Impact of Reggaeton Music in the World
Reggaeton music is described as the Latin inner-city music that emerged from a mixture of melodious and rhythmic features from other genres such as reggae, dancehall, salsa, and hip-hop. The revolution of Reggaeton music occurred in the early 2000s and from this moment the genre has gained much popularity in the world. The acceptance of results from the listener’s engagement strategies that are employed in the genre. A study conducted by Tannen reported that the two types of engagement strategies are sematic and rhythmical. This paper focuses on Despacito’s song, which is a king of Reggaeton song that was able to gain success in the music industry. Notably, Despacito has significantly impacted on the world music industry. This is because of how it was able to spread quickly and successfully changed the music industry.
Despacito, a Spanish song sang by Puerto Ricans artists, Louis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee became the most viewed song on YouTube with over 4.5 billion views in 2017. According to Maeve McDermott and Patrick Ryan, in their article, USA TODAY, the song won the first place on Billboard Hot 100 charts for 16 weeks in a roll. Additionally, they added that the original song and the remix by Justin Bieber had become the pride of the Latin music community (Maeve and Ryan, 2017). According to music experts, Despacito song is proof that when the music moves and makes you feel something it is universal and it does not matter what the language the lyrics of the song are written. This was backed up by J. Blavin who is a Colombian singer, she stated that Despacito’s song has created a historic achievement for Latino artists. Altogether, Despacito song gained international popularity and many artists proved its historic song.
Despite the tremendous success of the song by Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi, Justin Bieber still received credit for Despacito’s song. Therefore, it evident that this was a well-worn strategy for Latino music, which was identified by Valentin-Escobar as the Columbus effect. Maria Elena from the article of Petra and Torres elaborates that established Latin American artists are repackaged as “debut artists and discoveries” of mainstream record companies. Many mainstream records ignored the success of Despacito’s song before the success of Latin charts. Also, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee have had a lengthy career in music and have produced several songs before Despacito but none of them has recorded the highest hit as Despacito (Petra and Torres 2019). Yankee and Fonsi received several critics from media coverage which presented them as newcomers or ignored the song’s pre-Biebers success. Therefore, from the above points, it clear that after Justin Bieber released the Despacito remix, that is how the song gained more success and Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi were able to be recognized as great artists.
According to Petra and Torres (2019), the song imitates the withdrawal of Luis Fonsi from typical narratives and pop songs, which was his twenty-year career. Therefore, he evolves his music by integrating the dembow beat of the Reggaeton genre. In the Puerto Rica community, the Reggaeton music developed in the 1890s and 1990s from poor to urban communities. The genre combined sounds, stylistic elements, fashion, and language from other music genres such as dancehalls and hip-hop, which associated with the Puerto Ricans and other diasporic communities (Petra and Torres 2019). The main reason that has made the Reggaeton music to gain popularity, is the fact that it is primarily recognized as a piece of party music. Additionally, this type of music gives people spaces to talk about racism and poverty. Consequently, due to its popularity, by early 2000s Reggaeton artists like Daddy Yankee and Wisin Yandel became assimilated into the Latin music mainstream. Thus, Reggaeton became one of the highest-selling genres in the Latin music market (Petra and Torres, 2019). And so, the use of stylistic elements such as dembow beats from dancehall and hip-hop has contributed to the Reggaeton genre gaining much popularity in the market.
Also, according to Abad-Santos (2017), Despacito’s song is the most-streamed song in music history. The song produced during summer during 2017, was played everywhere in the cities, house parties, suburbs, weddings, and barbecues. The author describes the songs as inescapable, that is, it is inevitable and cannot be avoided. The song gained much popularity because it spans a wide range category of, listeners, that is, adults above 40 years, young youths, Spanish contemporary and adults in present-day. The song gives a total impression from all audience and since its production, it has become the most popular viewed song on YouTube. Many listeners have described Despacito as a summer song since the song represents something rare in melodies, lyrics, and notes (Abad-Santos 2017). Notably, music has played a huge role in music history because it a reflection and appreciation of its culture. Additionally, it represents a political message of disobedience against the status quo and the summer of 2017.
According to Maeve McDermott and Patrick Ryan (2017), Despacito is one of the many Spanish languages that have been able to create a large impact on the pop radio charts industry. The song has given the music industry more confidence because after the release of the song, record labels are now looking for more opportunities to boost the Latin artists. There has been an increase in the Latin market since many people who even do not listen to Latin Music are now interested in its investment (Maeve and Ryan 2017). The Despacito song is now an outlier for many Latin artists. This is because many artists including those struggling for a breakthrough in the market, want to release a remix with Latin artists. Finally, Despacito will remain in the Latin history of music since no one can outwash it.
Additionally, the Reggaeton has persistently continued to influence Latin music. For instance, in 2014 Enrique Iglesias, Descemer, and De Zona released their Reggaeton hit “Bailando”. The song inspired a Reggaeton that inspired fusion that debatably began a new wave of Reggaeton pop. Another Latin pop song was produced in 2017 by Shakira, Ricky Martin, and Thalia, in which they featured other great Reggaeton fusion pop artist, that is, Nick Jam and Maluma (Petra and Torres 2019). Consequently, Luis Fonsi explained to the Billboard there are several things that he puts into consideration before releasing his songs. These are, he treats every album to be released as a new beginning, and also he does market research hence finds out what people like to hear. Additionally, Luis Fonsi co-writer Erika stated that everyone is now making the Reggaeton fusion kind of music (Petra and Torres 2019). That is to mean that Luis and Erika effectively recognized the market perspective of the Reggaeton-pop genre. To sum up, Reggaeton pop music has been able to gain popularity and how great market availability.
Another article by Suzy Exposito describes J. Balvins as one of the greatest Latin pop stars. From the article, during a Latin concert held in New York, other great artists like Luis Fonsi, Zion, and Lennox were able to maintain a consistent and romantic show but during J. Balvin’s performance he was able to end the show with a bang. During the performance of his song “Mi Gente”, many women were overwhelmed with happiness and they could not hold themselves in one place (Exposito Suzy 2018). We can say that at a young age of 32, J. Balvin is one of the most popular artists in Reggaeton in Colombia country, and also he is the world’s popular artist in Pop music. His popular song Mi Gente was able to top the Billboard for a maximum of three consecutive months with over 2 billion views on YouTube at then (Exposito Suzy 2018). Moreover, the song was listed as number three on Hot 100 after Beyoncé produced its remix. To conclude, J. Balvin has successfully managed to be ranked as one of the greatest Reggaeton artists in the world. Also women have contributed to his success since, his music mostly appeals to them.
According to Rachel Rozak (2017), the sudden shift of the Reggaeton popularity is a pure coincidence. She states that the genre’s popularity did not surface sooner since, the United States has the largest Spanish population; over 50 million Spanish speakers. Initially, Latin music was only popular in Cities with a large Latin population, that is, New York, Miami, San-Antonio, and Los Angelo. Therefore, during the 2017 music Grammy awards it was revealed that Latin music preference had grown large and its fans were now scattered along the coasts and central region of the coasts (Rachel Rozak 2017). As a result, Latin music has gained popularity due to the stylistic elements from reggae and hip-hop music that has been infused in it. The song brings psyche and energy to the listeners and that is why it has succeeded in going viral.
Furthermore, there has been a real push in Latin remix and border music production, which has nothing to do with the outpouring of Hispanics in the United States and the awareness of English-speaking by artists that provide an enormous market for streaming (Rachel Rozak 2017). Latin music has been measured on a global scale by Pandora, YouTube, and Spotify and the figures reported reveal why mainstream artists would want to experiment with a new sound. According to Rachel, for the past seven years Latin America is the only region that was able to record a high growth revenue in the music industry with a 12 percent increase. Additionally, 57% part of the increase was reported to have come from streaming revenue. For that reason, it is clear that Latin music has gained popularity in the market, and it is now one of the greatest revenue contributors to the country’s economy.
Moreover, Marcos Juarez, who is the head of Latin programming, reported that 25 percent of its listeners are Latin Americans and 12 percent of the music that is played is from Latin. Additionally, Spotify reported the Balia Reggaeton music is its third most streaming music. The song listeners were being traced from their countries and Japan was described to be the hugest fan, with most percent of online streamers (Coscarelli 2016). Moreover, Despacito songs were conveyed to the most viewed song on YouTube among other Spanish songs. For that reason, it is apparent that the Latin songs are the most streamed on youTube, Pandora, and Spotify. This is due to the popularity that Reggaeton music has gained in the recent past.
Likewise, due to Reggaeton’s popularity, marketers, sports franchises, and artists have enhanced opportunities for Reggaeton music. This is because the advertisers and campaigns have made the genre abundant in all United States. Coscarelli reported that Reggaeton music is one of the most popular music among players. To sum, Reggaeton music has gained more popularity and it is now useful in the advertisement, campaigns, and sports industries.
In conclusion, from my research it evident that Reggaeton music has gained more popularity in the market. This is because of pf the melodies and rhythmical styles from reggae and hip-hop music that has been infused in the genre. Despacito is a good example of Reggaeton music that has significantly contributed to a change in the music industry. Its success has encouraged more artists to venture into a music career. Artists like J. Blavin, Luis Fonsi, and Daddy Yankee have contributed to creating a remarkable history in Latin music.
Works Cited
Abad-Santos, Alex. “How “Despacito” became the biggest song of 2017.” VOX.COM, 29 Aug. 2017
Coscarelli, Joe. “J Balvin Is a Man With a Mission: Making Reggaeton Global.” The New York Times, 6 July. 2016
Exposito, Suzy. “J Balvin’s Latin Pop Crusade.” Rolling Stone, 7 May. 2018
Maeve McDermott and Patrick Ryan. “‘Despacito’ is slowly translating success into industry change.” USA TODAY, 7 Sept. 2017
Rachel Rozak, “What’s behind the “bang bang” of Latin music in the Top 10?”: Panoramas scholarly articles” (2017) https://www.panoramas.pitt.edu/art-and-culture/what%E2%80%99s-behind-%E2%80%9Cbang-bang%E2%80%9D-latin-music-top-10
Rivera-Rideau, Petra R., and Jericko Torres-Leschnik. “” The Colors and Flavors of My Puerto Rico”: Mapping “Despacito”’s Crossovers.” (2019).