Reggaeton: the world loves it, so why is America unaware of it?

The world loves it, so why is America unaware of it?

Summer of 2017 I was traveling around Italy, Greece, and Mexico with my cousins from Mexico City. Early on in the trip, they asked if I listed to “reggaeton”. I honestly was weirded out by the question; I thought they were asking if I liked "reggae" music, but were just calling it by a slightly different name (which, for those who don’t know, this was a completely false hypothesis). But my confusion came to light soon enough, and in response they began introducing me to the music genre. Yet soon enough, I discovered that reggaeton isn't just heard in Latin America. In Italy, a ton of the music in clubs is reggaeton; on the cruise around Greece, a lot of the music played at night was reggaeton in both Spanish and Portuguese (+ lots of “Despacito" of course).

In the US, we are much focused towards rap, so it was honestly a shock to see how the world is not as oriented to it as we are. But with reggaeton around, it’s no wonder that the world isn’t; it has tons of rhythm, making it so natural to dance to that it would take every fiber of your being to not move at all to it. 

Discovering may ignorance, I felt like I had been missing out big time; but, I am not the only one who has been completely unaware of the genre. There are tons of Americans who didn’t, and don’t, know really anything of it. But, they know a little more than they thinking they do, because that same summer, the world was falling in love with “Despacito”. It was everywhere. It was all over the damn world, and once the Justin Bieber version came out, white Americans came to love it too (*Latin countries loved the original version withe Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee). Sure, like many summer songs, it was played a little too much, but what’s truly amazing, crazy, and special about it is how it brought two divided worlds a little closer together; that is, both English and Spanish speaking worlds.

"Despacito" is the #1 most viewed YouTube video,

holding reign with 5.20 billion views. 

There are 7.442 billion people in the world now. To further emphasize the massiveness of this number, 5.20 billion is the number of people  in the world in 1989. I can therefore say that essentially everyone in the world knows this song, yet still many Americans don’t know anything about the genre, let alone that it exists. But why is that? What are we afraid of? Gangnam Style didn’t need to be translated to English for us to enjoy it, so why do we need Justin Bieber as the mediator between Spanish and English music? (*Note: I don’t have a problem with Justin Bieber.)

What is truly amazing about getting to know reggaeton music is how it has given me the opportunity to bond with people in a way that I could never have imagined. Many experience that bond over music with country, beach goth, rap, punk rock, etc. But given that reggaeton is so great for dancing and what not, I wonder why it’s not recognized much outside of the latin community. 

I found a whole new part of world culture, and it has bettered my life, making it more rich in diversity, and I hope that you get to experience that too.  If you’re curious as to what it sounds like, here is a sample of some reggaeton songs that were playing all summer:

• X

• Mi Gente 

• 6 AM

• Ay Vamos 

• Downtown 

• Hey Ma

• Sin Contracto

• Felices los 4

• Corazon 

• Borro Cassette 

• El Prestamo 

• Ahora Dice 

• Vente Pa’Ca 

• SUBEME LA RADIO 

• El Baño 

• Me Enamore 

• Perro Fiel

• Traicionera

Let me know what you guys think down in the comments below. 

Best wishes,  Solange.