"Ai Se Eu Te Pego" (; ) is a 2008 song originally produced by Sharon Acioly and Antônio Dyggs. Although the first versions of the song were well known by the Brazilian Northeastern public, the version that become a national and international success was recorded by the sertanejo singer

Michel Teló Michel Teló () (born 21 January 1981) is a Brazilian people, Brazilian Música sertaneja, sertanejo singer-songwriter and actor. Before his solo act, he was a lead singer in various bands, most notably Grupo Tradição. His biggest national and ...

. - Contigo, 21 de dezembro de 2011 - iG, 02 de dezembro de 2011 Released on July 25, 2011, the version of Teló became a national success, reaching the top position of the Brazilian music charts, and the video of the song reached a views record on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

for Brazilian music, with more than 1 billion views. The song began having an international impact, according to Teló and Sharon Acioly, one of the authors, when the footballer player

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

began in one of the gols dancing the choreography of the song. - R7, 10 de janeiro de 2012 - UOL, 22 de outubro de 2011 R7, 24 de setembro de 2011 - Terra, 20 de janeiro de 2012 By the end of 2011, "Ai Se Eu Te pego" became a worldwide hit and would take Michel Teló reaching the number one spot in more than 20 countries worldwide. - Uai, 27 de fevereiro de 2013 The commercial success of the Teló version was so big that "Ai Se Eu Te pego" was the six best download single of 2011, with more than 7 million units sold. Originally, the authorship of the song was initially credited to Sharon Acioly and Antônio Dyggs. - Correio da Bahia, 06 de janeiro de 2012 - G1, 06 de janeiro de 2012 However, in February 2012, was reveled that Amanda Cruz, Aline Medeiros and Karine Assis Vinagre (three students from

Paraíba Paraíba ( , ; ) is a states of Brazil, state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba i ...

) were the authors of the verses that would become the basis for the chorus of "Ai se eu te pego", and they ended up being recognized as the co-authors next to Acioly and Dyggs. - G1, 04 de fevereiro de 2012 Another three students, Maria Eduarda Lucena dos Santos, Marcela Quinho Ramalho and Amanda Borba Cavalcanti de Queiroga, claim in court the co-authorship of the song. - Portal Correio, 09 de novembro de 2012

Lyrics

The lyrics begin with two cries of "Nossa! Nossa!" short for "nossa senhora" - Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, an equivalent of "Wow!" in Brazilian Portuguese. Then ''Assim você me mata'', "You kill me," a common exclamation. Then "ai, se eu te pego, ai, ai, se eu te pego." - "Ooh, if I catch you." The verse then repeats with "Delícia, delícia" instead of "Nossa, nossa." The third verse of the song is the only verse with a narrative text: describing a Saturday night, a crowd beginning to dance, and summoning courage to speak to the most beautiful girl. Verses 4 and 5 repeat the simple exclamations of verses 1 and 2.

First versions

With a new version, the first group to sing "Ai Se Eu Te Pego" was Os Meninos de Seu Zeh, conduter by Driggs: The song did have a good local repercussion, but with the success on the Northeast region of

Brasil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

would come more versions. The version of Meninos de Seu Zeh attached the attention of the forró group

Cangaia de Jegue Cangaia de Jegue is a Brazilian band from Jequié, southwest Bahia, Brazil. It has released albums ''Cangaia de Jegue'' (2004) and ''Você vai ver'' (2006) and a live album ''Cangaia de Jegue – Ao Vivo)'' in 2009. The band is very popular in Bah ...

, raising in

Salvador Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to: * Salvador (name) Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music ** ''Salvador'' ( ...

, that became the first group to commercially record the song, in 2010. - O Globo, 04 de janeiro de 2012 with the recording of Cangaia de Jegue, "Ai Se Eu Te Pego" became a big success in

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

. In the same year, Garota Safada re-recorded "Ai Se Eu Te Pego", with a ballad mood, and this version became a big success on the North East region of Brazil, especially for cheering tradition parties of São João in the region. And it was during a party of São João in Salvador that the Paraná singer

heard for the first time "Ai Se Eu Te Pego", sung by Cangaia do Jegue. after he heard the song, Teófilo Teló, brother and businessperson, realized that the song has the potetion of being a national hit and sought the producers of Cangaia de Jegue, that indicated Acioly, that finally, that authorized Michel Teló to record a version of the song. Before the recording by Michel Teló, the song additionally got a recording by Alexandre Peixe and by the Forró band Sacode.

Michel Teló version

Antônio Dyggs, who co-wrote the song, realized it could become a national hit in Brazil and offered it for a release by Brazilian singer

. The result was a hit in Brazil, Latin America and Europe. Teló's version of the song became a hit in Brazil, reaching No. 1. Later, the song also reached No. 1 in 23 countries in Europe and Latin America. In the United States, the single topped both the ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs and

Latin Pop Airplay Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area around Rome, Italy. Through the expansion of ...

charts and peaked at No. 81 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, making Teló the sixth Brazilian act to enter the latter. "Ai Se Eu Te Pego" was the sixth best-selling single of 2012 worldwide with over 7.2 million in sales that year, placing it on the list of best-selling singles of all time. The single has become the most downloaded digital track in Germany since 2006. As of July 2014, it is the 90th best-selling single of the 21st century in France, with 308,000 units sold. The official YouTube video has over a billion views as of April 2022. This version was nominated for Best Brazilian Song at the 2012 Latin Grammy Awards, but lost out to "Querido Diário" by

Chico Buarque Francisco Buarque de Hollanda (born 19 June 1944), popularly known simply as Chico Buarque (), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, playwright, writer, and poet. He is best known for his music, which often includes social, econom ...

. This song also featured as soundtrack in

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

football video game, ''

Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 ''Pro Evolution Soccer 2013'' (''PES 2013'', known as ''World Soccer: Winning Eleven 2013'' in Japan and South Korea) is an association football video game, developed and published by Konami. The game was announced by Konami on April 18, 2012. For ...

''.

Track listing

; Digital download # "Ai Se Eu Te Pego" – 2:46 ; CD single # "Ai Se Eu Te Pego" – 2:46 # "Ai Se Eu Te Pego" (Music Video) – 2:46 ; "If I Catch You" (Remixes) - EP # "If I Catch You" (Original Mix) – 2:47 # "If I Catch You" (Live Mix) – 2:47 # "If I Catch You" (Chill Version 1) – 2:51 # "If I Catch You" (Chill Version 2) – 2:43 ; German Digital EP # "Ai Se Eu Te Pego" – 2:46 # "Ai Se Eu Te Pego" (A Class Edit) – 3:04 # "Ai Se Eu Te Pego" (A Class Floor Mix) – 3:39 # "Ai Se Eu Te Pego" (Rudeejay Remix) – 5:57 # "Ai Se Eu Te Pego" (Sagi Abitbul Remix) – 3:36 ; UK Digital EP # "Ai Se Eu Te Pego" (feat.

Becky G Rebbeca Marie Gomez (born March 2, 1997), known professionally as Becky G, is an American singer and actress. Born and raised in Inglewood, California, she first gained recognition in 2011 for her cover version, cover versions of popular song ...

) – 3:18 # "Ai Se Eu Te Pego" (Live) – 2:52 # "Ai Se Eu Te Pego" (If I Get Ya) (Worldwide Remix)

Pitbull Pit bull is an umbrella term for several types of dog believed to have descended from bull and terriers. In the United States, the term is usually considered to include the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, American B ...

] – 4:07 # "Ai Se Eu Te Pego" (Cahill (band), Cahill Remix) – 3:13 ; Other versions * "Ai Se Eu Te Pego" (Spanish Version) – 2:45

Commercial performance

Brazil

In Brazil, the song debuted and reached the top position on the chart

Brasil Hot 100 Airplay The ''Billboard'' Brasil Hot 100 is a record chart in Brazil for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard Brasil'' magazine. First launched in October 2009, the chart was initially published monthly and measured the airplay of songs on radio stations ...

. The song also reached #1 in Billboard Latin Songs, and also peaked at 81 on ''

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

''.

Outside of Brazil

Internationally, the song debuted and peaked at the number one spot in Spain, where 12,000 copies were sold in the first week, and remained in the number one spot for 16 consecutive weeks between 2011 and 2012. In the weekly charts ''

Italian Singles Chart The Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI) or the Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy. It was established in 1992, when ...

'', the song debuted at #2 in November, and in the next week, the song reached #1 and would stay there for nine non-consecutive weeks between 2011 and 2012. In Germany, the song became the best-selling song of 2011.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

Other versions

There are many translated versions of "Ai Se Eu Te Pego", such as: *Dutch singer

Gerard Joling Gerard Jan Joling (born 29 April 1960) is a Dutch singer and television presenter. Known for his high tenor voice, he rose to fame in the late 1980s and released a string of singles including "Ticket to the Tropics" and "Love Is in Your Eyes". H ...

released "Dan voel je me beter" ( English: "''You will feel me better that way''"). This version reached the 9th position in the

Mega Single Top 100 The Dutch Single Top 100 or Single Top 100 is a Dutch chart, based on official physical single sales, legal downloads and since July 2013 streaming and composed by Dutch Charts. It is one of the three official charts, the other two being the Dutc ...

. *Dutch singer Tom Haver also recorded a Dutch version of the song, called "Samen vanavond" ("''Together tonight''"). This version reached the 66th position in the Mega Single Top 100. *Serbian singer Dragan Kojić released "Kosa" ( English: "''Hair''"). This version was very popular in

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Bosnia & Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

and

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, as well in the

Republic of Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

In popular culture

Popularity in sport

The song is especially popular among footballers. It was first danced by Brazilian player

Neymar Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (; born 5 February 1992), also known as Neymar Júnior or simply Neymar, is a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a left winger, attacking midfielder or Forward (association foo ...

who initially appeared on a video dancing to the song "Ai Se Eu Te Pego". Many other videos of the same player emerged later leading to its huge popularity in Brazil. The song became extremely popular in Spain and all over Europe after

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

players

Marcelo Marcelo is a given name, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Marcellus (name), Marcellus. Marcelo may refer to: Given name *Marcelo Costa de Andrade (born 1967), Brazilian serial killer, rapist, and necrophile *Marcelo Arriagada (born 1973), Chile ...

and

celebrated a goal dancing to the choreography of the song. Playing in a

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

match, the dance was performed by the two players after Ronaldo scored the first goal against

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

on 22 October 2011. The popularity was such that on 12 January 2012, Michel Teló was invited to the Real Madrid training ground and posed for pictures with Marcelo and Ronaldo. The goal celebration has been performed by many other footballers across Europe. Muay Thai kickboxer

Sudsakorn Sor Klinmee Sudsakorn Sor Klinmee (Thai language, Thai: สุดสาคร ส.กลิ่นมี; born August 25, 1986) is a Thai Muay Thai kickboxer and current Lion Fight Middleweight Champion. He is the former Thai Fight Kard Chuek Middleweight Cha ...

danced and sang along to "Ai Se Eu Te Pego" in the ring following his win over

Marco Piqué Marco "The Sniper" Piqué (born January 9, 1980) is a Surinamese-Netherlands, Dutch welterweight kickboxer, fighting out of Team Snipers in The Hague, Netherlands. He is the current World Full Contact Association Muay Thai middleweight world cham ...

at ''Yokkao Extreme 2012'' in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

on 21 January 2012. The mixed martial artists

Fabrício Werdum Fabrício Werdum (; born 30 July 1977) is a Spanish-Brazilian mixed martial artist and former UFC Heavyweight Champion who competes in the Heavyweight division. He is also a 4-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion, a two-time Abu Dhabi Comba ...

and Dave Herman have used the song as their entrance music. Werdum walked out to it before facing

Mike Russow Michael Earl Russow (born November 9, 1976) is a retired American professional mixed martial artist who competed in the heavyweight division. Having made his professional debut in 1998, Russow has formerly competed for the UFC, Adrenaline MMA, ...

at ''

UFC 147 ''UFC 147: Silva vs. Franklin II'' was a mixed martial arts pay-per-view event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on June 23, 2012 at Mineirinho Arena in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Background The finals in the featherweight and middlewe ...

'' in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

on 23 June 2012, while Herman entered to the song ahead of his match with

Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira (, born 2 June 1976), better known as Minotauro or Big Nog, is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist. He competed in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former Inter ...

at ''UFC 153'' on 13 October 2012, also in Rio.

References

External links

Micheltelo.com – Official websiteMichel Telo BiographyCangaiaDeJegue.com.br – Official website
{{authority control 2011 singles Songs in Portuguese Brasil Hot 100 Airplay number-one singles Brasil Hot Pop number-one singles Number-one singles in Austria Number-one singles in Colombia SNEP Top Singles number-one singles Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in Greece Number-one singles in Honduras Number-one singles in Israel Number-one singles in Italy Number-one singles in Poland Number-one singles in Romania Number-one singles in Russia Number-one singles in Spain Number-one singles in Sweden Number-one singles in Switzerland Record Report Pop Rock General number-one singles Record Report Top Latino number-one singles Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles Ultratop 50 Singles (Wallonia) number-one singles 2012 singles Live singles Michel Teló songs 2008 songs Becky G songs