"Hey Ma" is a song recorded by American rapper and singer

Pitbull Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...

and Colombian singer

J Balvin José Álvaro Osorio Balvín (born 7 May 1985), known professionally as J Balvin, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. He has been referred to as the " Prince of Reggaeton" (from Spanish: "Príncipe del Reggaetón"), and is one of the best-sell ...

, featuring vocals from fellow Cuban-American singer

Camila Cabello Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao (; ; born March 3, 1997) is a Cuban-born American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, which became one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. While in ...

, taken from ''

The Fate of the Furious ''The Fate of the Furious'' (alternatively known as ''F8'' and titled on-screen as ''Fast & Furious 8'' internationally) is a 2017 American action film directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Chris Morgan. It is the sequel to ''Furious 7'' (2 ...

movie soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of ...

(2017). It was co-written by the artists, while co-produced by

Sermstyle Jamie Michael Robert Sanderson (born 24 November 1987 in South Shields, England), known professionally as Sermstyle, is a British singer, songwriter, record producer, and remixer who lives and works from Los Angeles. Recognition Sermstyle was f ...

, T-Collar, and Pip Kembo. There are two versions of the song; one in Spanish and one in English. Music videos were directed for both versions of the song by American director Gil Green, with the Spanish video premiering on March 10, 2017 and the English video on April 7.

Background

Originally, the song was scheduled to be a collaboration between Pitbull,

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

and

Romeo Santos Anthony "Romeo" Santos (born July 21, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and actor who is best known as the frontman and lead vocalist of the bachata group Aventura. In 2002, the song " Obsesión" reached number one in It ...

, but Spears and Santos were replaced by Cabello and Balvin, respectively. However, the first version with Spears and Santos has leaked and it can be found on the internet.

Critical reception

In ''Billboard'',

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

editors named the song as a "steamy single" and highlighted Cabello's "fitting charm".

Commercial performance

"Hey Ma" debuted at number five on the

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, rad ...

chart with 14,000 downloads sold, marking Pitbull's highest debut ever on the chart and matching Balvin's previous best, with "

Ginza Ginza ( ; ja, 銀座 ) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi. It is a popular upscale shopping area of Tokyo, with numerous intern ...

". The song also marks Cabello's first entry on the chart. It was certified Gold by the

Recording Industry Association of America 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/o ...

(RIAA). As of February 21, 2019, the single, which served as one of ''

'' theme-songs, surpassed 500,000 certified units sold in the United States. The music video for "Hey Ma" surpassed 300 million views on YouTube, making it 3x

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, di ...

Certified. Internationally, the song reached the top 10 in Spain, Guatemala, Israel and Bulgaria.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Hey Ma" was directed by Gil Green and shot in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. As described by ''

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 advertise ...

'', the "spicy" video is filled with "bright and vivid" scenes representing the

Cuban culture The culture of Cuba is a complex mixture of different, often contradicting, factors and influences. The Cuban people and their customs are based on European, African and Amerindian influences. Music The music of Cuba, including the instruments a ...

as the trio move around the streets interacting with the crowd and dancing in front of "impressive" cars. Scenes from ''

'' appear in the music video. As of July 2019, the video has surpassed over 330 million views.

Live performances

Balvin, Cabello and Pitbull performed the first televised performance of the song at the 2017 MTV Movie & TV Awards. Griselda Flores from ''

'' magazine said that "The trio heated things up when they took the stage to perform the upbeat track", and praised their looks by saying: "Cabello stepped into a strapless, flower-printed red dress wearing it over black shorts that peeked through the dress' front slit. Pitbull and J Balvin complemented Cabello's look by rocking all-black outfits: Balvin in a casual denim pants and leather jacket combo and Mr. 305 in a fitted suit".

Accolades

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of '' The Fate of the Furious: The Album''. Recording *

's vocals recorded at A Studios (

West Hollywood West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

) *

's vocals recorded at Circle House Studios (

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

) *

's vocals recorded at Artcrime Studios ( La Romana,

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 wit ...

) * Mixed at Orange Coyote Studios (

Studio City Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927, ...

) Management * Published by Artist Publishing Group West and Made in Harare Publishing Designee admin. by WB Music Corp. (

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

), Artist 101 Publishing Group and John Mitchell Publishing Designee admin. by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. ( BMI), Circa 242/Prescription Songs (ASCAP), Sony/ATV Songs LLC/Abuela Y Tia Songs (BMI), Universal Musica Unica Publishing (BMI), Sony/ATV Songs LLC/Milamoon Songs (BMI), Universal Pictures Music (ASCAP), UPG Music Publishing (BMI) * Pitbull appears courtesy of

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

/ Mr. 305 Records * J Balvin appears courtesy of

Universal Music Latino Universal Music Latin Entertainment, a division of Universal Music Group, is a record company specialized in producing and distributing Latin music in Mexico, the United States, and Puerto Rico. UMLE includes famous Latin music labels such as Uni ...

* Camila Cabello appears courtesy of

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

, a division of

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

Personnel * Pitbull –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

* J Balvin – lead vocals, songwriting * Camila Cabello – guest vocals, songwriting *

– songwriting, production, keyboards * Tinashe "T-Collar" Sibanda;– songwriting, production * Pip Kembo – songwriting, production * Johnny Mitchell – songwriting, additional vocals * David Phung – background vocals * Edgar Machuca – background vocals * Rosina "Soaky Siren" Russel – songwriting * Johnny Yukon – songwriting * Ryan Gladieux – vocal production * Andres David Restrepo "Rolo";– vocal production *

Jean Rodríguez Jean Carlos Rodríguez López-Cepero (born December 10, 1980), also known as Jean, is a Puerto Rican singer, the younger brother of Luis Fonsi. Rodríguez has released a handful of solo albums and mixtapes, hitting number one on ''Billboard'' L ...

– vocal production, engineering * Daniel Flores – vocal production * Al Burna – vocal production, engineering * Matt Beckley – vocal production, engineering * James Royo – mixing * Raphael Bautista – assistant mixing * Todd Norman – assistant mixing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2017 songs 2017 singles Pitbull (rapper) songs J Balvin songs Camila Cabello songs Spanish-language songs Latin pop songs Reggaeton songs Songs written by Pitbull (rapper) Songs written by J Balvin Songs written by Camila Cabello Songs written by Tinashe Sibanda Songs written for films Fast & Furious music Songs written by Sermstyle