Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Prayers for Puerto Rico

It’s good to be an American if a white guy can say one Spanish word in his song and make a lot more money on that recording. Yes, Justin Bieber made a lot of money with the sales of his song called Despacito. With its at least 3.5 million certified sales plus track-equivalent streams, Despacito is one of the best-selling Latin singles in the United States. The song also became the world’s most streamed song of all time with 4.6 billion streams and that was back in July. How could a white kid make so much money by saying one word in a Spanish song? Only in America!

It was supposed to be the song of the summer but here we are in the fall and the song is still having us swaying to it in the fall. Despacito is actually the creation of a man from Puerto Rico, Luis Fonsi. Puerto Rico has suffered from hurricanes this summer and now is about to possibly be destroyed by another hurricane heading its way. The song has been number one and stayed there for 16 weeks. It is the first mostly Spanish song that has reached it to the top spot in American song lists in over 20 years. Luis Fonsi has been making records for 20 years but this is now his claim to fame as the guy who sings most of the song on this single.

Although Luis is a Grammy winner, now he is famous internationally because of Justin’s one word on the song that means slowly in Spanish. A full English translation of the song was available but Justin chose to sing one word. After all Despacito rhymes with Puerto Rico. Sigh!

Erika Ender is the co-writer of the song and she is a Grammy award international songwriter winner. It is great to see successful collaborations between cultures thrive. Someone tell Trump we need our international friends. Then there is rapper Daddy Yankee inserting his brand into the song that makes it even more refreshing and makes you want to sway to the song even longer.

The song is also appealing because it is all about seducing a woman slowly and making her desire you instead of all the aggressive nastiness about women in songs these days. Latin lovers were always romantic. The video is a depiction in the day in the life of people in Puerto Rico. That relaxed movement of people hanging out playing Dominoes. Now they are being blown around by a hurricane. If showcasing the beauty of Puerto Rico was the goal in the video than the gorgeous Latin woman filled the role. Zuleyka Rivera, a former Miss Universe is parading around in her unique sexy way wearing her tight short daisy dukes. So anyone who appreciates a beautiful woman is satisfied watching this video.

She was simply instructed to walk from here to there and feel the music. She did it so well that we all want to feel her too! In 2006 she was Miss Puerto Rico. Pray that other beautiful women from Puerto Rico aren’t in danger right now due to the weather. When she was crowned Miss Universe that year in the pagent she wore a stunning dress. Here we are more than 10 years later and she wore the same dress in this video and wears it well. This video that is the single most watched video of all time with over 3.6 billion views and counting on You Tube simply shows the spirit of Puerto Rico where everyone is dancing. We all need to stop fighting and do more dancing lately? Can we encourage ICIS or Kim Young F Up to do more dancing and less bombing?

Today Trump is scheduled to speak before the United Nations Assembly. He got elected because everyone wanted to know what he would be saying about another candidate next. It was an entertaining joke. Now the nation cringes wanting to know what the hell he is going to say next. I think he should just show the video and encourage all those international representatives of the world to dance. It doesn’t take long to share the love. The video was shot in one day and edited in a small studio in Miami.

The song is so appealing that it inspired fan videos from around the world. There is one from Bolivia, Brazil and China with translations in different languages. Even Sesame Street aired a version of the song called El Patito meaning the little duck featuring Ernie and Rubber Duckie. Fonsi has recently been named Tourism Ambassador to Puerto Rico. The place will need his help more now than ever to lure people to visit the battered place again. Puerto Rico was battered by Hurricane Irma. That storm has 1/3rd of the island still without power. Now Hurricane Maria is barreling towards Puerto Rico. We could at least in the video remember what the place was this past summer. Pray for their future. Sing that one word at least like Justin Bieber does. Sigh!

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