Fall is upon us, which also means that sad boy season is here. J Balvin and Bad Bunny are just the latest duo to be all up in their feels, and their music video for “La Canción” is welcome proof of it. Released October 14, the video for their latest single off of 2019’s joint EP, Oasis, sees the reggaetoneros taking to the stage to serenade for a change. “La Canción” is not a club bop, then. Rather, it’s a ballad about all those club bops you once danced to with a past lover, and can’t help but feel sad over listening to now without them.
Set in a cabaret club, the music video for “La Canción” most distinctly features the collaborators in traditional face makeup. It seems the reggaetoneros-turned-crooners are trying to kindle a sense of already being “dead” to their exes, with an airy apparition eventually making its appearance on the dance floor. The moody, redlit atmosphere only adds to this phantasmal feeling. As a woman dances with her partner (and is, intentionally or not, dressed much like the salsa emoji), she appears to grow wistful at the song playing, too.
And that song, “La Canción,” is certainly one to trigger nostalgia. Its slow dembow riddim is punctuated by jazzy trumpet fills, and El Conejo Malo’s voice — which is known for its grounding depth on otherwise high strung tracks — feels perfectly at home here. His bridge is a standout moment, recalling vulnerable details (like getting caught having sex by your parents) that mark the perfect marriage between reggaeton’s audaciousness and a ballad’s intimacy.
J Balvin, on the other hand, turns up the energy with his verses — among one of which he alludes that his ex paramour’s song could’ve been by, uh, Kanye West. Dark Twisted Fantasy era, though, so we get it. After all, “La Canción” is nothing if not honest.