The Power of Latin and English-Speaking Collabs
Well received or not, when a Latin artist collabs with an English-speaking counterpart, they create a cross-cultural influence with significant historical impact.
Written and illustrated by Alany Rodriguez
The world has been gifted with many chart topping cross-cultural hits, such as “Tusa” by Karol G featuring Nicki Minaj, and the R&B treasure “Mia” by Bad Bunny and Drake. Both tracks earned a top five spot on Billboard’s Latin charts. However, there is much more significance behind the music created in collaborations by Latin and English-speaking artists, record sales and radio play aside.
Photo courtesy of Phraa
The latest genre blend on the charts is Maluma and The Weeknd’s “Hawái” Remix, which inaugurated The Weeknd singing in Spanish, just like fellow Canadian Drake first did on the 2014 Romeo Santos single “Odio.” Although they were highly successful, these fusions were not the first of their kind. The early 2000s saw some unique duets led by Puerto Rican reggaeton artist Daddy Yankee — one in 2005 with California rapper Snoop Dogg on “Gangsta Zone” and another collab two years later with Fergie for the remix of “Impacto.” This musical revolution has evidently been developing for a long time, but the 2010s saw the mainstream recognize more Latin artists after doing transcultural collaborations.
Between their ability to get non-Spanish speaking individuals to sing and dance to their music and the unique talent each musician brings to a song — the power of Latin artists runs wide. When they hop on a song with an English-speaking artist, or vice versa, it is likely to become a hit because of the integration of their divergently large audiences. In 2017, Luis Fonsi released the remix to “Despacito,” adding pop sensation Justin Bieber and the aforementioned Daddy Yankee. Once the hit song climbed to the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart, the floodgates opened for even more Spanish-English collaborations in the following years.
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While a lot of these collabs have become big hits, the songs can sometimes seem like a forced fusion by labels who assume that they will bring wild success. In 2019, Madonna released a single featuring Maluma titled “Medellín,” which is the name of his hometown in Colombia. The song peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard US Hot Latin Songs chart and received mixed reviews. One reason for the lukewarm reaction, as listed in Variety, stemmed from Madonna singing “We built a cartel just for love / Venus was hovering above us,” which distastefully highlighted the drug violence in the city from a non-local.
One artist who has proven she can build organic relationships with Spanish-speaking artists and help carry their success into the United States is New York rapper Cardi B, who did just that with her song “I Like It” featuring J. Balvin and Bad Bunny. The hybrid formula of rap and reggaeton works well, and it is worth noting that Cardi B’s Dominican heritage contributed to its natural flow. The music video garnered over 1.2 billion views on YouTube and won Song of the Summer at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2018.
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Latin artists seem to favor doing genre breakouts because it broadens their audience reach and heightens the appreciation for their culture. In an interview with Vogue in 2017, J. Balvin discussed how his motivation to bring Beyoncé on the remix of “Mi Gente” centered around making Latin music global.
“I don’t want to make music only for Latinos,” Balvin said. The singer has since expanded his artistry by continuing to break out of the Latin charts year after year, and earning global rankings on multiple songs, including his latest, “Un Dia,” with Dua Lipa, Bad Bunny, and Tainy.
Photo courtesy of Stillz
Two years after his hit collaboration with Cardi B, Bad Bunny made history on Dec. 6 when the rapper-singer-fashion icon’s new entirely Spanish speaking album, El Ultimo Tour del Mundo, reached No. 1 on Billboard’s 200 albums ranking. Whether the meaning behind Spanish lyrics are understood by English-speaking audiences or not, it is evident that sound stands at the heart of these multi-cultural alliances.
The commercial success stemming from musical partnerships between Latin and English-speaking artists has been heavily reliant on Reggaeton. English-Spanish fusion still has some ways to go in recognizing artists from other Latin countries such as Mexico and the many other genres in which Latin artists span. Nevertheless, it seems Latin music will continue to soar and break through to mainstream audiences, earning the praise it has deserved.
The boundaries between the cultures are continuing to be broken by the music industry every day. By adding creative world sounds and different languages that are being universally appreciated, the Latin-English collaboration phenomenon has redefined the meaning of pop music in North America, especially under the Trump administration, which has faced criticism for denouncing minority communities.The strength in the influence these musical alliances bring prove that crossing borders can leave a positive impact on society.