"Bailando" () is a song by Spanish singer-songwriter

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; (born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican indie label Fonovisa and became the bestselling Spanish-language act of the decade. By th ...

for his tenth studio album ''

Sex and Love ''Sex and Love'' is the tenth studio album recorded by Spanish recording artist Enrique Iglesias. It was released on 14 March 2014 by Republic Records. The album's three Spanish singles: " Loco", " El Perdedor" and " Bailando" reached No. 1 on ...

'' (2014). Written by Iglesias with long-time collaborator Descemer Bueno, the first and Spanish version was released with Cuban artists Bueno and Gente de Zona. Shortly afterward, the official version of the song was released by Universal Republic Records as the sixth single from the album. The song spent 41 weeks at No. 1 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

Hot Latin Songs The ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs (formerly Hot Latin Tracks and Hot Latin 50) is a record chart in the United States for Latin songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Since October 2012, chart rankings are based on digital sales, ra ...

chart. "Bailando" was produced by Carlos Paucar. As of 24 August 2014, there are three other versions of the song that have been released to the music market besides the original Spanish version. The

Spanglish Spanglish (a portmanteau of the words "Spanish" and "English") is any language variety (such as a contact dialect, hybrid language, pidgin, or creole language) that results from conversationally combining Spanish and English. The term is m ...

version features Jamaican singer

Sean Paul Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques OD (born 9 January 1973) is a Jamaican rapper and singer who is regarded as one of dancehall's most prolific artists. Paul's singles " Get Busy" and "Temperature" topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in the ...

. Iglesias also released two Portuguese versions of the song: one version of the song in Portuguese destined for Brazilian market with additional vocals by Brazilian singer Luan Santana, and the other Portuguese version destined for the Portuguese market featured the additional vocals of the Portuguese singer

Mickael Carreira Mickael Carreira (born Mickael Araújo Antunes on 3 April 1986) is a Portuguese pop singer and songwriter. He is most famous for his ballads and the romanticism of his songs made him one of the best selling artists in Portugal. In total, his alb ...

. The original Spanish version of "Bailando" served as the theme song of the soap opera '' Reina de Corazones'' which aired on

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...

. According to the IFPI, Bailando was the tenth best-selling song of 2014 with 8 million units (sales plus track-equivalent streams) worldwide.

Background

In an interview Iglesias gave to Univision Musica, backstage at the Premios lo Nuestro he told the reporter that when Bueno presented the song to him, he initially did not like it and did not want to record it. But after recording he loved the song. He termed it as one of his favorites from the album.

Controversy

The Peruvian singer and composer Sergio Pelo D'ambrosio Robles reported that the song "Bailando" (signed by the Cuban Descemer Bueno) by

, copied the intro and the chorus of his song "Lejos de ti"."Lejos de ti – Pelo D' Ambrosio (Pata Amarilla) Video Clip Oficial Perú"
''Vídeo Clip – Lejos de ti'', Retrieved on 17 July 2014 (in Spanish)"El Comercio (Peru)"
''Pelo D'Ambrosio denuncia plagio en tema de Enrique Iglesias'', Retrieved on 17 July 2014 (in Spanish)
''Artistas que fueron acusados de plagio de derecho de autor'', Retrieved on 17 July 2014 (in Spanish) A few months later, however, the Peruvian singer decided to withdraw the complaint because experts indicated that there was nothing copied in the lyrics nor in the chorus. In Vietnam, the singer and composer released the song "Đắng lòng thanh niên" in July 2014 and borrowed the beat from "Bailando" without permission from Enrique Iglesias. It featured with the Avatar Boys Band to become a phenomenon on social networks, despite the mixed opinions.

Music video

Accompanying music videos for both, the Spanish and the Spanglish versions of "Bailando" were filmed in

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

, Dominican Republic. The video for Spanish version was premiered through

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and include ...

on 10 April 2014 and was premiered worldwide on 11 April 2014 through Iglesias' official

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, ...

account for the Spanglish version through

on 13 June 2014, next the Brazil Portuguese version with Brazilian singer Luan Santana through

on 7 July 2014, and the Portugal Portuguese version with Portugal singer

on 22 August 2014 through Iglesias' official

account too. The music video is directed by Cuban producer Alejandro Perez, under Enrique Iglesias' longtime collaborators creative director Yasha Malekzad & executive producer Kasra Pezeshki. The music video was produced by Artist Preserve, London. The featured dancers are from Havana's Ballet Lizt Alfonso. The lead female dancer in the video is Ana Karla Suarez. The video production in the Dominican Republic was produced by Aquiles Jimenez. On YouTube, the Spanish version of the video has been viewed over 3.1 billion times while the English version of the video has received over 490 million views as of April 26, 2022. It is his most viewed video on YouTube, surpassing his 2010 hit " I Like It". The Spanish version of the video is the 17th most viewed video on YouTube. "Bailando" became the first Spanish-language music video to have been viewed over a billion times.

Synopsis

The video starts black and white in a living room, with Bueno singing parts of "Bailando" while Iglesias and Gente de Zona are having fun in the background, before starting to sing along with Bueno. As the song starts, Iglesias, Bueno and Gente de Zona walk the streets of a city, surrounded by working people and kids who juggle soccer balls. They are then seen performing the song in a tunnel, running through a street market and a troop of flamenco dancers showing off their moves. Shortly after, Iglesias is seen to be seduced by a

brunette Brown hair, also referred to as brunet (male) or brunette (female), is the second most common human hair color, after black hair. It varies from light brown to a medium dark hair. It is characterized by higher levels of the dark pigment eu ...

( Ana Karla Suarez) showing her best dance moves. The video ends with Enrique and Co. running back after they hear police sirens approaching them.

Critical reception

'' described the video as spectacular and mentioned that "a young Cuban flamenco troupe swirling in red dresses meet up with street dancers with some mad soccer skills in one of the best choreographed encounters since the Sharks met the Jets." ''

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'' also mentioned that the video has a little football and a sensual dance.

Live performances

Iglesias first performed the Spanish version of "Bailando" on ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'' in New York City. in a set that included " I'm a Freak", and "

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". He would go on to perform the song on that year's

Nuestra Belleza Latina ''Nuestra Belleza Latina'' (English: ''Our Latin beauty'') is an American reality television beauty pageant that has been broadcast on Univision from 2007 through 2016, 2018, and 2021. Reunion specials have been conducted in the years 2010, 2016, ...

Billboard Latin Music Awards The ''Billboard'' Latin Music Awards grew out of the ''Billboard'' Music Awards program from ''Billboard'' magazine, an industry publication charting the sales and radio airplay success of musical recordings. The ''Billboard'' awards are the La ...

and included in a medley with El Perdedor at the Premios Juventud. Iglesias' first televised performance of the English version at Macy's

Fourth of July Independence Day (colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States ...

Fireworks Spectacular and went on to perform the song at

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in set that included

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and I'm a Freak. He would also perform the song on So You Think You Can Dance and

Fashion Rocks Fashion Rocks is an annual international charity fundraiser event, which features fashions by the world's top designers presented as live performances by popular music acts. Fashion Rocks Worldwide is the owner of the intellectual property right ...

and performed the song as a medley with I'm a Freak at the MTV Europe Music Awards and finally at Pitbull's New Year's Revolution.

Track listing

;CD single – Netherlands #"Bailando" – 4:02 ;CD single – English version without rap #"Bailando" – 4:02 ;Digital download #"Bailando" – 4:02 #"Bailando" – 4:03 ;Digital download – Brazil version #"Bailando" – 4:03 ;Digital download – Portugal version #"Bailando" – 4:03 ;Digital download – Remixes #"Bailando" – 4:20 #"Bailando" – 3:52 #"Bailando" – 3:57 #"Bailando" – 3:31 #"Bailando" – 4:05 #"Bailando" – 5:22 #"Bailando" – 5:08 #"Bailando" – 6:00 ;Digital download – Remixes #"Bailando" – 4:20 #"Bailando" – 3:52 #"Bailando" – 3:57 #"Bailando" – 3:31 #"Bailando" – 4:05 #"Bailando" – 5:22 #"Bailando" – 5:08 #"Bailando" – 3:33 #"Bailando" – 3:12 #"Bailando" – 3:33 #"Bailando" – 4:03 #"Bailando" – 4:02

Commercial performance

The song has since become the most commercially successful song from ''Sex and Love'', charting in more than 50 countries worldwide and it is most successful in Spanish and Portuguese speaking region, topping the charts in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

, Mexico,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

, Spain, and the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

based charts in the United States. The song debuted at number 81 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The Spanish version of the song has peaked at number 12, making it Iglesias' highest-charting Spanish song of his career on the chart, surpassing the peak of " Loco". It is also his first top 20 hit on the chart since 2011's "

Dirty Dancer "Dirty Dancer" is a song by Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias and American singer Usher, recorded for Iglesias' sixth studio album, ''Euphoria'', and included on Usher's EP '' Versus''. A remix of the song, which features American rapper Lil Wa ...

". The song became Enrique's 13th number-one on the

Hot Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart. As of October 2014, it has crossed the 1,000,000 mark for digital downloads. ''Billboard'' named "Bailando" its number 38 song of 2014. "Bailando" was certified triple

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

on 27 August 2015, because of its sales and streamings. The song first charted on the Hot Latin Songs chart at number 6. In its third week, it topped the chart, becoming his third consecutive single from ''Sex and Love'' to hit number one on the chart and his 25th number-one single on the Hot Latin Songs chart. By 28 February 2015, the song had spent 41 consecutive weeks on top of the chart, making the song the longest-run at number one, beating the record set by

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular ...

, when her song " La Tortura" spent 25 non-consecutive weeks at the top in 2005. This record was later broken in 2017 when "

Despacito "Despacito" (; "Slowly") is a song by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi featuring Puerto Rican rapper and singer Daddy Yankee as the lead single from Fonsi's 2019 studio album '' Vida''. Released on January 12, 2017, the song was written by Fo ...

" by

Luis Fonsi Luis Alfonso Rodríguez López-Cepero (born April 15, 1978), known by his stage name Luis Fonsi (), is a Puerto Rican singer. He is known for multiple songs, one of them being "Despacito" featuring rapper Daddy Yankee. Fonsi received his first ...

and

Daddy Yankee Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez (born February 3, 1976), known professionally as Daddy Yankee, is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, composer, and actor. Known as the " King of Reggaetón" by music critics and fans alike, he is the artist who coined ...

featuring

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

spent 56 weeks on top of the Hot Latin Songs chart. The single also debuted on the Latin Pop Songs chart at number 34 and on Tropical Songs chart at number 39. In the rest of Europe also, the single was a success. It became a top ten hit in Portugal, Romania, Ukraine, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Finland, Netherlands, Russia, Luxembourg, Poland, Serbia, Bulgaria and Slovakia, top 20 hit in France, Czech Republic, Greece and Turkey, top 40 hit in Austria, Germany and Hungary, and a top 50 hit in Sweden. In addition to the Spanish charts, "Bailando" topped the European charts in Portugal, Romania, Italy, Finland, Poland, Serbia and Slovakia. In the UK and Ireland, however, "Bailando" performed poorly, resulting in its peak at number 75 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and only staying on the chart for a week. In Ireland, the song debuted at 92, and managed a peak of 72, staying for 6 weeks on the Irish charts. Enrique Iglesias marked his return in the French charts by reaching number 12, his last single that entered French charts was "

" in 2011. In Italy, the song reached number one, making it his highest-charting single there since 2010's ''Euphoria'' hit song " I Like It", and has enjoyed 13 weeks at number one. In Latin America, the song reached number one in Mexico, Colombia, and hit the top 20 in Brazil. On the

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, the Spanish version of the song debuted at number 52, then peaking to number 13, making this song his first Spanish single to peak into the top 20. It was also his highest-charting single from ''Sex and Love'' on the

Accolades

The song gave Iglesias three

Latin Grammys The Latin Grammy Awards are an award by The Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from anywhere around the world that has been ...

including Song of the Year. This was his first win since 2003 when the singer won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album, Male for ''Quizás''. Apart from song of the year, Bailando won Best Urban Performance and Best Urban Song award also at the Latin Grammys 2014.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2014 singles Enrique Iglesias songs Sean Paul songs 2014 songs Songs written by Descemer Bueno Universal Republic Records singles Number-one singles in Spain Number-one singles in Colombia Songs involved in plagiarism controversies Telenovela theme songs Latin Grammy Award for Song of the Year Monitor Latino Top General number-one singles Number-one singles in the Dominican Republic Latin Grammy Award for Best Urban Song Latin Grammy Award for Best Urban Fusion/Performance Gente de Zona songs Songs written by Enrique Iglesias Songs about dancing Songs containing the I–V-vi-IV progression