PLEASE NOTE: Since I have a packed schedule I only have time to write two of these Colombian track reviews. The rest should be written and up by around three days.
Hi everyone and welcome back to Some Random Pop Nerd, where we take a look at the popular music of the past and present. Today, for this very special post I am excited to bring you a taste of pop music from my country of ethnicity, Colombia since I will be going for a 2-month family visit there in a couple weeks. Much like Billboard, Colombia uses the weekly National-Report charts which are published every Friday to average out the current popularity of each song. t\There also exist individual genre and English language charts, though only the Top 25 songs of the national chart and the Top 5 individual genre songs are released to the public unless you are a subscriber or if you use the mobile app. The chart we will be looking at is the National Top 25, which mostly comprises of Spanish-language Reggaeton songs. By the way, these songs will be scored using the same scale as the individual song reviews, but without me individually talking about the three major components of the song (Production, lyrics, and vocals) and instead combining my thoughts. Before we get started, I will provide links to both the English and Spanish versions of the lyrics for each songs on the original and translated titles of the songs (I do apologize in advance if I can't provide English-translated lyrics to some of these songs). Also, here is the link to the chart I will be reviewing: http://national-report.com/nacionalColombia.php
Now that that's out of the way, let's begin!
#25: Bailame Despacio (Dance Slowly With Me) - Xantos feautring Dynell: Relatively new to the Colombian Reggaeton scene, Xantos (good luck finding much information on him) made his breakthrough with this single, "Bailame Despacio", and how is it? Well, for one I do like the production, which incorporates an acoustic guitar lick that when combined with the thumping bass and the moog synthesizer creates a Summery reggae vibe. I feel like the production adds a lot of charisma to the song, helping the balance with Xantos' autotuned vocals that actually have some personality to them. As for the lyrical content, Dynell's verses and Xantos' chorus differ, with the chorus expressing the sentiment of taking the time to enjoy the company of one another in a romantic relationship. However, Dynell's verses completely miss the point of the song, with him delivering mediocre and interchangeable lines about trying to get into a girl's pants and getting her to shake her ass for him. It doesn't help that Dynell has no real charisma to back him up, with these lines sounding more bored than enthusiastic about the subject matter unlike Lil Jon, who always sounded like he was having a fun time. Also this lyric:
Pamela llegó tu Tommy Lee
superentrenada así que traeme todo eso aquí
TR: Hey Pamela I'm your Tommy Lee
I hope this'll make you bring it over to me
Okay guys, if you feel the need to explain your pickup line, chances are that it's not really charismatic or convincing. Despite Dynell's charisma-lacking and mediocre verses, I can definitely bump to this track. It gets a 3.5/5.
#24: Duele El Corazon (The Heart Hurts) - Enrique Iglesias featuring Wisin: It's been a while since I last heard from Enrique Iglesias in the mainstream. His last major hit from 2014 "Bailando" left a positive impression on me, as I hoped he would stick to his Latin roots rather than his grating English-language pop career. Fast forward to 2016, where he drops "Duele El Corazon", reportedly the lead-off single from an upcoming album. Thankfully, this song for me is a prime example as to why Enrique should stick to his Latin roots. Rollicking acoustic and blues guitar licks, jumpy synths, thumping bass drums, and Enrique's trademark charisma perfectly capture the atmosphere of a vallenato-reggae fusion track. While the lyrics could be interpreted to fall in the "I'm a douche so I will steal your girl" category, Enrique actually gives the girl a choice to either leave or go with him if she decides her man is not sufficiently supportive of her. Wisin's charismatic and energetic rap verse also supports this despite the first couple of lines seeming forceful. Despite some lyrical flaws, this song gets a 4.5/5 from me.
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