Despacito

2017viral videoclassic

Despacito is the 2017 reggaeton hit by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee whose music video was the first YouTube upload to pass five billion views. A Justin Bieber remix pushed the Spanish-language track into English-speaking markets, and Bieber's own on-camera attempt to sing the lyrics fed a wave of parody content around the song.

viral song memesearworm memesmisheard lyrics memeslatin american memesrecord breaking memes

Overview

"Despacito" is a Spanish-language reggaeton song by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee, released on January 13th, 2017 alongside an accompanying music video5. A remix released on April 17th, 2017 featured Justin Bieber singing in Spanish on record for the first time in his career, which pushed the track from a Latin pop hit into English-speaking markets1.

The meme side of the song grew from how inescapable the chorus was that summer. Non-Spanish listeners kept mangling the lyrics, feeding parody uploads and reaction jokes, and Bieber himself was filmed at a Manhattan nightclub swapping the Spanish verses for the word "Blah" rather than attempting the actual lyrics2.

How It Spread

Parody videos started rolling out within days of release. YouTuber oRni posted a Despacito parody on January 17th, 2017 that pulled more than 34 million views, and creator werevertumurro followed with "ESE GRINGO" on February 13th, which reached around 28 million5. Trap edits, chill house rebuilds, and lyric-video reworks kept spinning off from the original throughout the year.

On May 24th, 2017, TMZ published footage of Bieber trying to perform Despacito at a New York nightclub. Instead of the Spanish lyrics he substituted "Blah blah blah" and "Burrito," and the clip drew sharp criticism from fans who accused him of not learning the words2. The moment became a shorthand joke for anyone faking a Spanish singalong.

The video's YouTube climb made it a target. On April 9th, 2018, Despacito was the first video to pass five billion views3. The next day, hackers using the aliases Prosox and Kuroi'sh breached several Vevo channels and replaced the Despacito thumbnail with a still from the Spanish crime series "La casa de papel" showing masked figures pointing guns at the camera, adding "Free Palestine" captions to affected videos1. Twitter user @gvarisco documented the intrusion in a widely shared thread6, and Vevo restored the videos within hours1.

How to Use This Meme

"Despacito" is Spanish for "slowly," and references to the song typically show up in three ways: mimicking Bieber's "Blah blah blah" nightclub attempt to make fun of anyone faking a Spanish singalong, bait-and-switch video edits that cut to the "Des-pa-cito" hook without warning, and captions that pair the word "despacito" with any activity meant to be done slowly7.

Frequently Asked Questions

Despacito

2017viral videoclassic

Despacito is the 2017 reggaeton hit by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee whose music video was the first YouTube upload to pass five billion views. A Justin Bieber remix pushed the Spanish-language track into English-speaking markets, and Bieber's own on-camera attempt to sing the lyrics fed a wave of parody content around the song.

viral song memes earworm memes misheard lyrics memes latin american memes record breaking memes

Overview

"Despacito" is a Spanish-language reggaeton song by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee, released on January 13th, 2017 alongside an accompanying music video5. A remix released on April 17th, 2017 featured Justin Bieber singing in Spanish on record for the first time in his career, which pushed the track from a Latin pop hit into English-speaking markets1.

The meme side of the song grew from how inescapable the chorus was that summer. Non-Spanish listeners kept mangling the lyrics, feeding parody uploads and reaction jokes, and Bieber himself was filmed at a Manhattan nightclub swapping the Spanish verses for the word "Blah" rather than attempting the actual lyrics2.

How It Spread

Parody videos started rolling out within days of release. YouTuber oRni posted a Despacito parody on January 17th, 2017 that pulled more than 34 million views, and creator werevertumurro followed with "ESE GRINGO" on February 13th, which reached around 28 million5. Trap edits, chill house rebuilds, and lyric-video reworks kept spinning off from the original throughout the year.

On May 24th, 2017, TMZ published footage of Bieber trying to perform Despacito at a New York nightclub. Instead of the Spanish lyrics he substituted "Blah blah blah" and "Burrito," and the clip drew sharp criticism from fans who accused him of not learning the words2. The moment became a shorthand joke for anyone faking a Spanish singalong.

The video's YouTube climb made it a target. On April 9th, 2018, Despacito was the first video to pass five billion views3. The next day, hackers using the aliases Prosox and Kuroi'sh breached several Vevo channels and replaced the Despacito thumbnail with a still from the Spanish crime series "La casa de papel" showing masked figures pointing guns at the camera, adding "Free Palestine" captions to affected videos1. Twitter user @gvarisco documented the intrusion in a widely shared thread6, and Vevo restored the videos within hours1.

How to Use This Meme

"Despacito" is Spanish for "slowly," and references to the song typically show up in three ways: mimicking Bieber's "Blah blah blah" nightclub attempt to make fun of anyone faking a Spanish singalong, bait-and-switch video edits that cut to the "Des-pa-cito" hook without warning, and captions that pair the word "despacito" with any activity meant to be done slowly7.

Frequently Asked Questions