21.10.19

WISIN & YANDEL, “SEXY MOVIMIENTO”

19th January, 2008

Wiki | Video

Reggaetón enters its decadent phase. The banging rhythm is buried below layers of whooshing electronics, the wordplay and intertextuality of its hip-hop and dancehall origins is streamlined into bone-simple repetition, each of Wisin's verses choosing a single rhyme and hitting it over and over again without regard for sounding cool or making sense. The economic bubble of the mid 2000s was in full effect: it was the era of "My Humps," of Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, of Two and a Half Men -- the week before "Sexy Movimiento," another superb single that closely resembles its ethos of stupidly horny excess was released: "Low" by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain.

The heist-driven music video closely apes the style of the Fast and Furious movies, and it's not a coincidence that the stylized W and Y on the single cover resemble a high-end automobile logo. The aesthetics of the automobile industry, especially the testosterone-marketed muscle-car sector, are those adopted by the trio of name producers -- Nesty, Victor "El Nasi" and Marioso -- necessary to give the song its gleaming finish: a powerful engine, velvety shock absorbers, chrome detailing, the sense that it could run forever without getting tired. Even Yandel's voice, not yet treated with the flanged AutoTune that will overrun the genre within a year, is filtered and doubled as if in imitation of thrumming pistons.

It's extremely macho music, but like the aforementioned film franchise its hypermasculinity is not overtly toxic: to the extent that there's a coherent thought in the lyrics, it's appreciation of feminine beauty, fascination, and self-possession. Although even the video spends as little time as possible on the curves of the female models, preferring to showcase Wisin and Yandel's exquisitely-tailored good looks: they are firmly aware of their audience, and at least in their big pop singles are not above catering to it.

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