It’s been nearly a year since Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” saw the light in the music world. Back in January, when the song was released, few industry gatekeepers (or average listeners) thought that the song would dominate global air waves, much less reignite conversation about the performance and articulation of Latinidad in mainstream pop. Now, after 40 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, “Despacito” is finally out of the top 10 list, dropping two positions from no. 9 to 11, according to the chart tracking Twitter account @chartdata. The song spent 26 weeks floating through the top 10, reigning for a full six months of 2017.
It’s difficult not to think of “Despacito” as a watershed moment in the Latin music industry; it’s shattered streaming records, signaled reggaeton’s transformation into pop, and triggered countless thinkpieces and trend stories about a new “Latin boom,” a term that is consistently used in media narratives around Latino artists. What’s more, the remix with Justin Bieber raised questions in the Latinx community about the social responsibility Anglo artists have when performing in Spanish, or capitalizing on conventions of Latinidad to reach new markets without respecting the culture.
Whether you love it or hate it, the era of “Despacito” is coming to a close. Vote in our Twitter poll about the song, and check out some reactions below:
https://twitter.com/matilovesfh/status/919994540504776704