The new science of the truly unstoppable, impossible-to-resist summer jam
“ESTO HAY QUE TOMARLO SIN NINGÚN apuro,” Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee implore in the first verse of “Despacito.” Take it slow, in other words. Which makes sense considering that’s what despacito means in Spanish. But the track’s rise to becoming the undisputed song of the summer this year—not to mention the most-watched video of all time—was anything but sluggish.
“Despacito,” along with its remix, reigns by every conceivable music metric, topping
