Pop Culture dictionary
Despacito
[des pah see toh]
黑料网 does Despacito mean?
Literally meaning “slowly” in Spanish, 顿别蝉辫补肠颈迟辞听is a massively popular 2017 Spanish-language song by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, later remixed with superstar Justin Bieber.听
Where does Despacito come from?
In Spanish, the adverb听despacito听is the diminutive form of听despacio, “slow,” giving its meaning of “slowly” a gentle, soft connotation. The word forms the title and part of the key lyrics of the pop song, “Despacito.” Puerto Rican singer Luis Fons released听Despacito, featuring Daddy Yankee, as a single in 2017. The song听tells the story of courting a woman with suave and charm.听The word despacito is refrained throughout the song, as in one chorus, “Despacito /听Quiero respirar tu cuello despacito (Slowly / I want to breath in your neck slowly),” expressing how the singer wants to seduce the woman slowly, or despacito.
The music video, released in tandem with the song, shows Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee singing and mingling with the people of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.听It has been viewed over 5 billion times on YouTube鈥攖he record as of April, 2018.
Despacito gained immediate acclaim, as its YouTube views no doubt makes clear. In addition to being the most streamed song of 2017, it was also a chart-topper on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs. The remix featuring Justin Bieber then held the number-one spot on Billboard for 16 weeks, staying on the charts overall for a full year. The song was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2018 Grammy Awards.
Examples of Despacito
Who uses Despacito?
At the height of Despacito‘s popularity in the summer of 2017, it enjoyed worldwide rotation. The song was heavily played on the radio, at sporting events, and at dance clubs. It charted in over 27 countries, a testament to how wide the song spread. The song has even been translated and sung in Mandarin Chinese.
Due to its popularity among English speaking populations and it being a Spanish-language song, many were not entirely sure of Despacito‘s lyrics. Thus, when singing along to the song, despacito is often the only word many people know鈥攁nd this includes Justin Bieber. Though he helped make the song an even greater international sensation, Bieber himself notably doesn’t perform听Despacito听at his solo shows, as he recorded the Spanish-language parts for the remix by phonetics, not by fluency or comprehension.
Among Spanish speakers, meanwhile,听despacito听can be used flirtatiously, but it is also used in a variety of other situations, such as asking someone to speak more slowly (habla mas despacito). It hasn’t yet seen extensive borrowing into English as a word for “slowly” other than in reference to the song and video.
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of Despacito like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of Despacito that will help our users expand their word mastery.