Reggaeton in Spain

Migrants from Latin America brought reggaeton with them in their suitcases. Twenty years later, this Caribbean genre that emerged in the early 2000s has become the soundtrack to Spanish youth. Carles Feixa, professor of Social Anthropology at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, defines this Puerto Rican genre as ‘musical Esperanto’ that connects, through dance, groups that, at first glance, have little in common. As a result, reggaeton manages to breakdown prejudices linked to skin colour, sexual orientation, and social power.

Promoting unbridled pleasure, reggaeton has been synonymous with empowerment for many young women. Echoes of feminist activism can be found in tracks from Bad Gyal, Zowi, and Ms Nina. More and more quality music is emerging in Spain, with a somewhat sharper and less commercial feel than the reggaeton made in the Caribbean. The pioneers of Iberian perreo are undoubtedly the Mafia del Amor. This trashy boy band, made up of four MCs, gave Spanish reggaeton its pedigree with legendary tracks such as “La Disco Resplandece” and “Tropical”.

Coming from a rap background, C. Tangana has developed a very diverse style on tracks extremely well worked by his producer Alizzz. This is the case on the track “Tu me dejaste de querer” where we find a mixture of reggaeton, bachata, pop, and sounds run through a vocoder. 

Finally, our story would not be complete without mentioning Rosalía’s meteoric rise! In a few short years she has managed to merge pop, flamenco, and reggaeton on tracks that have become international hits. To name but a few: “Saoko” which pays tribute to the perreo of the early 2000s, “Con altura” with Colombian star J Balvin, and “La noche de anoche” which she shares with reggaeton’s answer to David Bowie, Bad Bunny!