“Bailando” by Enrique Iglesias
Literally translated from Spanish to English, the title of this song (“Bailando”) is simply “Dancing”. But almost inevitably in such cases, the title is not meant to be translated literally per se. And in this instance, it is actually meant to be read more as “Rhythmic Dancing”. But either way we already know, at least to some extent, what type of track we’re dealing with here.
More specifically though, this is not a dance song of the general get-off-your-seat-and-boogie type of variety. Rather this is one which is being dropped via Latin American acts, even though Enrique Iglesias is technically from Spain. And based on dance songs we have reviewed in the past via other popular male artists from said region, almost inevitably there is this element of admiring a female addressee’s body as it graces the dance floor. And that is also happens to be the case with “Bailando”.
The main vocalist especially appears to be totally enraptured by a certain “girl”, where ‘looking at her’ dance “feels like paradise” to him. In fact, it can be argued that he is at this particular party just to gawk at her. However, this is not a case of mere infatuation, at least not from his perspective. Instead he also professes his love for her.
Meanwhile Descemer Bueno and Gente De Zona serve of role of buttressing the thesis sentiment, which is the narrator being driven to the brink of an amorous explosion due to watching the addressee dance. And Sean Paul is giving a shoutout to all of “di girl dem” in the house, representing in such a manner on the dance floor.
All in all
So at the end of the day, this isn’t the type of song that requires any type of elaborate analysis. In fact such ‘I’m enamored with your body as you dance’ tracks, as stated earlier, are quite common as far as Caribbean-based artists are concerned. Most of them may fly under the radar. But every once in a while one out of the lot, such as “Bailando”, proves to be a major international success story.
Enrique Iglesias
Enrique Iglesias is the son of an even more legendary singer, Julio Iglesias. In fact his dad was like the 20th century version of Bad Bunny if you will, being considered the most-popular Latino singer of his day stateside, even though he also was actually born in Spain.
Enrique was able to capitalize on his father’s stardom to launch his own music career in 1995, having dropped 10 studio albums between then and 2014. He has also came out a slew of singles, regularly topping Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart as if doing so is a minor feat. But amongst his many hits, the most-successful within that time frame has been the song we’re reviewing today, “Bailando”, which officially came out on 18 March 2014.
Achievements of “Bailando”
This track is from the last of those aforementioned studio albums, “Sex and Love” (2014). And globally it was one of the 10 best-selling tracks of the year 2014, with the chart, certification and accolade history to prove it. For instance, it was a chart topper in many regions. This includes some Spanish-speaking ones, such as Spain, Mexico, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. Others include: Cambodia, Finland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.
It also accomplished this feat in lands as diverse as Cambodia and Romania, in addition to topping three Billboard charts in the US (Hot Dance Club Songs, Latin Songs and Latin Airplay). In fact it appeared on 8 different Billboard charts altogether, including coming in 12th place on the Hot 100.
And generally speaking, “Bailando” charted in over 30 nations, which is the true mark of an international smash hit. Moreover it has also gone mutli-platinum in a number of them, including going quadruple platinum in the US. It also went sevenfold-platinum in Spain and quadruple-diamond in Mexico.
Awards Won
The track also won quite a few awards, including three 2014 Latin Grammys in the following categories:
- Best Urban Song
- Best Urban Performance
- Song of the Year
“Bailando” also won many 2015 Billboard Latin Music Awards. They include the following:
- Airplay Song of the Year
- Digital Song of the Year
- Pop Song of the Year
- Song of the Year
- Song of the Year
- Vocal Event
- Streaming Song of the Year
Multiple Versions of “Bailando”
One of the reasons this song was such a widespread hit is because there are actually quite a few different versions of it, respectively featuring popular artists from different countries. For instance, concerning the version of “Bailando” that went four-times platinum in the US, that is the one we reviewed above, featuring dancehall artist Sean Paul, who is more well-known amongst the general American public than Iglesias.
The standard version of the song features a couple Cuban musicians, Descemer Bueno and Gente De Zona.
There are also two different Portuguese editions of the tune, one for Portugal itself featuring Mickeal Carreira. The other is for its former colonies, Brazil, co-starring an artist from that country, Luan Santana. And also, there is a version of “Bailando” which stars only the headline singer.
All of this for a song which, according to a number of sources, Enrique Iglesias was originally reluctant to record. In fact he did not do so until the original co-writer, Descemer Bueno, recorded a version with Gente de Zona sometime after they had originally written it. And that was when Enrique was finally able to hear the potential of the song.
Credits for “Bailando”
As far as final credits go, Enrique Iglesias wrote this song alongside Descemer Bueno and Gente de Zona. The latter act (which translate to People of the Zone, according Google Translate) is actually a pair of reggaeton musicians, Randy Malcolm and Alexander Delgado. And they are both individually credited as writers of “Bailando”.
Also the version featuring Sean Paul lists him as a co-writer, which basically means he wrote his own verses.
Meanwhile the producer of track is Carlos Paucar, a regular collaborator of Enrique Iglesias’s who appears as if he may also be Cuban.
Original Version
And all things considered, it is safe to say that the original version of track, the one featuring only Gente de Zona and Descemer Bueno, may be the most-popular out of the lot.
We base this assumption on the fact that as at the writing of this post in early 2021 the music video to said version, as directed by Alejandro Perez, ranks amongst the 30 most-viewed in YouTube history. That is to say that as of April 2021, the clip has exceeded 3,000,000 views.
Said clip was actually filmed in the Dominican Republic, one of the countries in which Bailando was best-received. The female star is one Ana Karla Suárez, a ballet dancer from Cuba. In fact it features a number of dancers from Ballet Lizt Alfonso, a Cuban dance company led by a lady named Lizt Alfonso.
And to note, there was also a video created for the Spanglish version of “Bailando”, i.e. the one featuring Sean Paul, who is in fact a Jamaican. And concurrently, it boasts of nearly half-a-billion views.
More Interesting Facts
But to note, this mega hit did not even break the top 50 of the UK Singles Chart. Instead, it only managed to peak at a relatively-meager number 75 on that list.
It is not uncommon for hits of this magnitude to get slapped with a lawsuit. And as far as “Bailando” goes, it actually dealt with a couple – well one lawsuit and one controversy. In terms of a latter, a musician from Peru named Pelo D’Ambrosio accused Iglesias of copying from a song he composed called “Lejos de it”. But upon seeking an expert’s opinion before actually filing a lawsuit, it was deemed that “there is no plagiarism”.
However a couples of dudes from the US named German Schulz and Cristian Escuti did in fact file a lawsuit in 2015 claiming that that Enrique and co. bit off a song they put together in 2009 called “Quiero Bailar Contigo”. The song in question went on to be released in 2014 via a Puerto Rican singer called Chayanne. However, as at the writing of this article, there does not appear to be any information online concerning the verdict of that case.
Bailando, which was released by Republic Records, went on to serve as the theme song to a Telemundo telenovela called Reina de Corazones.
Iglesias and his team formally released this hit in March of 2014.
