Date La Vuelta by Luis Fonsi, Sebastián Yatra and Nicky Jam

Published by Lyrical Language on May 11, 2020May 11, 2020

We’ll go for a little Latin Pop dance party today. It may not be “Despacito”, but I still enjoy it. “Date la Vuelta” is a collaboration between Puerto Rican Singer Luis Fonsi, US singer Nicky Jam, and Colombian singer Sebastián Yatra. It appears on Fonsi’s ninth album Vida, released in February of 2019. The song reached number 31 on the Billboard Hot Latin songs chart and number 36 on the Billboard Latin Pop Airplay chart.

About the Musician(s)

Luis Fonsi

Luis Alfonso Rodríguez López-Cepero, who performs under the name Luis Fonsi, is a singer/songwriter and actor from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Even at a young age he showed an interest in and aptitude for music, joining the San Juan children’s choir when he was only three. When he was 10 his family moved from Puerto Rico to Orlando, Florida. During high school he was part of a group called “Big Guys” that performed locally. Joey Fatone, who would later be a part of *NSYNC, was also a part of the group. In 1995 he attended the School of Music at Florida State University on a full scholarship, where he was part of the Florida State University Singers, the university choir. He also sang with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He dropped out to pursue a career in music, and a short time later landed a contract with Universal Music Latin.

In 1998 he released his first album entitled Comenzaré (I Will Begin). The album was a hit across Latin America and reached number 11 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. In 2002 he released an album in English entitled Fight the Feeling, and he opened for Britney Spears in her Dream Within a Dream Tour. While his earlier albums were popular in Latin America, his sixth album Paso a Paso introduced him into international markets, having debuted at number one on the charts. His seventh album Palabras del Silencio did even better, not only debuting at number one, but staying there for many weeks. One of the songs from this album, “No Me Doy por Vencido”, was Luis Fonsi’s first appearance on the US Billboard Hot 100, reaching number 92. It also reached number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart, and spent 21 weeks at number one on the Hot Latin Songs chart. It remains one of his biggest hits, and was Billboard’s “Latin Pop Song of the Decade”.

Luis Fonsi’s biggest hit to date came in January of 2017 when he released “Despacito” featuring Daddy Yankee. The official video on YouTube reached one billion views after just 97 days, the second-fastest video to do so behind “Hello” by Adele. It was also the first YouTube video to reach five billion views, achieving this in April, 2018. As of February 2020 “Despacito” was up to more than 6.7 billion views, making it the most-watched YouTube video ever. In April 2017 an English remix was released featuring Justin Bieber. The week of May 27, 2017 the remix reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for 16 consecutive weeks, making it the longest reigning number one song in the chart’s history. It was also the first number one song on this chart for both Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, and the first Latin song to hit number one since “Macarena”in 1996. The remix also had more than 20 million views in 24 hours. As of 2018 “Despacito” had broken seven Guinness World Records and sold more than 11 million records.

Luis Fonsi has won numerous awards. Among them are his first Latin Grammy Award for Song of the Year for the song “Aquí Estoy Yo”, which also won three Billboard Latin Music Awards. “Despacito” won four Latin Grammy Awards, seven Billboard Latin Music Awards and five Billboard music Awards. His 2017 duo with Demi Lovato, entitled “Échame la Culpa” won Song of the Year at the Latin American Music Awards in 2018. Billboard named him “Leader of Latin Music’s new Generation” in 2019.

He has performed at numerous large events. In 2003 he performed at Miss World 2003 in China. In May 2000 he performed in front of Pope John Paul II at the Great Jubilee Concert for a Debt-Free World. Among other artists, he performed at the White House to honor September 11 victims. He performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert honoring recipient Barack Obama in December of 2009 in Oslo. In 2019 he performed at both the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and at the opening ceremony of the 1019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.

He has been a coach for The Voice and The Voice Kids in numerous Latin American countries, and in 2019, was a coach for the first Spanish season of Telemundo’s La Voz (The Voice).

Biographical information from Wikipedia (English and Spanish)

Nicky Jam

Nick Rivera Caminero, who performs as Nicky Jam, is a singer/songwriter of Latin trap and Reggaeton from Lawrence, Massachusetts. Nicky’s mother was from the Dominican Republic and his father was from Puerto Rico. When he was 10 they moved from the US to Puerto Rico. Having never spoken Spanish before the move, he experienced culture shock. He used hip-hop and reggaeton to help improve his language skills. (See, music works!)

When he was eleven he worked in a grocery store, and would rap about the items he was bagging. A customer heard him and invited him to record with a local indie record label. Unfortunately he signed the contract without reading it and got no advance money for his recordings. When he was fourteen he recorded and released his first album Distinto A Los Demás. He gained enough popularity in Puerto Rico that when he met his idol, Daddy Yankee, Yankee knew who he was and wanted to collaborate. They formed the duo Los Cangris, and their music was successful in Puerto Rico. He also continued to release solo albums during this time. After a falling out between the two the group split up in 2004, leading to a difficult time personally and professionally for Nicky Jam. He ended up taking a job as a lounge singer in a hotel. This did lead however to a more melodic style and the incorporation of singing into his music instead of just rapping.

He moved to Medellín, Colombia in 2007. His more melodic style proved popular, and songs like “Voy a Beber” and “Travesuras” led to him being signed by Sony U.S. Latin. “Travesuras also reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs, his first song to do so. He amended his friendship with Daddy Yankee and the two toured together at the end of 2014. In 2015 Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias contacted him to collaborate on the song “El Perdón”. Nicky Jam was so surprised to receive the call that he thought it was a prank and hung up on Iglesias. The song reached number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100, and led to Nicky Jam’s first Latin Grammy for Best Urban Performance. His 2016 song “Hasta el Amanecer” was his first song to reach one billion views on YouTube and won the 2017 Top Latin Song Billboard Music Award. His 2017 album Fénix (Phoenix), named as a symbol of his career’s rebirth, debuted at the top of the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart, and reached the top of the Billboard Latin Rhythm Albums chart as well, where it stayed for a total of 142 weeks. His song “X”, a collaboration with J Balvin, reached number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 and got more than 200 million views in two weeks on YouTube.

He has won many awards, among them 20 Billboard Latin Music Awards, one Billboard Music Award, three Latin American Music Awards and one Latin Grammy Award. He has collaborated with Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, Ozuna, Anuel AA, Sech, Sean Paul, El Alfa, Kid Ink, Wisin (from Wisin & Yandel). In 2018 he collaborated with Will Smith, Diplo and Era Istrefi on the FIFA World Cup anthem “Live It Up”.

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

‘darse la vuelta’ – Literally meaning ‘to give oneself the turn’, this is how one says ‘turn around’ in Spanish.

‘mami’ – While this term 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. As you will often hear the term ‘girl’ used to refer to women in English language songs (come on girl, you know I love you), I have used this term in my translations.

‘soltarse el pelo’ – Meaning ‘to let one’s hair down’, this idiom carries the same meaning in Spanish as it does in English: ‘to relax’, ‘let go’, ‘have fun’, or ‘let go of inhibitions’.

‘mamita’ – This is an example 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.

‘verse’ – Literally meaning ‘to see oneself’, this phrase means ‘to look’ or ‘to seem’ as in having the appearance of. For example ‘te ves cansado’ means ‘you look tired’.

‘te queda bien’ – While the verb ‘quedar’ means ‘to remain’ or ‘to stay’, the phrase ‘te queda bien’ is used in reference to clothing meaning something ‘suits you’, ‘looks good on you’, or ‘fits you well’. This can be used both referring to the style and the actual fit of the item.

‘Cartagena’ – This is the name of both a city in Colombia and another in Spain. As all the other places referenced are in Latin America, I would guess that this is a reference to the Colombian city. Also, while both cities are on the ocean, the Colombian one is a popular beach destination on the Caribbean.

‘Punta Cana’ – This is the name of a town at the eastern tip of the Dominican Republic, where the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean.

‘pegarse a alguien’ – The pronominal verb ‘pegarse’ means ‘to stick to’, and is usually used for things like food sticking to a pan. When used regarding another person it means ‘to stay close to’ someone or ‘to stick close to’ someone.

‘mi turno’ and ‘me toca’ – Normally ‘tocarse’ means that it is ‘one’s turn’. However as these synonyms appear in the same phrase it would be odd and repetitive to translate ‘me toca’ this way, so I have translated it as ‘it’s up to me’, as in ‘it’s on me now’, or ‘the ball is in my court’.

‘morena’ – This term refers to a dark-haired or dark-skinned woman. It is very common in music in Spanish to hear women referred to as ‘morena’.

‘Natti’ – This is a reference to Dominican singer/songwriter Natti Natasha, who released a song with Puerto Rican singer Ozuna called “Criminal”.

‘vacílalo’ – The verb ‘vacilar’ has several meanings. It means ‘to hesitate’; ‘to dither’ or ‘to be indecisive about’; and ‘to kid’, ‘to joke’ or ‘to pull someone’s leg’. Colloquially in Latin America it can mean ‘to go out (on the town)’ or ‘to party’. In Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba and Guatemala it has the colloquial meaning of ‘to enjoy’. While either of the colloquial meanings could fit within the context of the song, the use of the article ‘lo’ (it) attached to this verb leads me to believe the last meaning is the intended meaning.

‘poner’ + adj – The veb ‘poner’ means ‘to put’ ‘to place’ or ‘to put on’. When used before an adjective however, it means to make someone whatever the adjective is (make someone mad, sad, etc).

‘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.

‘de pies a cabeza’ – Meaning ‘from foot to head’, this is the Spanish equivalent of ‘from head to toe’ in English.

Song Lyrics with Grammatical Breakdown

Mouse over a term for grammatical information. A chart of the terms and grammatical information can be found here.

Date la vuelta

[Intro] x 2
Date la vuelta, mami
Suéltate el pelo pa’ mi
Date la vuelta, mamita

[Pre-Chorus]
La noche está tan perfecta, que bien te ves
Ese vestido corto te queda bien
Tú sabe’ que ere’ mi morena
De todas tú ere’ la primera
Yo a ti te llevo a donde quiera’
Todo lo hacemo’ a tu manera

[Chorus]
Así que, date la vuelta, mami
Suéltate el pelo pa’ mi
Date la vuelta, mamita
Date la vuelta, mami
Suéltate el pelo pa’ mi
Date la vuelta, mamita
Entonces síguete moviendo, síguete moviendo
Como si congeláramos este momento, síguete moviendo
Entonces síguete moviendo, síguete moviendo
Yo sé que tú por dentro sientes lo que siento
Síguete moviendo

[Verse 1]
Yo no cambio mi nena con ella todo fluye natural
Como Natti bien criminal
Yo vine normal y ella me sacó el animal
Si me deja’ yo te puedo llevar
De Puerto Rico a Cartagena
De Punta Cana a Venezuela
Baby, te llevo a donde quiera’
Todo lo hacemo’ a tú manera
De Puerto Rico a Cartagena
De Punta Cana a Venezuela
Baby, te llevo a donde quiera’
Todo lo hacemo’ a tú manera

[Verse 2]
Uno con ese cuerpo no se equivoca
Bailando me pegué y la besé en la boca
Tú sabes que es mi turno y ahora me toca
Tú sabes que este loco a ti te pone loca
Vacílalo, vacílalo
Que llego yo, que llego yo
Vos sos una princesa bien mala y traviesa
Con esa hermosura de pies a cabeza

[Outro]
La noche está tan perfecta, que bien te ves
Ven y date la vuelta por mí otra vez

Lyrics with Translation

Songs in any language often leave room for multiple interpretations. Following is my interpretation of the song lyrics.

Date la vuelta
Turn around

[Intro] x 2
Date la vuelta, mami
Turn around, girl
Suéltate el pelo pa’ mi
Let your hair down for me
Date la vuelta, mamita
Turn around, girl

[Pre-Chorus]
La noche está tan perfecta, que bien te ves
The night is so perfect, how good you look
Ése vestido corto te queda bien
That short dress looks good on you
Tú sabe’ que ere’ mi morena
You know you’re my dark-haired girl
De todas tú ere’ la primera
Of every woman you are the first
Yo a ti te llevo a donde quiera’
I’ll take you wherever you want
Todo lo hacemo’ a tu manera
We do everything your way

[Chorus]
Así que, date la vuelta, mami
So, turn around, girl
Suéltate el pelo pa’ mi
Let your hair down for me
Date la vuelta, mamita
Turn around, girl
Date la vuelta, mami
Turn around, girl
Suéltate el pelo pa’ mi
Let your hair down for me
Date la vuelta, mamita
Turn around, girl
Entonces síguete moviendo (dancing), síguete moviendo (dancing)
So keep moving, keep moving
Como si congeláramos este momento, síguete moviendo
As if we froze this moment, keep moving
Entonces síguete moviendo, síguete moviendo
So keep moving, keep moving
Yo sé que tú por dentro sientes lo que siento
I know that inside you feel what I feel
Síguete moviendo
Keep moving

[Verse 1]
Yo no cambio mi nena, con ella todo fluye natural
I don’t change my baby, with her everything flows naturally
Como Natti bien criminal
Like Natti very criminal
Yo vine normal y ella me sacó el animal
I arrived normal and she brought the animal out of me
Si me dejas yo te puedo llevar
If you let me I’ll take you
De Puerto Rico a Cartagena
From Puerto Rico to Cartagena
De Punta Cana a Venezuela
From Punta Cana to Venezuela
Baby, te llevo a donde quiera’
Baby, I’ll take you wherever you want (to go)
Todo lo hacemo’ a tú manera
We do everything your way
De Puerto Rico a Cartagena
From Puerto Rico to Cartagena
De Punta Cana a Venezuela
From Punta Cana to Venezuela
Baby, te llevo a donde quiera’
Baby, I’ll take you wherever you want (to go)
Todo lo hacemo’ a tú manera
We do everything your way

[Chorus]
Así que, date la vuelta, mami
So, turn around, girl
Suéltate el pelo pa’ mi
Let your hair down for me
Date la vuelta, mamita
Turn around, girl
Date la vuelta, mami
Turn around, girl
Suéltate el pelo pa’ mi
Let your hair down for me
Date la vuelta, mamita
Turn around, girl
Entonces síguete moviendo, síguete moviendo
So keep moving, keep moving
Como si congeláramos este momento, síguete moviendo
As if we froze this moment, keep moving
Entonces síguete moviendo, síguete moviendo
So keep moving, keep moving
Yo sé que tú por dentro sientes lo que siento
I know that inside you feel what I feel
Síguete moviendo
Keep moving

[Verse 2]
Uno con ese cuerpo no se equivoca
One with that body is not wrong
Bailando me pegué y la besé en la boca
Dancing I got close and kissed her on the mouth
Tú sabes que es mi turno y ahora me toca
You know it’s my turn and now it’s up to me
Tú sabes que este loco a ti te pone loca
You know this crazy guy makes you crazy
Vacílalo, vacílalo
Enjoy it, enjoy it
Que llego yo, que llego yo
Because I’m arriving, because I’m arriving
Vos sos una princesa bien mala y traviesa
You are a very wicked and naughty princess
Con esa hermosura de pies a cabeza
With that beauty from head to toe

[Chorus]
Así que, date la vuelta, mami
So, turn around, girl
Suéltate el pelo pa’ mi
Let your hair down for me
Date la vuelta, mamita
Turn around, girl
Date la vuelta, mami
Turn around, girl
Suéltate el pelo pa’ mi
Let your hair down for me
Date la vuelta, mamita
Turn around, girl
Entonces síguete moviendo, síguete moviendo
So keep moving, keep moving
Como si congeláramos este momento, síguete moviendo
As if we froze this moment, keep moving
Entonces síguete moviendo, síguete moviendo
So keep moving, keep moving
Yo sé que tú por dentro sientes lo que siento
I know that inside you feel what I feel
Síguete moviendo
Keep moving

[Outro]
La noche está tan perfecta, que bien te ves
The night is so perfect, how good you look
Ven y date la vuelta por mí otra vez
Come and turn around for me one more time

Date La Vuelta by Luis Fonsi, Sebastián Yatra and Nicky Jam

About the Musician(s)

Luis Fonsi

Nicky Jam

Sebastián Yatra

Cultural References, Idioms and Explanations

Song Lyrics with Grammatical Breakdown

Lyrics with Translation

Tacones Rojos by Sebastián Yatra

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Date La Vuelta by Luis Fonsi, Sebastián Yatra and Nicky Jam

About the Musician(s)

Luis Fonsi

Nicky Jam

Sebastián Yatra

Cultural References, Idioms and Explanations

Song Lyrics with Grammatical Breakdown

Lyrics with Translation

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