"Dile a Él" () is a song recorded by Puerto Rican singer

Rauw Alejandro Raúl Alejandro Ocasio Ruiz (born January 10, 1993), known professionally as Rauw Alejandro, is a Puerto Rican singer. His accolades include two Latin Grammy Awards, two Billboard Latin Music Awards, ''Billboard'' Latin Music Awards and an IHea ...

for his debut studio album, ''

Afrodisíaco ''Afrodisíaco'' () is the debut studio album by Puerto Rican singer Rauw Alejandro. It was released on November 13, 2020, by Sony Music Latin and Duars Entertainment. After releasing several projects including a mixtape, an extended play, and m ...

'' (2020), featuring uncredited background vocals from Spanish singer

Rosalía Rosalia Vila Tobella (born 25 September 1992), known mononymously as Rosalía (, ), is a Spanish Pop music, pop and flamenco singer. She has been described as an "atypical pop star" due to her genre-bending musical styles. After being enthral ...

. It was written by Alejandro, while the production was handled by Eydren con el Ritmo, Alejandro, Rosalía, and Caleb Calloway. The song was released by

Sony Music Latin Sony Music Entertainment US Latin LLC (often referred to as Sony Music Latin) is an American record label owned by Sony Music. The label focuses on artists of Latin music. Sony Latin was also a division of the Sony Discos label. History In ...

and Duars Entertainment on February 3, 2021, as the sixth

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from the album. A Spanish language

mid-tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given composition, and is often also an indication of the composition's character or atmos ...

"dark"

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ) is a modern style of popular music, popular and electronic music that originated in Panamanian reggaetón, Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puert ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

, it addresses the singer's ex-girlfriend who has

broken up Ship breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship scrapping, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sol ...

with him to be with another man. "Dile a Él" received positive 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 ...

, who described it as "one of the most spectacular songs" in the album. The track peaked at number 38 on the US ''

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 advertis ...

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 music, Latin songs, published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine. Since October 2012, chart ranki ...

chart. An accompanying

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

, released simultaneously with the song, was filmed in Miami, and directed by Alfred Marroquín. It depicts Alejandro lost, remorseful and crestfallen for not having the chance to share his life with the person he loves. The song was included on the

set list A set list, or setlist, is typically a handwritten or printed document created as an ordered list of songs, jokes, stories and other elements an artist intends to present during a specific performance. A setlist can be made of nearly any materi ...

s for Alejandro's the

Rauw Alejandro World Tour The Rauw Alejandro World Tour was the second concert tour by Puerto Rican singer Rauw Alejandro, in support of his first two studio albums, ''Afrodisíaco'' (2020) and ''Vice Versa (Rauw Alejandro album), Vice Versa'' (2021). It began on July 15 ...

and the Vice Versa Tour.

Background and release

In February 2020,

announced that he was working on his debut studio album ''

''. On November 9, 2020, he revealed the album's track list, including "Dile a Él" as the first track. The album was released for digital download and

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

and Duars Entertainment on November 13, 2020. On February 3, 2021, the track was released as the sixth

from the album. The song features uncredited background vocals by Spanish singer

. During an interview with ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', Alejandro talked about working with her: "I wanted

he song He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

to have an outro that was completely the opposite — more angelic and lighter. I had a chance to work with Rosalia, who came in and did her thing and went into the production side. In the end, it was such a great team and a great song." While there were already rumors of a romantic relationship between the singers, the rumors intensified following this collaboration. The two made their relationship as a couple official in September 2021, and Alejandro later admitted that they "were together" at the time they were working on the song.

Music and lyrics

Musically, "Dile a Él" is a Spanish language

"dark"

, with a

down-tempo Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may ...

"slightly darker" outro. It was written by Alejandro and produced by Eydren con el Ritmo, Alejandro, Rosalía, and Caleb Calloway. The track runs for a total of 3 minutes and 29 seconds. Lyrically, "Dile a Él" which translates to "Tell Him" in English, addresses the singer's ex-girlfriend who has

with him to be with another man. During an interview with ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'', Alejandro explained the song's lyrics: "It's about breakup and jealousy. The guy can't get over his past love and he's mad because she's with another man. He's expressing all of his feelings of hate and rancor and at the end he realizes that he needs to let her go and be happy." He confirmed that it is "not 100%" inspired by his own experience. The lyrics include, "Todo esto a la mala tuve que aprender / El cenicero lleno, lo que hago es prender / Y todavía no olvido nada / Te he llora'o en mi almohada" (I had to learn all this the hard way / The ashtray is full, what I do is turn it on / And I still haven't forgotten anything / I've cried you on my pillow).

Critical reception

"Dile a Él" has been met with widely positive reviews from

. ''

Okdiario ''Okdiario'' is a Spanish digital newspaper founded in September 2015 by the journalist Eduardo Inda. Its editorial ideology is aligned with neoliberalism and Spanish nationalism. The newspaper's motto is ''El sitio de los inconformistas'' ("The ...

'' staff labeled the track "one of the most spectacular songs" included in ''Afrodisíaco'', while

Los 40 Los 40 (stylized as LOS40, formerly ''Los 40 Principales'', ) is a Spanish Top 40-themed music radio station that broadcasts current and recent music, primarily focusing on genres such as pop, dance, electropop, Electro Latin, and Reggaeton. T ...

's Ignacio Videla described it as "one of the hits" from the album. Julyssa Lopez from ''

'', ranked the song among Alejandro's 10 Essential Songs, stating that it "signaled that Rauw was veering from the sensual R&B he'd set out to make and embracing the reggaeton roots he grew up on". Also from ''Rolling Stone'', Ernesto Lechner ranked it as the singer's 17th-best song in 2022, called its beat "crisp" and "as compact and tight as reggaetón can be", and praised Rosalía's "angelic voice" in the song.

Commercial performance

Following the release of ''Afrodisíaco'', "Dile a Él" debuted and peaked at number 59 in Spain on November 22, 2020, as an album track. It was later certified platinum by the

Productores de Música de España Productores de Música de España (; shortened as Promusicae) is the national organisation responsible for the music charts of Spain. it is a trade association that represents more than 90% of the Spanish recorded music industry. It is the Inter ...

(PROMUSICAE), for track-equivalent sales of over 60,000 units in the country. The song debuted at number 42 on the US ''

chart on August 7, 2021, becoming Alejandro's 22nd entry. On August 28, 2021, the track reached its peak of number 38. It also peaked at numbers 31 and 18 on the

Latin Airplay Latin Airplay is a chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It was established on October 20, 2012. This chart lists the 50 most-played songs on Spanish-language radio stations across the country ...

and

Latin Rhythm 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 o ...

charts, respectively. In Latin America, "Dile a Él" peaked at number 49 on the

Argentina Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Argentina Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in Argentina for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' and '' Billboard Argentina'' magazines. It ranks the most popular songs in Argentina and is compiled by util ...

and was certified platinum in Colombia.

Promotion

Music video

On December 13, 2020, Alejandro announced the fulfillment of the production of an accompanying

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

. On February 2, 2021, he shared a teaser of the video, announcing that it would be released "soon". The visual, directed by Alfred Marroquín, was released the following day. It was filmed in Miami and depicts Alejandro lost, remorseful and crestfallen for not having the chance to share his life with the person he loves. With some dark shots in color and in

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

, Alejandro is seen "carried away" by the music in several scenes.

Live performances

"Dile a Él" was included on the

s for Alejandro's the

and the Vice Versa Tour.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. *

associated performer, composer, lyricist, producer * Eydren con el Ritmo producer *

producer * Caleb Calloway producer * José M. Collazo "Colla" mastering engineer, mixing engineer * Jorge E. Pizarro "Kenobi" recording engineer * Eric Pérez Rovira "Eric Duars" executive producer * Amber Rubi Urena A&R coordinator * John Eddie Pérez A&R director

Charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2020 songs 2021 singles Rauw Alejandro songs Songs written by Rauw Alejandro Sony Music Latin singles Songs in Spanish