J Balvin
TEOGRAPH*J Balvin’s music video for “Perra” in collaboration with Tokischa was removed from YouTube over the weekend, Billboard has learned.
The track that fuses Balvin’s edgy reggaeton beats with Tokischa’s dembow premiered on Sept. 10 and forms part of Balvin’s José album, which earned him his fourth No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart. “Perra” debuted at No. 48 on Hot Latin Songs. With a chorus that says: “I am a female dog in heat/ I'm looking for a dog to hit it/ Hey, you're a hot dog in heat/ And you are looking for a dog to hit it,” the raunchy street-slang lyrics describe two people who desire each other.
The music video, directed by Raymi Paulus, Tokischa’s manager, shows the Colombian artist entering “el bajo mundo,” where he meets up with the Dominican newcomer. The visual shows Balvin tugging at two Black women on leashes, a group of Black people that were made up to look like dogs, and Tokischa posing on all fours inside a doghouse.
On Sunday, the music video was removed from Balvin’s YouTube channel. Neither Balvin nor Tokischa have released an official statement.
The removal of the music video also came less than a week after Colombia’s vice president and chancellor Marta Lucía Ramírez said the visual was “sexist, racist, machista, and misogynistic."
“In his video, the artist uses images of women and people of Afro-descendants -- population groups with special constitutional protection -- whom he presents with dog ears,” she wrote in an open letter published on Oct. 11. "In addition, while walking, the singer carries two Afro-descendant women tied with neck chains and crawling on the floor like animals or slaves. As if this were not enough, the lyrics of the song have direct and openly sexist, racist, machista, and misogynistic expressions that violate the rights of women, comparing them to an animal that must be dominated and mistreated."
In the letter, she publicly encouraged Balvin and the music industry to sign a petition that “includes various commitments for the promotion of women's rights in music and prevention of violence against them.”
Although the audio track for “Perra” is still live on YouTube, Billboard cannot confirm if the official music video was taken down by the artist or the video-sharing platform.
Billboard reached out to YouTube for comment but did not hear back at press time.
Fontaines D.C. have teamed up with Rosalía for their new collaboration, Where Is Gone?.
The song features on the Irish rock band's forthcoming album, Dopamine Chamber, which arrives on Friday (16.10.26). For guitarist Carlos O’Connell, working with the Spanish superstar is particularly special because of his own Spanish roots.
He explained: “I’ve admired Rosalía ever since her debut album, which I thought was absolutely beautiful.
“What excited me most was the way she continued to preserve Spain's musical traditions, something that felt spiritually connected to what we've been trying to achieve with Irish music. Having roots in both countries, it's been really special to witness. "She's an artist who has continued to amaze me at every point in her career.”
Frontman Grian Chatten has also described the collaboration with Rosalía as one of the most memorable achievements of his career.
He revealed that he felt "humbled" when she agreed to lend her voice to the band's album.
Speaking to NPR, Grian said: “I've always felt there's something almost like a single big idea that I'm personally trying to communicate to the world before I get old and die, if that makes sense. There's one thing I think I'll spend my life trying to express. I have a feeling she has a similar outlook. … I mean, she's an amazing arranger, composer and lyricist. It means so much that she wanted to sing on something we'd put together. It's definitely one of the highlights of my career.”
Rosalía's links to Irish rock music extend beyond Fontaines D.C. She also offered inspiration and helped develop the Spanish lyrics for U2's The Mirror Maker (Rosalía), a track from their forthcoming album, Carnaval de Luz.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last week, she spoke about frontman Bono, saying: “I don't know him personally, but he sent me a text explaining that he was working on a new project and had written a song called The Mirror Maker."
Rosalía joked that Bono had invented a few words of his own.
She recalled telling him: “I wasn't sure what to make of it, but I told him he could create his own language if he wanted to.”
She described the opportunity to collaborate with the 66 year old music veteran as a real privilege.
She added: “Bono is a legend.
“It's amazing.”
Bono recently revealed that he was worried about seeming like a stalker when he reached out to Rosalía to ask whether he could name the song after her.
