Better to Dog Alone Than in Bad Company: Women Change the Norms of Reggaeton

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Singer Bad Gyal's refusal to dance with Rauw Alejandro at a concert in Puerto Rico has sparked a debate this week about the role of women in reggaeton. On stage, he was surprised, going so far as to say that the Barcelona native was "shy". She has clarified in a statement that there is no problem between them, she just wanted to avoid "an unnecessary controversy", as the Puerto Rican is Rosalía's ex-partner. In the background, even unintentionally, the anecdote highlights a deeper debate: how in a genre that in a couple of decades has gone from the underground scene of Puerto Rico and Panama to become the new global pop, the role of women has changed in parallel with the advances of the feminist movement.

"It's interesting that the attitudes of reggaetoneros are being questioned; as in other areas of society, this musical genre has gone through a deconstruction of the role played by men and women," says Ecuadorian Gris Onofre, manager of artists such as LaTorre, MIEL and Fiebre. For her, the interesting thing is that more importance is now given to the idea of consent: "It's all well and good if you want to have sex with someone, whether it's on the dance floor or on stage, but make it consensual."

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Music.

Bad Gyal's blunt response after Rauw Alejandro called her "shy" for not wanting to with him: "I'm going to sing what I have to sing"

• Written by: EL MUNDO

Bad Gyal's blunt response after Rauw Alejandro called her "shy" for not wanting to with him: "I'm going to sing what I have to sing"

Music.

Rosalía's flamenco tribute to Rocío Jurado that brought the Latin Grammy audience to its feet

• Written by: SILVIA MORENO Sevilla
• Written by: PABLO GIL Sevilla
• Written by: ANDREA M. ROSA DEL REY Sevilla

Rosalía's flamenco tribute to Rocío Jurado that brought the Latin Grammy audience to its feet

Just as in cinema, fiction series and contemporary literature, the way of experiencing sex from female points of view is being revised. Gris Onofre mentions artists such as Colombian reggaeton singer Karol G as examples of a new narrative, where women go from being mere passive objects to becoming the owners of their own stories and decisions. "In her songs, sex becomes calmer, she doesn't appeal to it in such an obvious way, the message becomes a little more digestible," she says about one of the big winners at the Latin Grammys held in November in Seville thanks to her album Mañana será bonito (Universal Music Latino).

Colombian Leila Cobo, who has x-rayed the historic global explosion of new Latin and Spanish-language music as content director at Billboard magazine and author of the book La Fórmula "Despacito" (Penguin, 2021), agrees. "The message of reggaeton used to be about sex and parties, and suddenly, in songs like S91, Karol G talks about everything she has achieved based on talent and professionalism, and I think 'how cool is that, there is something that I can be inspired by, much more than if I can sleep with 20 guys'".

In 2003, exactly 20 years ago, Ivy Queen, who is considered the pioneer of reggaeton with a feminist message, was already singing from Puerto Rico: "I want to dance, you want to sweat and stick to me, the body rubs / I tell you: "Yes, you can provoke me", that doesn't mean that I'm going to bed." A message that is "empowering" to Leila Cobo, as it is "a real situation that all women in the world have gone through while in a discotheque".

New Wave of Feminism

The changes in the themes of the most popular songs of the last year, from the session of the Colombian Shakira with the Argentine producer Bizarrap Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53 or TQG of Karol G with Shakira herself are the reflection of the feminist movement, says the music journalist Aïda Camprubí. "The new wave of feminism has exposed toxic dynamics in couples, awakening that awareness that women are in unequal relationships and, in the case of artists, singing about it, whether it's against Piqué (the former FC Barcelona footballer and Shakira's ex-partner) or the guys they've just left."

For this Catalan cultural critic, the changes in the mainstream industry are important, but she regrets that sexuality continues to be "the predominant value" in the market. "I'm always in favor of making women's sexuality visible, but it would be nice if we could get to the top by exposing other parts of our artistic discourse," she reflects. And she denounces a problem with the debate that has been generated around Bad Gyal these days: "It doesn't matter if women dance or don't dance, in the end we always have to justify our actions."

"Reggaeton is not a macho genre, but the reflection of the machismo that exists in all music, from boleros to hip hop or pop," says Colombian Linapary, a DJ, producer and singer linked to the neoperreo scene, a kind of reggaeton with gender awareness and experimental sounds. "Now, obviously there are reggaeton songs that glorify violent sexual acts without consent against women," he continues. What's interesting, for her, is how women are appropriating those messages. "When artists start saying that we love sex too, in their own voice, that's when the story changes."

She remembers having experienced that reflection first-hand, realizing that the portrait of women as passive objects "is not so cool" when she went out partying in Colombia and listened to songs like La Groupie (2015), where four men (Nicky Jam, Luigi 21 Plus, Ñejo and Ñengo Flow) blurt out verses such as: "She wants sex, I bellaquera,/ Give you like a bitch,/ Like any other (...) / She becomes the dumbest, / badly born, piroba". "When you're dancing with your friends in a nightclub, you don't think that your integrity as a woman is being violated. But when you get home you can choose what you're going to listen to and I don't feel like calling Luigi a bad girl anymore."

Puerto Rican cultural manager Patricia Velázquez had the same internal debate when someone at the university asked her, "How can you be a feminist and listen to reggaeton?" In the podcast for Radio Ambulante Hasta Abajo: si no puedo perrear no es mi revolución, she explains that growing up in Puerto Rico, songs such as Gata celosa, performed in 2002 by Héctor & Tito and Magnate & Valentino ("Mi gata celosa es empresaria,/ siempre está pendiente a mi cuenta banco") have been the soundtrack of her life. However, I had never reflected on the representation of women in letters.

In his search he came to a conclusion: "There is no macho violence because of reggaeton, it is something that already exists in real life and that is reflected in the songs, as well as in many other aspects of society such as television, newspapers or Instagram. We see violence against women everywhere." Patricia Velázquez decided to create Hasta Bajo Project, an initiative with which she aspires to create a museum about reggaeton and with which she promotes talks about perreo... and feminism. "It is precisely my feminism that allows me to decide what I like, what I want to listen to, what I dance and what I don't, and what gives me authority over my body and my decisions."

When the shift towards a more conscious reggaeton began is uncertain. In 2021, two anthems were released that celebrate women who perrean alone without the need for men: Bichota by Karol G and Las Nenas by Natti Natasha together with Cazzu, Farina and La Duraca, one of the first reggaeton songs with only female collaborations.

2023 has been the year in which women have become more visible than ever in reggaeton and in general in the new urban dance music that dominates the market in Latin America and European countries such as Spain, where the phenomenon has been dominating the commercial charts for at least seven years (since the release of Despacito, in 2016) thanks to a shared language and the tastes of the new generations. The progression of Argentine artists such as María Becerra, Emilia Mernes and Nicki Nikole, who performs on March 21 at the WiZink Center in Madrid, stands out.

Linapary points to the pandemic as a trigger for the shift in perspective from reggaeton towards more inclusive sensibility. "With the forced confinement at home, in some cases the mistreatment was accentuated, machismo became more evident, so many artists began to sing about it." When physical parties returned, starting in 2021, safe spaces began to normalize. "Reggaeton parties have always been very heteronormative until this much more inclusive trend caught on, with the message of dress as you want, dance as you want, if you feel attacked talk to the security team, the dance floor should be a place to enjoy free of harassment."

The Colombian artist lives in Madrid and is connected to the scenes of Latin America but also of Berlin, London and Paris. From Spain he mentions festivals such as Felina in the capital, Fuego in Barcelona, La Bollo Party in Zaragoza, Roto in Valencia and Pegao in Seville. The visibility of the LGTBIQ+ collective has been one of the great advances of the new reggaeton, with artists such as the Puerto Rican Young Miko, with almost 30 million monthly listeners on Spotify in just two years of career.

"Time will tell if this step forward is firm or just a trend, we have to keep fighting because parity is not real, neither in society nor in reggaeton and certainly not in the music industry either," reflects Aïda Camprubí. From Billboard, Leila Cobo also lowers the enthusiasm: in the list of the most listened to Latin artists (with figures from the United States market), in 2023 only Karol G enters the top 10, in third position, followed by Shakira (14th), Rosalía (17th), Becky G (31st) and Kali Uchis (32nd). "It's a bit sad, the trend is that there are more and more women, but those who achieve success are very few," she concludes.

• music
• Pop
• Rosalía
• Latin Music
• Reggaeton