Week 2: Music Journalism week

Assignment 1. Write about your favorite song at the moment.

Your favorite song can be from anywhere! If it’s from a Disney movie, video game, or TikTok, write about it! To start off Music Journalism week, we invite you to review a favorite song of yours! Questions to ask yourself while reviewing is: What makes this song your favorite? Is there a part of the song that provokes a certain emotion? Do the lyrics convey a message? Analyze the lyrics, understand the hidden meaning behind them.

My favorite song at the moment is Luis Fonsi’s Despacito

So what does Despacito mean?

In Spanish, Despacito means slowly. Slowly down life, slowing a relationship down, slowing the night down. From the point of meeting the person just savoring and enjoying life at the moment.

How were the lyrics penned down?

Luis Fonsi, the composer and singer of the song, woke up one morning with Despacito — — — -Puerto Rico, — — — — — La bonito. And that was it. So he ran into his studio and recorded it, before he forgets the idea. That day he met up with Erica Ander, his songwriter and Fonsi said ‘Wait, I have an idea of Despacito. So he played it on the guitar and she really liked it.

After hearing the song, or the rough idea, what was Erica’s reaction?

She really liked it. She said Ooh there is something there. This is great. Let us work on it. After four hours they had Despacito. He quotes ‘We are Latin people man. We get the job done.

How did the idea of the scene come in?

So Erica and Fonsi came up with a scenario of a club, where a girl meets a boy, dancing, looking slowly into their eyes and looking and focusing on each other.So the idea of Despacito came in.

How was the music written? Mannier times melody comes first, lyrics second. What was Fonsi’s take on it?

You have to build character sometimes you give characters names. It is an equivalent of an actor researching for a role. 90–99% of the time songs are mostly melody first and then comes lyrics. Despacito was a combination of both. It was born together.

How was the process of the demo session?

Erica and Fonsi initially started sounding it like a kumbaya. Kumbaya song goes like ting ting ting it had that vibe. He recorded it that day and that was it.

How was the music produced?

The Producers of the song Andres Do Rez and Marcio Rangifo heard the raw demo. They quickly appreciated it but they did not know how to take it forward. It just needed a strong beat to make people dance.

What was the producer’s take on the song and the collaboration with Daddy Yankee?

So Fonsi sat with his producers and said: What if we collaborate with another artist? So he called up Daddy Yankee and said ‘This song is special and there is this one part I can’t do it but you can.

What was the production process?

The very first thing they worked on was the pluck which was basically the rhythm of the song. Andres, laid down the reggae ton style of the beat. But he came up with a sound that was a little different from the traditional reggae ton. Like for example, the chorus starts on an upbeat rather than a downbeat.