| "Safaera" | |
|---|---|
| Song byBad Bunny,Jowell & Randy andÑengo Flow | |
| from the albumYHLQMDLG | |
| Language | Spanish |
| Released | February 29, 2020 (2020-02-29) |
| Recorded | 2019–2020 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 4:55 |
| Label | Rimas |
| Songwriters | |
| Producers |
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| Audio video | |
| "Safaera" onYouTube | |
"Safaera" (aPuerto Rican expression for "promiscuity, debauchery or substance abuse")[1] is a song by Puerto Rican rappersBad Bunny andÑengo Flow, and Puerto Rican duoJowell & Randy. It was released onFebruary 29, 2020, as the 14th track of Bad Bunny's second studio album,YHLQMDLG.[2]
The song reached number one in Spain in its fifth week, becomingBad Bunny's seventh song, as well asJowell & Randy's andÑengo Flow's first song to peak atop the charts.[3]
Bad Bunny and Jowell had previously talked about a collaboration in the past, in a time when Bad Bunny was recording mostlytrap songs, a genre that Jowell dislikes.[4] They said to each other that they would work together if one of them was willing to make either a trap or areggaeton track.[4] A year later, after listening to Bad Bunny's "Mía" featuring Canadian singerDrake, Jowell liked the single's style and calledRimas Music to arrange a recording session with him, but he was very busy at the time.[4] Three weeks before the release ofYHLQMDLG, Bad Bunny called Jowell & Randy, who were in Puerto Rico, in order to work together for the album.[4] "Safaera" was produced byLatin Grammy Award-winnerTainy and Bad Bunny'sdisc jockey DJ Orma.
In March 2020, the song inspired the "SafaeraChallenge" and the "#AbuelaChallenge", both of which went viral on the appTikTok. The latter saw especially elderly people dancing to the song while being placed inquarantine due toCOVID-19.[5]
Due to its structural complexity, the song was described as a "reggaetón symphony andperreo megamix". During its course, the song "ventures through at least eight beat changes, five different rap flows, and 10+ years of references". The track makes use of numerous samples throughout its runtime, which include aguitar riff from "Get Ur Freak On" byMissy Elliott, the rhythm tracks from "Big Up" byShaggy andRayvon, "Santa Barbara" byChaka Demus & Pliers, synths fromDJ Nelson's and DJ Goldy'sXtassy Reggae, an opening line fromCosculluela's "Pa' La Pared" and a sample fromAlexis & Fido's "El Tiburón", among others.[6]
The song received widespread acclaim from music critics. In a review forPitchfork, Isabelia Herrera awarded the song the accolade "Best New Track" and went on to describe the track as "a technical masterpiece" in which the artist "harnesses this musical nostalgia and transforms it into an antidote for the most formulaic tendencies of the pop-reggaetón panorama".[6] Griselda Flores ofBillboard picked the song as one of the album's essential tracks, saying that the rapper "takes it way back with this old-school reggaetón song" and praised it for "its contagious beats", as well as "Missy Elliott's famous riff from 'Get Your Freak On'".[7]Rolling Stone's Suzy Exposito referred to the song as "five-minutes of unadulterated chaos" and opined that Bad Bunny "gets to ride a wave of reggaeton he was much too young to participate in the first time around".[8]
NPR ranked it as the 5th best song of 2020,[9] andRolling Stone ranked it as the 15th best of the year.[10] In 2021,Rolling Stone added "Safaera" to their list of "500 Greatest Songs of All Time," ranking it at #329.[11] In September 2024,Pitchfork included "Safaera" on their list of "The 100 Best Songs of the 2020s So Far", ranking it at number 17.[12]
On May 14, 2020, "Safaera" was removed fromSpotify. Bad Bunny claimed on a live video withResidente that he knew the reason behind the removal but preferred not to talk about it to avoid controversy.[13] It was added back to the platform on May 15, the following day. Spotify then stated that it was due to asample clearance.[14] In an interview uploaded onYouTube on March 9, 2022, on Jorge A. Pabón Ocasio's channel MoluscoTV in which he interviews Jowell, he recounts that Missy Elliott asked for millions of dollars for copyright in the song. In the end, Noah Assad, founder of the record label Rimas Entertainment, had to intervene, who managed to reach an agreement with Elliott where Bad Bunny, Jowell, Randy and Ñengo Flow would only receive 1% of the total profits.[15] However, despite this, Elliott later called out Jowell for misrepresenting what the actual song splits look like, writing to him onTwitter and saying, "Sadly you mislead all these people to make them think I have 99%. Now I don’t talk business online because that’s messy, but now we are here I have 25% and there is 6 other samples & 15 other writers on this one song. They got [a] percentage also…".[16]
Bad Bunny performed the song as part of hisSuper Bowl halftime show.
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Italy (FIMI)[31] | Gold | 50,000‡ |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[32] | 4× Platinum | 240,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[33] | 21× Platinum (Latin) | 1,260,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Studio albums | |
|---|---|
| Compilation albums | |
| Other singles |
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| Featured singles |
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| Other non-single songs | |
| Concerts and tours | |
