"El Problema" ("The Problem") is a

Latin pop Latin pop () 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. It originates with List of countries where Spanish is an official language, Spanish-speaking ...

song written, produced and performed by Guatemalan

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

winner singer-songwriter

Ricardo Arjona Edgar Ricardo Arjona Morales (born 19 January 1964), known as Ricardo Arjona (), is a Guatemalan singer and songwriter. He is one of the most successful and best-selling Latin American artists of all time, with more than 20 million records sold ...

. It was released as the

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

from his ninth studio album, '' Santo Pecado'' (2002). It is also recognized as one of Ricardo Arjona's

signature song A signature (; from , "to sign") is a depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. Signatures are often, but not always, handwritten or styliz ...

s. Critically and commercially successful, the song became a hit by the singer, staying at No.1 for eight consecutive weeks at the ''

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 ...

and twelve weeks at No.1 on the

Latin Pop Songs The '' Billboard'' Latin pop charts began in 1985 when an album chart were introduced as Latin Pop Albums in the June 29 issue of the magazine. In October 1994, ''Billboard'' then established Latin Pop Airplay, which initially rank the most-played ...

chart, both being the most by any of his singles to date.

Reception

On the success of the song, Arjona commented that "it is an accident that happens, and you doesn't now how it is about. I thought 'El Problema' wasn't a song that could sound on radio and it happened." Mario Tarradell from ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...

'' commented that "filled with lengthy verses and a gospellike chorus, the cut hardly sounds like your usual drive-time fodder."

Music video

The music video for "El Problema" was filmed between November 16 and 18, 2002 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Spain. The video features the singer chasing a woman throughout the city to finally find her at the La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona's biggest church, in which he is arrested by the police and sent to prison.

Track listing

Chart performance

"El Problema" became a huge commercial success for Arjona. The song debuted at No.27 on the ''

'' Latin Songs chart the week ending November 2, 2002. The following week it jumped to No.11, receiving the "Greatest Gainer" honor for that week. On the week ending November 16, "El Problema" jumped to No.9, thus becoming Arjona's third song to reach the top 10, after "Desnuda" and "Cuando", both of which reached No.1 in 2000. The week ending December 7, 2002, "El Problema" reached No.1 on the chart, and stayed there for eight consecutive weeks. On the

chart, it debuted at No.17 on the week ending November 2, 2002, and reached No.1 on the week ending November 30."Latin Pop Songs of the week"
Billboard. Nielsen Soundscan. Retrieved on April 30, 2012. The song stayed at No.1 for nine consecutive weeks. It is, to date, the longest-running number-one single by the Guatemalan singer on both charts.

Weekly charts

Yearly charts

Decade-End charts

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Problema, El 2002 songs Ricardo Arjona songs Songs written by Ricardo Arjona Songs in Spanish