America’s favorite chambelan has been on an aggressive redemption campaign these past few months, and now it’s finally reached a climax: yesterday, Justin Bieber dropped a new single titled “Sorry.” It’s more of your typical EDM Bieber fare (read: not as good as R&B Bieber), with production credits from go-to collaborator Skrillex and Blood Diamonds, who has also made tracks for the likes of Grimes and Tinashe.
But one thing sets “Sorry” apart from Bieber’s other EDM hits: it’s got a conspicuously addictive dembow riddim and reggaeton drum pattern. Though Skrillex and Blood Diamonds were probably going for more of a dancehall vibe (reggaeton’s dembow riddims are derived from dancehall after all), it’s almost too easy to imagine a reggaeton edit of this song. As Jezebel points out, we’re pretty much just waiting for the J Balvin remix to come out any day now. That’s not too farfetched, since Balvin and Bieber established they were bros when the Colombian reggaetonero taught him how to say parcero back in August:
What’s more, both Skrillex and Bieber have repped the culture on 92.3 AMP Radio, when they turned up to Toño Rosario’s “Kulikitaka,” so we know that reggaeton is on their radar:
https://youtu.be/NogSs921OMA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2LOqt-uThE
Aside from the fact that 7th grade me could never have imagined From First to Last’s gangly-ass lead singer dancing to merengue, the new track’s dembow riddim is kind of a godsend, because it means there are probably a million Spanish remixes on the horizon. Could Bieber upstage Drizzy as pop music’s next honorary Latino? You decide. We’ll just have to wait and see when Purpose, Bieber’s fourth album, drops on November 13.