Music

5 Years Later, Danny Ocean’s ‘Me Rehúso’ Still Hits

Lead Photo: Photo by Mario Dávila
Photo by Mario Dávila
Read more

Danny Ocean continues to ride the wave of success from his smash hit “Me Rehúso.” Turning five years old today (September 16), the singer-songwriter has reached career highs other artists take years to achieve and it’s all thanks to this song.  Case and point, “Me Rehúso” has reached one billion streams on Spotify. Yes, you read that right, one billion for a song that is half a decade old. 

But that’s not the only impressive triumph. “Me Rehúso” is the most listened to song of the last decade on Spotify in Latin America and Spain. Impressed yet? Ok, how about this. “Me Rehúso” was written and released in 2016. It was on his first album 54+1, which dropped in 2019. The entire thing was written and recorded in his bedroom.

Since then, he has taken it on tour and the accompanying music video has been viewed more than 1.4 billion times on YouTube. By late 2016, the song surpassed Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” featuring Daddy Yankee on Spotify to become the Latine song with the most weeks on the top 50 Global charts. 

The origin of the “Me Rehúso” (I refuse) comes from Ocean personally. He wrote the song for a girl he missed after leaving Venezuela. The song, which has political undertones, quickly went viral. It would eventually get noticed by Warner Music Group, who would later sign him. 

Since then, he has gone on to collaborate with artists like Mike Bahia and Karol G. 

Today, Danny Ocean (real name Daniel Morales) is preparing to release his next album later this year. His first single “Apartmento” is out now.

Revisit the now classic song below.