Bonita by Juanes and Sebastián Yatra
Don’t get me wrong, I love Reggeaton as much as the next person, but there are other styles out there, and I figured it was time for a break. And Colombian singer Juanes is another influential singer/songwriter. This song is one of his more recent.
“Bonita” appears on Juanes’s most recent album Más Futuro Que Pasado. It reached number 42 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart, and was certified Gold in the US and Mexico.
Song information from Wikipedia.
About the Artists
Juanes
Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez who performs as Juanes is a singer/songwriter from Carolina del Príncipe, Antioquia, Colombia. He started playing piano at age two, and at age seven his father and brothers started teaching him to play guitar. In 1988 he started a rock band called Ekhymosis. Although the band would play alongside other acts such as Alejandro Sanz, Aterciopelados and Ricky Martin, they never achieved success outside of Colombia. The band broke up in 1998 so that Juanes could pursue a solo career.
Juanes began his solo career in 2000 with the release of his first solo album Fíjate Bien. The album spent ten weeks at number one in Colombia and earned Juanes three Latin Grammy awards for Best New Artist, Best Rock Solo Vocal Album and Best Rock Song. However it too was unsuccessful in other countries.
His breakthrough came with his second album Un Día Normal in 2002, which was very successful in Latin America. It set a record spending 92 weeks in the top ten on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart, and remained on the chart for two years. It was certified platinum and multi-platinum in several countries, and led Juanes to win three Latin Grammy Awards in 2003 for Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Album of the Year. The single “A Dios le Pido” spend 47 weeks on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart, topped the charts in twelve countries, and won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Rock Song in 2002.
His following albums would also win him numerous Latin Grammy Awards and provide numerous chart topping hits. His 2019 album Más Futuro Que Pasado was inspired by his optimism regarding Colombia’s future, and features Colombian musicians Sebastián Yatra, Crudo Means Raw, and Lalo Ebratt, as well as Mexican singer Christian Nodal, Dominican-American MC Fuego and Canadian singer Alessia Cara. The album includes modern styles as well as traditional genres such as vallenato and cumbia.
Juanes’s awards include twenty Latin Grammy Awards and two Grammy Awards. In 2010 he received the BMI President’s Award at the BMI Latin Awards.
He has performed twice at the FIFA World Cup, in 2006 for the Final Draw evening and in 2010 at the Kickoff Concert. In 2007 he was one of several artists to perform at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Olso, Norway and in 2010 he performed at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. He wrote the song “Lay our Head On Me” for the film Ferdinand in 2017, for which he also voiced the character Juan, Nina’s father.
Juanes is also known for his activism. He is very outspoken about violence and inequality in Colombia and the civil war and the Colombian. He also works to raise awareness about the impacts of land mines, especially within Colombia. His Foundation Mi Sangre was established to help victims of anti-personnel mines, and he was honored for this work in 2005 by Sir Paul McCartney’s Adopt-A-Minefield. Also in 2005 he was named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine. In 2006 he played before the European Parliament to raise awareness about landmines. The same year he was awarded L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the highest cultural honor given by France, for his activism work.
Biographical information from Wikipedia.
Sebastián Yatra
Sebastián Obando Giraldo, who performs as Sebastián Yatra, is a singer songwriter from Medellín, Colombia. He sings both Latin pop ballads as well as reggaeton. He moved to Miami when he was five. When he was twelve he played Troy Bolton in his school’s production of High School Musical, and decided he wanted to become a singer. He took voice lessons everyday after school. He started studying business administration at Boston University, but dropped out when he was 20 to return to Colombia and pursue a musical career. His first hit, entitled “El psicólogo” came in 2013 and charted in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Mexico and the US.
Yatra found international success with his song “Traicionera” which charted in Spain and was successful all over Europe. It reached number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100 and was classified platinum in Ecuador and double platinum in Colombia.
He has had numerous successful collaborations. He won as ASCAP award for his collaboration with Colombian singer Carlos Vives on “Robarte Un Beso”. His 2018 song “Sutra” with Puerto Rican rapper/reggaeton artist Dalmata reached number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100. Also in 2018 the song “Ya No Tiene Novio” featuring Mau y Ricky made it to number one on the Billboard Latin Airplay chart. The song “Oye”, featuring Argentine singer Tini got more than 40 million views on YouTube in it’s first two weeks and made it to number one on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100. The 2019 song “Un Año” is a collaboration with Mexican band Reik. He collaborated with Daddy Yankee, Natti Natasha and the Jonas Brothers in 2019 on his first bilingual single entitled “Runaway”. In 2019 he also collaborated with the Mexican rock group Maná on a remake of their 1995 single “No Ha Parado De Llover”. After seeing Yatra perform a cover of the song at the 2018 Grammys gala Maná reached out to Yatra to collaborate.
Aside from his music, Yatra voiced the character Migo in the Spanish version of the animated film Smallfoot in 2018.
Biographical information from Wikipedia.
Cultural References, Idioms and Explanations
‘bonita’ – While in most contexts I would translate ‘bonita’ a pretty, it seems odd to use ‘pretty’ alone, while addressing a woman. In this song I have translated this term as ‘beautiful’, as it seems much more natural to me in English to call a woman ‘beautiful’.
‘irse de fiesta’ – This phrase means just what one would expect it to mean: ‘to go party’ or ‘to go out partying’.
‘por favor’ – Literally translating as ‘for favor’, this phase simply means ‘please’.
‘vos’ – ‘Vos’ was originally a formal second person singular pronoun. It fell out of use in Spain many years ago, but continued to be used in areas of Latin American that historically had less contact with Spain. Today it is used in some parts of Latin America as an equivalent of ‘tú’, either used as a replacement for ‘tú’ or alongside it.
‘perder la razon’ – Literall translating as ‘to lose the reason’, this phrase means ‘to lose one’s mind’ or ‘to go crazy’.
‘pedir perdón’ – Literally translating as ‘to ask forgiveness’, this phrase is often simply translated as ‘to apologize’.
‘vallenato’ – This is a genre of folk music popular in Colombia. Literally meaning “born in the valley”, it primarily comes from the valley located between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serraní de Perijá, in the Carribbean region in north-east Colombia.
‘los dos’ – While this phrase literally means ‘the two’, in normal usage it often means ‘the two of us’ or ‘both of us’.
‘ir a’ – The verb ‘ir’ means ‘to go’. As in English, when this verb is used with a place, it implies movement towards that place. But when it is used with another verb, it implies that that action will be preformed in the future. For example ‘I am going to the store’ ‘(voy a la tienda’) vs ‘I am going to eat’ (‘voy a comer’).
‘darse cuenta’ – While I guess this would translate literally as something like ‘to give oneself account’ or ‘to give oneself the sum’, it means ‘to realize’.
‘boquita’ and ‘solita’ – These are all examples of the diminutive form in Spanish. This form is achieved by adding ‘-ito’ to the end of masculine nouns, or ‘-ita’ to the end of feminine nouns. While it can mean less than or smaller than the normal noun, often it is simply a stylistic change, with no change in meaning. When used with names, it is a form of endearment.
‘dame una vueltica‘ – As with ‘boquita’ and ‘solita’, this is another example of the diminutive form. The phrase ‘dame una vuelta’ means either ‘give me a turn’ or ‘give me a ride’. With the references to dancing, the first translation seems to fit the context to me, meaning ‘come do a turn/spin for me’.
‘mujer, bonita’ – Ordinarily I would translate the phrase ‘mujer bonita’ as ‘pretty woman’ or ‘beautiful woman’. In this song however there is a distinct pause between the two words, so I have treated them as two distinct units of meeting and translated them separately. I really debated this, and could see the translation going either way.
‘papi’ – While this term can be a colloquial term for ‘daddy’, it is often used as a general term of affection for any man, whether it’s a relative, friend, or lover. As there isn’t a great English equivalent I have left this term untranslated.
‘romperse la cabeza’ – Literally translating as ‘to break the head’, this phrase means ‘to rack one’s brains’ or ‘to puzzle through something’. While this phrase is usually used reflexively, in this song the pronoun doesn’t match the subject
‘mamazota’ – This is a form of the term ‘mama’. It is formed by adding the suffix ‘-aza’ and the augmentative suffix ‘-ot-‘. While ‘mami’ can mean ‘mommy’, it is very often used as a slang term to refer to an attractive woman, a female romantic partner, or a close female friend. The augmentative form does not mean that she is large, rather it implies that the woman is extremely attractive. In this song I have just left the Spanish term untranslated.
‘mamacita’ – As with ‘boquita’ and ‘solita’ above, this is an example of the diminutive form in Spanish. This is a diminutive form of ‘mami’ (see mamazota), achieved by adding ‘-cita’ to the end. As with mamazot the diminutive form implies that the woman is quite attractive. In this song I have just left the Spanish term untranslated.
‘Medallo’ – This is an alternate name for Medellín, a city in Colombia’s Antioquia province, and the second-largest city in the country.
‘guaro’ – This is a liquor distilled from sugar cane juices, made in many places in Latin America.
Song Lyrics with Grammatical Breakdown
Mouse over a term for grammatical information. A chart of the terms and grammatical information can be found here.
[Verse 1]
,
[Chorus]
, ?
[Post-chorus]
,
,
,
[Verse 2]
,
, ,
[Bridge]
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
[Chorus]
, ?
[Post-chorus] x 2
,
,
,
Lyrics with Translation
Songs in any language often leave room for multiple interpretations. Following is my interpretation of the song lyrics.
Bonita
Beautiful
[Verse 1]
No quería enamorarme y me fui de fiesta con mis amigos
I didn’t want to fall in love and I went out to party with my friends
No pensé que encontrarte era mi destino
I didn’t think finding you was my destiny
Yo te dije “corazón”
I said to you “heart”
“Acércate por favor”
“Come closer please”
Vos tienes esa faldita
You have that little skirt
Todos pierden la razón
Everyone loses their mind
Si te está gustando mucho
If you are enjoying it
Te pido perdón
I apologize
Y después de un vallenato
And after a vallenato
Nos vamos los dos, porque tú
We’re both leaving, because you
[Chorus]
Porque tú tienes esa cara bonita
Because you have that pretty face
Enloquecido con tu cuerpo, ¿qué voy a hacer?
Crazy about your body, what am I going to do?
Sin darme cuenta me perdí en tu boquita
Without realizing it, I got lost in your mouth
Que no me busquen que yo nunca quiero volver
Don’t look for me because I never want to come back
Solo un idiota va a dejarte solita
Only an idiot is going to leave you alone
Con esas ganas de besarte bonita
With that desire to kiss you beautiful
No seas tan mala ven dame una vueltica
Don’t be so mean, come give me a turn
Tú tienes eso que mi cuerpo necesita
You have what my body needs
[Post-chorus]
Ay mujer, bonita
Ay woman, beautiful (Ay beautiful woman)
Ay mujer, bonita
Ay woman, beautiful (Ay beautiful woman)
Ay mujer, bonita
Ay woman, beautiful (Ay beautiful woman)
Tú tienes eso que mi cuerpo necesita
You have what my body needs
[Verse 2]
De Colombia para el mundo, papi
From Colombia to the world, papi
Tú eres una de esas que te rompen la cabeza
You’re one of those who make you rack your brains
Mamazota, mamacita, lo que quiera princesa
Mamazota, mamacita, whatever you want princess
Yo a ti te llevo a Medallo
I’ll take you to Medallo
Tomamos guaro y cerveza
We’ll drink guaro and beer
[Bridge]
Y dale déjame ver
And come on, let me see
Cómo lo, cómo lo mueves tú y tú
How, how you move it, and you
Cómo lo, cómo lo bailas tú y tú
How, how you dance it, and you
Cómo lo, cómo lo mueves tú y tú
How, how you move it, and you
Cómo lo, cómo lo bailas
How, how you dance it
Déjame ver
Let me see
Cómo lo, cómo lo mueves tú y tú
How, how you move it, and you
Cómo lo, cómo lo bailas tú y tú
How, how you dance it, and you
Cómo lo, cómo lo mueves tú y tú
How, how you move it, and you
Cómo lo, cómo lo bailas
How, how you dance it
[Chorus]
Porque tú tienes esa cara bonita
Because you have that pretty face
Enloquecido con tu cuerpo, ¿qué voy a hacer?
Crazy about your body, what am I going to do?
Sin darme cuenta me perdí en tu boquita
Without realizing it, I got lost in your mouth
Que no me busquen que yo nunca quiero volver
Don’t look for me because I never want to come back
Solo un idiota va a dejarte solita
Only an idiot is going to leave you alone
Con esas ganas de besarte bonita
With that desire to kiss you beautiful
No seas tan mala ven dame una vueltica
Don’t be so mean, come give me a turn
Tú tienes eso que mi cuerpo necesita
You have what my body needs
[Post-chorus] x 2
Ay mujer, bonita
Ay woman, beautiful (Ay beautiful woman)
Ay mujer, bonita
Ay woman, beautiful (Ay beautiful woman)
Ay mujer, bonita
Ay woman, beautiful (Ay beautiful woman)
Tú tienes eso que mi cuerpo necesita
You have what my body needs
