Sometimes the hits are bopping so hard that you get caught up in the immediate aspects of the song that forget there might be a deeper message going on. “Astro Funk” is such a song and also a perfect mirror of GioBulla’s career so far.
It’s easy to be impressed with the Dominican rising star’s numbers —after all, 5 million streams without big pushes is a lot— GioBulla offers more than just contagious rhythms and hooks. On one level, “Astro Funk” goes big without breaking a sweat or veering too far from “Consentida,” his previous hit single: both offer smooth vibes and easy-going melodicism and seem to be a natural fit for the singer. Lyrically, the song delivers pleas for a lover to come back after the protagonist has done wrong, and you can hear the confidence in the song that he will get his way. According to GioBulla, there are many levels to the intention of “Astro Funk.” “The song goes with a nice flowing rhythm and melody that will get you stuck in your head,” he tells Remezcla. “It’s a modern take on a familiar feel. As a composer and interpreter, I love challenging myself to convey very distant emotions way past the norm of happy, sad, and drunk in a nightclub. This is a classic Miami Vice in the 1970’s, groovy yet fresh sound. In my opinion, it’s a super devalued sound in Latin music.”
The song also gets a video that adds another layer to the meaning of “Astro Funk.” In it, GioBulla searches for his loved one, a woman from another planet; he searches high and low using technology to find her and deliver his message of forgiveness to her. However, that aspect of searching goes beyond romantic love. “The video represents a vintage sci-fi love story, but it’s also a story of hope,” he explains. “Everyday, so many families, relationships and friendships lose connection because of politics and disagreements between countries or even because of the [so called] American Dream. I’m a first generation immigrant who came to America years after my parents [did]; they left me behind at the age of three in search of that American Dream. I wanted to channel a sense of reconnection. I wanted to give the audience that feeling of how hard and how far some people are willing to go to get a glimpse of their loved ones again.”
You can see and hear “Astro Funk” here: