translations. I'm not always the biggest fan of Latin music, though. I think a lot of it sounds the same and for the likes of Shakira in particular, her Spanish stuff always sounds so much blander (both lyrics and production) than her English work, unless it's a Spanish translation of an existing English one.

I agree that the production is quite nice and I think it would be nice to do salsa dancing to it. You could really get into the flow of it then. But just sitting listening to it, I find it ok at best. I didn't know Luis but I did know Daddy Yankee - I was a teenager back when he released Gasolina. But I didn't know of what else he did from then on. And I'm from the UK, by the way. As I said before, the Latin market is huge, hence all the huge views and likes Latin songs get. I just think there's better Latin songs out there than this. I'm surprised, considering the success of Despacito, that Chantaje didn't become bigger worldwide for Shakira considering it has 1.8 billion views and 6 million likes in less than a year. But I guess having a English language feature is where its at. But if I were her, I'd feel a bit bummed out that my very popular song couldn't have the same effect. Lento by CNCO is catching on in the UK because Little Mix are doing an English remix of it too. Herein begins the Despacito effect. Just a shame for the artists who already have their Spanish language albums completed and promoted.

[raginchristians 736]

19 hours ago, ECORONA said:

Do you/any of you actually speak Spanish?  

Lol deal with it. The song is a hit and don't compare it to closer. The video is basic, i will give you that but the lyrics and instrumentals are hot, and just because fonsi and Yankee are Latin artist and you had no idea who they were prior to the song does not mean they came out of the blue. They both have successful and extensive carreers. Lol the US is not the world, there's a Latin American music market too, yas sayin 

I'm Latino and can confirm the song is bland and nothing special 

People thinking they can speak Spanish just cause they can say despacito and get the words right 20% of of the time didn't help my dislike for the song either 

[Rafr88 1,614]

Well the only way I can explain the point of views of many here is:

'MURICA

Like:

Spoiler

Despacito was a hit since January in all the hispanic market, Latin America and Spain (both consumers of reggaeton), from two big latin singers, Daddy Yankee (must known in America for Gasolina) and Luis Fonsi (No me doy por vencido was some of the biggest hits of the latin billboard), that were almost everywhere for like 3 months. Luis Fonsi didnt make reggaeton before, so for most people was interesting, and Daddy Yankee just made it a certified reggaeton "bop", to make it clear.

In April, Justin Bieber did the remix and the song exploded in the global market, because, sadly, if you want to be famous, or at least get recognizedin the world, you have to be famous in America, theres no other way. Then there are all the things you said before.

Born This Way did nothing to you Must of you still so close-minded and hatefull, you can see different genres of music that you dont like being successful, same with rap/hip-hop/tropical and others.

This theme left a mark in this community, just dont ever make other thread about Despacito

[PeterPan 0]

On 10/6/2017 at 10:54 PM, FloatWithME said:

I don't get the appeal.  Sure it's catchy but it sounds like every other Spanish pop song I have heard.  It's not a good song at all.  Honestly, I didn't even know about it until Biebz jumped on the track.  It baffles me why people fell in love with it.  At least with Closer, it was some what relatable and cute.  Even though it was still a pretty bad song.  What baffles me more is the music video.  That boring bland well done steak of a video has over 3B views?  The most watched YT video of all time.  There's nothing special about.  No good visuals.   I just don't think it deserved to be such a hit.  Luis will not be an icon.  

its honestly not that bad i truly dont get why people hate it so much 

[Supersonic 49,376]

It's generic, it's summery and it satifies the cheapest "latin lover" clichés for straight women, while at the same time being aggressively sexual enough so that straight men don't feel alienated.

[PeterPan 0]

11 hours ago, StrawberryBlond said:

The Justin Beiber remix was what really made it take off worldwide. That was the main factor. An English language version always pushes it further afield. But I think Hispanic Americans really overplayed it to ensure that a big Latin hit was possible after Trump was elected (everyone's making protest songs right now and this was a different way of doing that). When news spread that it was going to break Mariah's record in the coming weeks, it only increased interest in it. And well, Hispanic music lovers are devoted. When a reggaton hit shows any level of taking off, they support it all the way. You'll notice if you look up any Latin act like Shakira, Enrique, even Marc Anthony, you'll find that they have a lot of Vevo certified videos, a lot of likes and a lot of subscribers. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world. It makes sense that if a Spanish song starts taking off, it'll really take off.

You can see why the English lyrics aren't that dirty. It might not sell otherwise, so it was best to keep the dirtiest parts in another language. Malaysia actually banned it for the lyrics, but it seemed they were the only country to actually bother translating them. A section of it is basically lyrical p*rn. "I'll sign the walls of your labyrinth and turn your entire body into a manuscript." I had to actually have that lyric explained to me because I'm not used to seeing such poetic sexual innuendos.

But I don't know about your assertion of empowering female sexuality. As a woman myself, this isn't usually the most empowering thing a guy can do to you, just saying.

I can speak so much of it and there's always translations. I'm not always the biggest fan of Latin music, though. I think a lot of it sounds the same and for the likes of Shakira in particular, her Spanish stuff always sounds so much blander (both lyrics and production) than her English work, unless it's a Spanish translation of an existing English one.

I agree that the production is quite nice and I think it would be nice to do salsa dancing to it. You could really get into the flow of it then. But just sitting listening to it, I find it ok at best. I didn't know Luis but I did know Daddy Yankee - I was a teenager back when he released Gasolina. But I didn't know of what else he did from then on. And I'm from the UK, by the way. As I said before, the Latin market is huge, hence all the huge views and likes Latin songs get. I just think there's better Latin songs out there than this. I'm surprised, considering the success of Despacito, that Chantaje didn't become bigger worldwide for Shakira considering it has 1.8 billion views and 6 million likes in less than a year. But I guess having a English language feature is where its at. But if I were her, I'd feel a bit bummed out that my very popular song couldn't have the same effect. Lento by CNCO is catching on in the UK because Little Mix are doing an English remix of it too. Herein begins the Despacito effect. Just a shame for the artists who already have their Spanish language albums completed and promoted.

Lol i dont even know the lyrics of the spanish parts or what they mean

[PeterPan 0]

On 10/6/2017 at 11:27 PM, TimisaMonster said:

Major payola, Justin, major payola, video, major payola....

 I still have never heard the song or seen the video...

thats impossible lol