The 23-year-old Canadian superstar — who in recent years has been as known for off-stage antics as for his music — had been due to resume his “Purpose” tour on Thursday with 15 shows across North America and Asia. “Due to unforeseen circumstances, Justin Bieber will cancel the remainder of the ‘Purpose World Tour’ concerts,” … Read more
Muslim-majority Malaysia has stopped playing the sexually charged song “Despacito” on public broadcast stations, a senior minister said Thursday after critics labelled it un-Islamic. Salleh Said Keruak, communications and multimedia minister, told AFP that his ministry received numerous complaints over the steamy lyrics of the reggaeton beat song that has won international popularity. “Despacito will … Read more
Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito,” whose reggaeton beat has swept the globe, on Wednesday was named the most streamed song of all time. The song’s label, Universal Music Latin Entertainment, said “Despacito” in its original and remixed versions had reached 4.6 billion streams across platforms including YouTube and Spotify. “Despacito” — a racy track … Read more
“Gangnam Style,” the quirky South Korean video that spawned a global dance craze and went so viral it nearly broke YouTube, has finally been dethroned as the most watched video. After four and a half years as YouTube’s most seen video, “Gangnam Style” slipped late Monday to number two, replaced by “See You Again” by … Read more
Psy’s Gangnam Style is no longer the most-watched video on YouTube. The South Korean megahit had been the site’s most-played clip for the last five years. The surreal video became so popular that it “broke” YouTube’s play counter, exceeding the maximum possible number of views (2,147,483,647), and forcing the company to rewrite its code. But … Read more
Reggaeton music has long been a fixture in nightclubs around the Spanish-speaking world, but that hasn’t brought it critical acceptance, with the genre rooted in Puerto Rico’s marginalized communities. The genre so scorned by the elites has suddenly found a massive new market with the global success of Luis Fonsi’s song “Despacito.” “Despacito” is the … Read more
More than 20 years after the “Macarena” sensation, a Spanish-language song has again conquered the US singles chart — Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito.” The song has soared to the top of the charts through an assist by pop celebrity Justin Bieber, who appears on a remix version with a breathy opening verse in … Read more