So what's the deal with Despacito?

Cafe Society
#1

I can understand Gangnam style, it was something crazy, original and new to most people who had trouble even finding South Korea on the map.

I can understand when a popular singer like Eminem, Lady Gaga,etc. makes a video and it has a huge amount of views.

I can understand “hate views” as I call them, for example a lot of people on Bieber’s baby and that friday, friday girl,etc.

However…I don’t get it, what’s the interesting part about Despacito?

In the start I wasn’t sure if there is even a constant rhytm or does the music just change every few seconds, then I realized that it’s basically just a random laid back latino song like a billion others. The song itself is almost 5 minutes long, which is a big downside, so…is it the text or what’s so special about it?

There’s nothing that I can find to like or hate about it, it’s just a totally generic sounding latino song, that is almost 5 minutes long.

Now, here’s anoter 2 latino song examples,

Asere je ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0PisGe66mY ) , everyone heard this song, but it has just 39 mil views. It’s fast, has a great rhytm and it’s hard to sing, less than 4 minutes long.

Gasolina ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGKrc3A6HHM ) , 5 minutes, but everything said about Asereje goes here as well, has a interesting and fast rhytm, it’s not a everyday song, it has a recognizeable title,etc. and yet Despacito is more famous…how?

#2

Helps if you leave a link for some of us old geezers…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJQP7kiw5Fk

Watched it, nice beat, well-filmed, gorgeous women…but nothing that indicates to me why it got so many views. Probably word of mouth/tweet/facebook and the fact there are 400 million Spanish speakers in the world, which gives them quite a lead of those who speak Korean…

Who knows why certain things blow up? Been going on a long time (Google Dutch tulip craze).

#3

Right, sometimes something just catches on and the craze takes on a life of its own in a self-reinforcing spiral.

Also, with Latin pop and reguetón being popular genres *beyond *just the Hispanosphere itself, there was already a well established, and significantly connected, international fandom for both Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee so there was a good base to start from.

Pretty sure neither of them dreamed of this sort of stupendous hit, though. Hey, 3.44 BILLION views?

I mean, sure, I with severalscore million other fellows could spend all morning watching Zuleyka Rivera slinking around over a soundtrack of the weather report, but still that’s a lot of repeat business…

#4

This better suited to Cafe Society

#5

Check out this very recent thread about the song. Despite the thread title (asking the name of the woman in the video) its mainly a discussion about the song’s confusing popularity:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=833314

#6

I have no idea what you’re talking about in terms of rhythm here. One of the things that drives me crazy about this song is the unrelenting 3+3+2 Latin rhythm which seems to be everywhere in the last couple of years of pop music. There’s absolutely nothing random and changing about the rhythm. It’s constant.

That said, it’s hooky and I find myself singing the chorus to myself throughout the day, so they’ve obviously found a nice catchy melody and vocal hook to it.

#7

Here in Spain it’s been a popular song for what it feels like ten years now and I don’t get why either. JakeRS is completely right, there’s a trillion songs that sound very damn similar.

I mean, there’s plenty of music I don’t particularly like but that at least I find distinctive. I wouldn’t listen to Pitbull voluntarily, but at least he’s loud, he stands out.

Maybe that Fonsi guy is extremely handsome and I just can’t see it? That could explain some of it.

#8

Well, the version that’s topping the charts here in the States is a remix with Justin Bieber on it, so he’s definitely adding some crossover appeal for young ladies who wouldn’t normally groove to a Spanish-language pop song.

#9

Yeah, but it was uncommonly successful here in Spanish-speaking countries before that, so there’s more to it.

#10

Football (soccer) fans adopted it as a chant at the games. Apparently you can change the lyrics to players’ names, and suchlike japery.

Anyway - in the world of soccer supporting, what one group of supporters do, if it’s cool then many will follow.

#11

I’m obviously not the target market for this song as I could only watch the first 60 seconds, pretty women notwithstanding. How is that video not a parody of itself? Talk about derivative…:smack:

#12

That’s really all it needs. Just like somebody has to win the Powerball eventually, some vid has to enjoy the biggest bubble of popularity. There’s no reason it had to be that one, but there’s also no reason it couldn’t be that one.

Popularity in the social media age is now like the so called “butterfly effect” in weather. Inherent quality and marketing is about number 7 & 8 on the ranked list of important factors in what gets crazy popular and what doesn’t. The major factors are now essentially random and unpredictable. IOW, it’s popular because it’s popular; there is no deeper reason and it’s a fool’s errand to seek one.
Also, nobody, but nobody does slinky dancing girls better than the Latinos. And that’s good for a hefty jump in popularity right there.

#13

I finally got around to listening to it because of this thread (I knew OF it via cultural osmosis) and it didn’t do anything for me. But then, I don’t speak Spanish so that couldn’t have helped. I don’t think it was a bad song so much as something just not in my sphere of musical interest. Pretty girls were very pretty but I can’t see me sitting through a video repeatedly for a bunch of half-second flash cuts of pretty girls. Maybe it has a hook that was lost on my Anglo-speaking self. Anyway, now I’ve done my part to relate to the most viewed video in the universe.

#14

I finally got around to viewing it (via link in post 2). I agree with the meh, but there’s more there. I sure hope our children aren’t watching that smut. I plan to explain to my step son, “…only those heathens in Puerto Rico actually act like that”. :stuck_out_tongue:

Pretty girls are US$0.10 / dozen. And the lead woman wears stupid shoes. Ugh.

#15

Maybe those are her Amazonian war sandals or something.

There’s lots of pretty girls in the world although I wouldn’t go into “Pffft, I see a dozen hotter girls on my way to the store!” territory here like people often do when dismissive of physical beauty. It would be a charmed life if I did come across that number of beautiful women though; I’d certainly head to the store more often. But, top tier looks aside, it’s hard to appreciate them or be properly enraptured when your average music video can’t go a heartbeat without a cut to something else. In this case, usually an unshaven dude on a cinderblock strewn beach.

#16

I won’t say that I see a lot of women prettier than that every day… but the pretty women I do see every day, I can look at for more than a half-second before the scene changes.

It also seems to over-use electronic reverb and other post-production effects.

#17

Yeah, that’s a PITA. My oggler just isn’t as fast as it used to be.

#18

But not longer than five seconds before they call security. It’s a delicate balance :smiley:

#19

Oh, I wasn’t using my scorecard to compare that video against my ambient surroundings. I was just making the point of… Pretty girls in videos. Hasn’t that been done? Yaaawwwnnn.

#20

As of today, it’s tied with “One Sweet Day”, by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men, as the longest-running #1 in the history of the Hot 100. Unless Taylor Swift’s new single debuts at #1, it’ll break that record next week.