"Cambia el Paso" is a song by American singer

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...

and Puerto Rican singer

Rauw Alejandro Raúl Alejandro Ocasio Ruiz (born January 10, 1993), known professionally as Rauw Alejandro, is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter. Referred to as the " King of Modern Reggaeton", he belongs to "the new generation" of Puerto Rican urban musi ...

. It was co-written by the duo alongside Reggi el Auténtico,

Georgia Ku Georgia Ku (born February 20, 1993) is an English singer and songwriter. She was a featured artist on the 2018 NOTD and Felix Jaehn hit single "So Close (NOTD and Felix Jaehn song), So Close". The song has appeared on numerous charts including a ...

, Andrés Castro, Jonas Jurström, Victor Thell, Mr. Naisgai and Caleb Calloway. "Cambia el Paso" was released on July 5, 2021, by

Nuyorican Productions Nuyorican Productions, Inc. is an American production company founded by Jennifer Lopez and Benny Medina. History Lopez owns the film and television production company Nuyorican Productions, which was launched as early as 2001. It was co-foun ...

and

Sony Music Latin Sony Music Entertainment US Latin LLC (often referred to as Sony Music Latin) is a record label owned by Sony Music. The label focuses on artists of Latin music. History In 1979, CBS Records (now Columbia Records) ended its partnership with C ...

Background and release

"Cambia el Paso" was recorded after Lopez's split from ex-fiancé

Alex Rodriguez Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American former professional baseball shortstop and third baseman, businessman and philanthropist. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the ...

. Prior to the song's recording, Alejandro asked Lopez to collaborate with him on another song of his titled "Tu La Tienes", which she agreed to. The pair subsequently met for the first time, with Lopez recalling: "I said, 'Let me play you some things I’ve been working on.' He heard 'Cambia el Paso', and he was like, 'Well, I can do that one too. Why can’t I get on that one?'" Alejandro then recorded his parts for "Cambia el Paso" on the spot. On June 25, 2021, Alejandro revealed in an interview that he recorded two songs with Lopez; one for his project and one for hers. Over the next few days, Lopez posted a series of 12-second snippets of "Cambia el Paso" on her Instagram account, leading up to the June 29 announcement that the single would be released on July 5. According to the singer, the song is about "change" and "not being afraid to take the step". The song discusses "a woman who leaves an undeserving man". The song's lyrics, when translated into English, contain statements such as "He doesn't deserve to have her in his arms" and "Your life is better now without him."

Music video

The music video for "Cambia el Paso" was directed by

Jessy Terrero Jessy Terrero (born October 7, 1972) is a List of people from the Dominican Republic, Dominican Film director, film and music video director. Career Terrero appeared as an extra on the 1992 film ''Juice (1992 film), Juice'' starring Tupac Shakur ...

and shot in

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...

from June 8 – 9, 2021. Shortly after they finished filming, Lopez posted a photo from the shoot on Instagram with the caption: "There's only one... Good things coming...", with the hashtag #CambiaElPaso. She briefly teased the music video on her Instagram on July 2, before posting a 15-second sneek peak two days later. The music video premiered on July 9. The music video "opens on Lopez breaking free from a contentious situation, before she discovers joy dancing in the streets and on a beach."

Live performances

Lopez performed the song live for the first time during the ''

Global Citizen Live Global Citizen Live was the 2021 instance of the Global Citizen Festival, so named because it was broadcast live internationally from cities across six continents around the world on 25 and 26 September 2021. Background Global Citizen has held an ...

'' concert in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on September 26, 2021.

Critical reception

''Cambia el Paso'' received positive response. Emily Zemler of ''Rolling Stone'' calls the song "a fiery song; with a slick beat and Reggaeton grooves." Quinci Legardye of ''Harpers Bazaar'' said the song "has empowering lyrics about moving on and not being afraid of change." Zoe Haylock of ''Vulture'' called the song "a beat-thumping Spanish-language track."

Credits and personnel

* Andrés Castro – songwriter *

– songwriter * Héctor Caleb López p/k/a Caleb Calloway – songwriter *

– songwriter, vocals * Jonas Jurström – songwriter, producer * Luis Jonuel González p/k/a Mr. Naisgai – songwriter * Rafael Regginalds Aponte a/k/a Reggi el Auténtico – songwriter * Raúl Alejandro Ocasio Ruiz "

" – songwriter, vocals * Victor Thell – songwriter, producer * Micheline Medina – coordinator * Chris Athens – master engineer * Trevor Muzzy – mixing engineer, recording engineer * Brandon Riester - A&R

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2021 singles 2021 songs Jennifer Lopez songs Rauw Alejandro songs Nuyorican Productions singles Sony Music Latin singles Songs written by Jennifer Lopez Songs written by Georgia Ku Songs written by Rauw Alejandro Music videos directed by Jessy Terrero