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| Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee perform onstage at the Billboard Latin Music Awards at Watsco Center on April 27, 2017 in Coral Gables, Florida. (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP/Sergi Alexander) |
It's
another viral dancing sensation. And once again, it's from Daddy Yankee.
The Puerto
Rican king of reggaeton who co-wrote "Despacito" has people around
the world moving their hips with his latest song, "Dura."
Millions of
people have clicked on online videos inspired by "Dura" as aspiring
dancers around the world -- from fresh-faced children to top models to
endearing elderly people -- find their groove, with varying degrees of skill or
stiffness.
"I'm
beyond honored and feel very blessed. You make music for an audience,"
Daddy Yankee told AFP. "And the audience has made this song in their own
organic, spontaneous way."
Daddy
Yankee helped bring reggaeton -- a Latin dance music, with roots in Jamaican
dancehall and the style of hip-hop, that was historically associated with the
marginalized Afro-Puerto Rican community -- to a global audience starting with
his 2004 hit "Gasolina."
But
"Dura" marks a fresh turn in the 41-year-old singer and rapper's
career as the song has taken off based largely on how fans appropriate it.
"Why
have so many people -- even babies -- liked it?" he asked rhetorically.
"Well, some things you can't explain. It's the magic of music, a magic
that just happens and that you can't understand."
He has one
theory. "Dura," he said, harks back to "the rhythm and nostalgia
for music of the late 1980s and early 1990s, that essence of reggae that
inspired reggaeton."
No excuse
not to dance
Daddy
Yankee, whose real name is Ramon Luis Ayala, released "Dura" on
January 18. The next day, Colombian model Andrea Valdiri posted a video on
Instagram, barefoot in sweatpants and a loose white top, as she danced to
"Dura" with her hands rubbing sensually around her body.
The video
has been viewed nearly nine million times on her Instagram account and in Daddy
Yankee's repost. It also set off a rush of new homemade interpretations of the
song -- posted under hashtag #DuraChallenge.
Daddy
Yankee's original video has been seen nearly 200 million times on YouTube.
More
recently, the 25-year-old Valdiri has been eclipsed as the #DuraChallenge star
by a nonagenarian.
Rachel
Phillipsen, a 90-year-old New Yorker of Puerto Rican origin, follows a zumba
instructor with impressive rhythm and coordination as Daddy Yankee sings in
Spanish, "I like how you move that ram-pam-pam." The video has
generated 5.5 million clicks.
"There
are no excuses not to dance. The excuse is all in your mind," the zumba
instructor, Rina Elena Martinez (@rina_25), told AFP. The Venezuelan appears in
the video shot in a gym in Miami.
Daddy
Yankee agreed. "The 90-year-old grandmother was phenomenal," he said,
adding: "No doubt that video gives encouragement to the whole world."
Celebrities
who have taken the #DuraChallenge include Venezuelan model Diosa Canales,
Dominican reggaeton singer Natti Natasha and the Puerto Rican former Miss
Universe Zuleyka Rivera, who also appeared in the "Despacito" video.
'You're
one tough mama'
"Dura,"
which literally means "hard" but could also mean "hot" when
it comes to appearance, is an ode to a beautiful woman.
"You're
one tough mama," Daddy Yankee sings, with lines such as "If it's a
crime to be so beautiful / I'll arrest you in my bed and put you in
handcuffs."
Musically,
the song returns to early reggaeton without the pop melodies that mega-stars
such as Shakira, Enrique Iglesias or "Despacito" co-writer Luis Fonsi
deployed to bring the genre to the anglo pop world.
In a retro
video, Daddy Yankee and his cohorts dance around well-trodden streets covered
with vibrant street art. Women, who so often take passive roles in highly
sexual songs, assume the lead in showing their moves.
"We
were inspired by the bright colors of the '90s and a bit of the era's fashion.
I wanted to make this fun and to show that the song could empower women,"
Daddy Yankee said.
The video
was directed by Carlos Perez, the Puerto Rican who shot "Despacito"
and has worked with Ricky Martin and Marc Anthony.
"Despacito"
also spawned spoofs and has made history as the most-watched video on YouTube
with more than 4.8 billion views.
Helped by a
remix featuring Justin Bieber, "Despacito" tied a record by spending
16 weeks on top of the benchmark Billboard singles chart in the United States
-- a major feat in a country where non-English songs rarely fare well.
"Dura"
as of Friday was number 10 on Spotify's global singles chart and number one in
several Latin American countries.
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