"Mi Chico Latino" (
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
: "My Latin Boy"), is a song recorded by English singer
Geri Halliwell
Geraldine Estelle Horner (née Halliwell; born 6 August 1972) is an English singer, songwriter, author, and actress. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the girl group the Spice Girls. With over 100 million records ...
for her debut solo album ''
Schizophonic'' (1999). It was written by Halliwell, Andy Watkins and Paul Wilson, whilst produced by the latter two, who are known collectively as
Absolute Absolute may refer to:
Companies
* Absolute Entertainment, a video game publisher
* Absolute Radio, (formerly Virgin Radio), independent national radio station in the UK
* Absolute Software Corporation, specializes in security and data risk manage ...
. "Mi Chico Latino" was released as the album's second single on 16 August 1999 by
EMI Records
EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...
. It is a
Latin pop
Latin pop (in Spanish and in Portuguese: Pop latino) is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. Originating in Spanish-speaking musicians, Latin po ...
song which is centred on a lost love theme. The song was written by Halliwell in order to pay homage to her mother, who has Spanish background, whilst it also has a number of Spanish lyrics.
"Mi Chico Latino" received mixed reviews from
music critics
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
, who noted it was a contribution to the Latin pop phenom at the time, while others criticized Halliwell's Spanish pronunciation. The song was a commercial success in the United Kingdom, debuting at number one 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 ...
, becoming Halliwell's first number-one solo single in the country. The song also attracted some moderate success worldwide. "Mi Chico Latino"'s accompanying
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 ...
was directed by
Doug Nichol
Doug Nichol is an American filmmaker and commercials/ music video director.
Biography
A graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, he started his career as a cinematographer working with David Bowie, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and U2 and ...
and filmed on the island of Sardinia. It depicts the singer wearing a black bikini and dancing with semi-nude male dancers on a boat. In order to promote the single, Halliwell performed the song on ''
Top of the Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...
'' and
Party in the Park
Party in the Park is the generic name given to music concerts organised by various radio stations and local authorities and groups in the United Kingdom, typically in large parks during the summer, however it is also used to refer to a family ori ...
in 1999.
Background and development
"Mi Chico Latino" was written by Halliwell, Andy Watkins and Paul Wilson in late 1998. The singer wanted to make a song with Spanish influences, in order to pay homage for her Spanish mother. During a day in the studio, they came up with a melody but did not have any words. Then she called her mother for help.
[ Halliwell recalled asking her, "Mum, what do you say to a bloke in Spanish if you fancy him and are being romantic?" Her mother then said she did not remember that. So she asked her look at her library of Spanish language romances, and she read the titles out to Halliwell. Eventually she came out with "¿Dónde está el hombre con fuego en la sangre?" ("Where is the man with fire in his blood?" in ]English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
), and she liked the way it sounded and included the line at the beginning of the song. After " Look at Me" peaked at number two, her record company wanted her to release " Lift Me Up", while the Absolute team wanted "Bag It Up
"Bag It Up" is a song recorded by British singer and songwriter Geri Halliwell for her debut solo album '' Schizophonic'' (1999). It was written by Halliwell, Andy Watkins, Paul Wilson and produced by Absolute. It was released as the fourth and ...
", but she chose to release "Mi Chico Latino" after receiving good reception from children.[ She also thought,
]
"First and foremost I thought it was a good record. It was poppy and catchy and perfect for the summer. I think my core audience is young teenage girls and gay guys. Both of those groups tend to like pure pop music and I think that's what 'Chico' was. It was very different from the slightly leftfield style of 'Look at Me'. ..The other thing that 'Chico' had going for it was that the music was Latin-based, I had written the song back in 1998 but by the time the summer of 1999 came around Latin-influenced music was ruling the charts. Ricky Martin
Enrique Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography spanning ...
had recently had a number one and there were others on the way. So it was a strange example of synchronicity that I should be ready to go with a Latin track which I had written almost a year before".
Composition
"Mi Chico Latino" is a Latin pop
Latin pop (in Spanish and in Portuguese: Pop latino) is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. Originating in Spanish-speaking musicians, Latin po ...
song which moves at a moderate tempo of 104 beats per minute
Beat, beats or beating may refer to:
Common uses
* Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area
** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols
** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men
* Battery ( ...
. At the beginning of the song, Halliwell chants the spoken word
Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...
line "¿Dónde está el hombre con fuego en la sangre?" (which translates to ''Where is the man with fire in the blood?'').[ The lyrics to the song are centred on a lost love theme, with ]castanets
Castanets, also known as ''clackers'' or ''palillos'', are a percussion instrument (idiophone), used in Spanish, Kalo, Moorish, Ottoman, Italian, Sephardic, Swiss, and Portuguese music. In ancient Greece and ancient Rome there was a similar ...
in the background.[ During the song, the singer also sings in Italian on its chorus, when everything else is Spanish.][ According to biographer David Sinclair in his book ''Spice Girls Revisited: How The Spice Girls Reinvented Pop'', Halliwell continued to explore the ]Riviera
''Riviera'' () is an Italian word which means "coastline", ultimately derived from Latin , through Ligurian . It came to be applied as a proper name to the coast of Liguria, in the form ''Riviera ligure'', then shortened in English. The two areas ...
-pop theme of her former group's song, "Viva Forever
"Viva Forever" is a song by English girl group the Spice Girls from their second studio album, '' Spiceworld'' (1997). The song was co-written by the group with Matt Rowe and Richard Stannard, while production was handled by the latter two. ...
", whilst "murmuring sweet nothings in a peculiar brand of estuary Spanish while castanets and timbales
Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfico ...
clattered alongside a cod-flamenco guitar
A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar but with thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, more gritty sound compared to the clas ...
".
Controversy
In 1999 Ishtar
Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in S ...
, the Israeli lead singer of Alabina
Alabina is a French-based group that performs a mix of world music: Middle Eastern, Arabic, French, Hebrew, and Spanish Gypsy music. Alabina consists of lead singer Ishtar, who does the female vocals, and the band Los Niños de Sara, who provi ...
, said "Mi Chico Latino" was plagiarized from her song "Alabina (De La Noche A La Manana)", released the year before. A spokesman for Alabina's French record label Atal said that they were "anxiously contacting" Halliwell's record label about the songs' similarities. However, no legal actions were made.[
]
Critical reception
"Mi Chico Latino" received mixed reviews from music critics
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
. Jon Perks, whilst reviewing ''Schizophonic'' for ''Sunday Mercury
''Sunday Mercury'' is a Sunday tabloid published in Birmingham, UK, and now owned by Reach plc.
The first edition was published on 29 December 1918. The first editor was John Turner Fearon (1869–1937), who left the Dublin-based ''Freeman's ...
'', gave a positive review, stating, "Okay, so it sounds like a hybrid of La Vida Loca and Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...
's La Isla Bonita
"La Isla Bonita" is a song by American singer Madonna from her third studio album '' True Blue'' (1986). Written and produced by Madonna and Patrick Leonard, with additional lyrics by Bruce Gaitsch, the song was originally presented by Leonard ...
, but with a swimming-costumed Geri on the cover and a summery tune, it's a winning combination". Chris Charles from BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
commented that "Mi Chico Latino" could be mistaken with "Spice Up Your Life
"Spice Up Your Life" is a song by English girl group the Spice Girls from their second studio album, '' Spiceworld'' (1997). The song was co-written by the group with Matt Rowe and Richard Stannard, at the same time as the group was shooting ...
", Halliwell's previous hit with the Spice Girls. The Daily Vault's Christopher Thelen felt that it "is an odd selection for a single". Jonathan O'Brien from ''Hot Press
''Hot Press'' is a fortnightly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes.
History
''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who co ...
'' magazine was negative, stating that "Mi Chico Latino" was "a dreadful pastiche of Madonna's 'La Isla Bonita'". For Russell Baillie from ''The New Zealand Herald
''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...
'', Halliwell spends time on the album "flashing her eyelashes at enfolk especially if they're foreign", calling the song "glutinous". According to ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', "Mi Chico Latino" was her "impeccably timed contribution to the Latin-pop phenom, complete with awkwardly pronounced Spanglish".
Release and chart performance
"Mi Chico Latino" was released in the United Kingdom on 16 August 1999 as two CD single
A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...
s and a cassette single
A cassette single (CS), also known by the trademark cassingle, or capitalised as the trademark Cassette Single, is a music single supplied in the form of a Compact Cassette. The cassette single was first introduced in 1980.
History
The debu ...
. The song debuted at number one 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 ...
on 22 August 1999, selling 132,000 copies in its first week, becoming Halliwell's first number-one solo single in the country. It also was the beginning of a sequence of four consecutive Halliwell singles reaching number one in the United Kingdom. It spent fifteen weeks in the charts, and went on to sell over 400,000 copies in the UK and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry
British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...
(BPI).[ "Mi Chico Latino" experienced moderate success in other European markets. In Austria, it entered the singles chart at number 34, eventually peaking at number 27 and spending a total of eight weeks on the chart.][ In France, the song peaked at number 40, remaining on the chart for ten weeks in total.][ On the ]Swiss Singles Chart
The Swiss Hitparade (german: link=no, Schweizer Hitparade) is Switzerland's main Record chart, music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.
The Swiss charts include:
* ...
dated 19 September 1999, it peaked at number 26.[ In Australia, "Mi Chico Latino" debuted at its peak of number 43 on the issue dated 5 September 1999.][ In the United States, the song was serviced to ]contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...
on 21 September 1999 and peaked at number 19 on ''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 ...
''s 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.[
]
Music video
The accompanying 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 "Mi Chico Latino" was directed by Doug Nichol
Doug Nichol is an American filmmaker and commercials/ music video director.
Biography
A graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, he started his career as a cinematographer working with David Bowie, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and U2 and ...
and filmed in Sardinia from 5–8 July 1999.[ Halliwell wanted the video for the song to be very different in style to her previous single "Look at Me", as that one was filmed in Prague in the freezing cold, and she wanted something to connect with her fans. According to her, the video was also pretty easy to get: "a yacht, a girl in a bikini and some wicked boy dancers to keep both sets of fans ay guys and teenage girlshappy". After the video was released, the singer got a huge amount of attention from it. "People came up to me and told me how great and how sexy it was. They also told me I looked really healthy, but how wrong they were. I wasn't healthy because I wasn't eating properly and although I was slim at the time, that was a mirage too because the tough regime of the diet was always going to lead me to binge and put the weight back on", and later, she began taking recovery meetings for ]bulimia
Bulimia nervosa, also known as simply bulimia, is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating followed by purging or fasting, and excessive concern with body shape and weight. The aim of this activity is to expel the body of calories eate ...
.[
]
Live performances
Halliwell first performed "Mi Chico Latino" as the opening number at her show held at G-A-Y
G-A-Y is a long-running gay nightclub, based at Heaven in Charing Cross, London. It started in 1976, and for many years was based at the London Astoria.
History
G-A-Y started in 1976 in the Sundown club in the basement of the London Astoria (l ...
nightclub. According to Brian Logan from ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', the performance "served only to stress" her certain brand of pop, referring to it as "Madonna-lite." Halliwell also performed the single in front of 100,000 fans at Party in the Park
Party in the Park is the generic name given to music concerts organised by various radio stations and local authorities and groups in the United Kingdom, typically in large parks during the summer, however it is also used to refer to a family ori ...
event in early July 1999. On 26 August 1999, the singer performed the song on ''Top of the Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...
''. On 8 July 2001, whist promoting her second album ''Scream If You Wanna Go Faster
''Scream If You Wanna Go Faster'' is the second studio album by British singer Geri Halliwell, released on 14 May 2001 by EMI Records. Following the commercial success of her solo debut album '' Schizophonic'' two years before, the singer began w ...
'', she performed the song again on Party in the Park.
Formats and track listings
UK CD1 and European maxi-CD single
# "Mi Chico Latino" – 3:16
# "G.A.Y." – 3:22
# "Summertime" – 3:35
# "Mi Chico Latino" – 3:10
UK CD2 single
# "Mi Chico Latino" – 3:16
# "Mi Chico Latino" – 6:00
# "Mi Chico Latino" – 5:14
# "Mi Chico Latino" – 5:22
European CD single
# "Mi Chico Latino" – 3:16
# "G.A.Y." – 3:22
# "Mi Chico Latino" – 3:10
Australian maxi-CD single
# "Mi Chico Latino" – 3:16
# "G.A.Y." – 3:22
# "Summertime" – 3:35
French CD single
# "Mi Chico Latino" – 3:28
# "Mi Chico Latino" – 3:16
# "Summertime" – 3:35
Italian 12-inch single
# "Mi Chico Latino" – 3:16
# "Mi Chico Latino" – 5:22
# "Mi Chico Latino" – 7:24
Credits and personnel
Credits and personnel are adapted from ''Schizophonic'' album liner notes.
* Geri Halliwell
Geraldine Estelle Horner (née Halliwell; born 6 August 1972) is an English singer, songwriter, author, and actress. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the girl group the Spice Girls. With over 100 million records ...
– songwriter
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 ...
* Absolute Absolute may refer to:
Companies
* Absolute Entertainment, a video game publisher
* Absolute Radio, (formerly Virgin Radio), independent national radio station in the UK
* Absolute Software Corporation, specializes in security and data risk manage ...
– songwriters, producers
Producer or producers may refer to:
Occupations
*Producer (agriculture), a farm operator
*A stakeholder of economic production
*Film producer, supervises the making of films
**Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...
, instruments
* Tracey Ackerman – backing vocalist
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...
* Milton Mcdonald – guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
* Karlos Edwards – percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
* Mike Higham – programming
* Paul "P" Dub Walton – audio engineer
An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...
* Mark "Spike" Stent
Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sheeran ...
– mixing
* Wayne Wilkins – mixing assistant
* Stylorouge Stylorouge is a graphic design studio based in Yalding, Kent, formed in London by creative director Rob O'Connor in 1981.
Art work created by the studio has included record sleeve designs for bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees for their 1981's ...
– design, art direction
* Dean Freeman – photographer
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
{{Authority control
1999 singles
1999 songs
EMI Records singles
Geri Halliwell songs
Latin pop songs
Number-one singles in Scotland
Song recordings produced by Absolute (production team)
Songs involved in plagiarism controversies
Songs written by Andy Watkins
Songs written by Geri Halliwell
Songs written by Paul Wilson (songwriter)
Spanglish songs
UK Singles Chart number-one singles