Episode # 11
There are people who don't like heavy metal, but they respect it. With reggaetón there is not the same concession, for the simple fact that its significance has surpassed all expectations. I am not here to try to influence you like it, but to show you in 3 points that explain why reggaetón has been sown on fertile land, which has led it to reign for more than 20 years and perhaps you can analyze it from another point of view. Dress and respect it for what it is. Besides, I'm sure that, even if you don't like it, you enjoyed dancing it more than once.
1. The language doesn't matter. To listen to music in German you must be German or understand the language. Its audience has a very large language barrier, even if the genre is pop or rock. On the other hand, bossa nova is music that transcends the language and many people who do not speak Portuguese can enjoy it for its rhythmic richness. Reggaetón also has that, since the strength of this genre is not in what it says (clearly) but in its rhythm.
2. This is a genre that does not challenge musicians, but it does challenge producers. It is the genre of music producers. We were used to music that was produced in reverse. Virtuous and professional musicians taking songs with harmonic, interpretive and more dexterity, but with few challenging resources in the production field. They only entered the studio to portray their musical performance and bring it to their audience. Now it's the other way around, we have a genre of professional producers with few challenging musical and lyric resources but with countless sonic achievements and sub-genre fusion. The strength of a music producer is precisely the commercial area and that is why they meet countless standards that make these songs viral and easy to listen to.
3. The peak of its potential becomes evident when it is analyzed that it is a genre that does not need several spheres that empathize to like it. If you listen to a song by the great master Armando Manzanero, you may like it, but you need to empathize with its musicality, you must pay attention to the lyrics and even at that point, so that you really trust, that lyrics must generate identification in the listener. Reggaetón for its part is music that makes you happy by its nature in Dembow (dembow is that rhythmic sequence that repeats the entire song). This genre that gives you a feeling of happiness, celebration and calls you to move. Generate an immediate dose of dopamine without the need for any other sphere and you can connect in seconds.
With this little analysis, perhaps we can see reggaeton for what it is, a genre of music producers and thus not compare pears with apples and achieve respect for each one in their area, although you might not like it.