"Wrong Way" -Sublime
"The Girl from Ipanema" -Astrud Gilberto, Joao Gilberto & Stan Getz
"Caress Me Down" -Sublime
"Maria, Maria" -Santana
"Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" -Lila Downs
"Macorina" -Susana Baca
"Shake Your Bon Bon" -Ricky Martin
"Here We Are" -Gloria Estefan
"Love Don't Cost a Thing" -Jennifer Lopez
"Hips Don't Lie" -Shakira
"She Bangs" -Ricky Martin
"Come Baby Come" -K7
"Do You Know? (The Ping Pong Song)" -Enrique Iglesias
"Gasolina" -Daddy Yankee
"Love Confusion" -Kat DeLuna
Artist: Sublime
Title: Wrong Way
Album: Robbin’ The Hood
Year Released: 1994
Recording Label: MCA Records
Catalog #: 113073
Similar to many of the songs seen in both previous playlists, the song “Wrong Way” depicts a man who is unable to control himself despite his knowledge that he is going about things in the “wrong way”. The song also serves as a social commentary of Latin American women, some of whom are forced into trades that they would not choose for themselves. The song follows the themes of growing up too soon, and a lack of respect towards women. The song’s lyrics state “A cigarette rests between her lips, but I’m starin’ at her tits it’s the wrong way. Strong if I can, but I am only a man, so I take her to the can, It’s the wrong way”.
Artist: Astrud Gilberto, Joao Gilberto & Stan Getz
Title: The Girl from Ipanema
Album: Gilberto Golden Japanese Album
Year Released: 1967
Recording Label: Verve
Catalog #: UCCV-3023
This song, with its origin in Brazil, talks about the power of a young beautiful girl to attract men. The lyrics tell the story of a girl walking along the sea every day and the man who longs for her despite the fact that he does not even know her name. Similar to much American music, this song depicts the power of women over men. He does not even know her and yet he would gladly give his heart away to the nameless young girl who walks along the water. The music style is Bossa nova, a fusion of samba and jazz typical of the region. The rhythm of the song creates a swaying feeling that brings the lyrics alive as the men watch the swaying of the girl walking. Additionally, the deep tenor of the saxophone in the song is representative by the man’s disappointment that the girl does not notice him.
Artist: Sublime
Title: Caress Me Down
Album: Sublime
Year Released: 1996
Recording Label: MCA Records
Catalog #: 11413
This song depicts women as sex objects there just to give men pleasure. “Caress Me Down” makes light of a man going to have sex with a young girl and graphically describes what they do. The lyrics are sung in a combination of Spanish and English, illustrating the influences of both Latin and American cultures on the group. Additionally, the song has a reggae quality to it, emphasizing the laid back, relaxed way in which sex is treated. There is also an obvious sexual sigh that follows the words “caress me down” throughout the lyrics, further indicating the shallow nature of this relationship, which focuses solely on sexual pleasure.
Artist: Santana
Title: Maria, Maria
Album: Supernatural
Year Released: 1999
Recording Label: Arista
Catalog #: 19080
This song portrays women as strong and capable of making something of their lives. “Maria, Maria” follows the story of a young woman who leaves her hometown for a better life in the United States. She is capable of picking up and moving to find a better life for herself. Additionally, Maria serves as a symbol of love, as the man she leaves behind continues to love her even after she has gone (“Maria you know you’re my love when the wind blows I can feel you. Through the weather and even when we’re apart, It feels like we’re together Maria”). The song itself combines elements of rock, salsa and jazz-fusion, reflecting Santana’s various musical influences both from Mexico and the US.
Artist: Lila Downs
Title: Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps
Album: Border (La Linea)
Year Released: 2001
Recording Label: Narada
Catalog #: 10265
This song also follows the familiar theme of women searching for commitment. The narrator continues to ask her lover about his feelings for her, however her partner is non-committal and refuses to give her a meaningful answer. All she gets from him when asked if he loves her is “perhaps”. This song is also sung in a combination of Spanish and English with aspects of Latin American rhythms, blues, hip hop and jazz, illustrating the influences of both Latin American and American culture on Lila Down’s music.
Artist: Susana Baca
Title: Macorina
Album: Eco de Sombras: Echo of Shadows
Year Released: 2000
Recording Label: Luaka Bop
Catalog #: 990042
This song describes women as beautiful, intoxicating and sexual. It also explores the familiar theme of women as a drug, addictive to the men who find themselves lost without them. Additionally, this particular song even goes so far as to describe various body parts of women as pieces of fruit (“Your breasts, flesh of a breadfruit. Your mouth, a blessing of rip guanabana”). The song is sung entirely in Spanish and has a poetic soulful quality to it.
Artist: Ricky Martin
Title: Shake Your Bon Bon
Album: One Night Only
Year Released: 1999
Recording Label: Columbia
Catalog #: 50209
This song also portrays women as objects of sexual desire and physical attraction, along with noting the element of lack of control by the men in their presence. There is also an element of idyllic love where the narrator is searching for his “Juliet”. This song provides an interesting contrast with the song “Love Story” by Taylor Swift in Playlist 1, where the narrator also uses the metaphor of Romeo and Juliet to describe idyllic love. This song also repeats the phrase “Shake Your Bon Bon” over and over again along with a rhythmic shaking beat. The music has a melody that is at times reminiscent of a snake charmer, much the way these men are being charmed by the women.
Artist: Gloria Estefan
Title: Here We Are
Album: Greatest Hits
Year Released: 1992
Recording Label: Epic
Catalog #: 53046
In contrast to many of the other songs that appear in this playlist, this song depicts women as the victims in broken relationships when men break up with them. The vocalist is lamenting more than just the loss of a physical relationship and focuses much more on the emotional relationship and her broken heart. Her emotion is easily felt through her sorrowful voice. The lyrics state, “Baby when you’re loving me I feel like I could cry, ‘cause there’s nothing I can do to keep from loving you”.
Artist: Jennifer Lopez
Title: Love Don’t Cost a Thing
Album: J. Lo
Year Released: 2001
Recording Label: Epic
Catalog #: 63786
In this song, Jennifer Lopez explores the familiar theme of the pursuit of love and commitment from a partner. This song describes women who are searching for a real relationship and want to be treated well. In addition, similarly to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”, “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” also emphasizes the importance of love over bribery (“You think the money that you make can substitute the time you take. Take the keys here to my heart then you can win my heart, and get what’s in my heart, I think you need to take some time to show me that your love is true”). The music echoes Jennifer Lopez’s demand that men need to listen to her and treat her right through the insistent beat, showing her strength.
Artist: Shakira
Title: Hips Don’t Lie
Album: Oral Fixation
Year Released: 2005
Recording Label: Sony/Epic
Catalog #: 1585
In this song, women’s sex appeal is once again the main focus. The song centers on the art of dance and the way it renders the men watching incapable of self restraint (“Oh boy, I can see your body moving, half animal, half man. I don’t, don’t really know what I’m doing but you seem to have a plan, My will and self restraint, have come to fail now, fail now”). This song is also sung in a mixture of Spanish and English, drawing on aspects of both the Latin American and American cultures.
Artist: Ricky Martin
Title: She Bangs
Album: Dome, Vol 16
Year Released: 2000
Recording Label: Sony Music Distribution
Catalog #: 4998482
This song also describes women as nameless sex objects meant for the enjoyment of men. The lyrics state, “She bangs, she bangs, oh baby. When she moves, she moves, I go crazy. ‘Cause she looks like a flower but she stings like a bee. Like every girl in history. She bangs, she bangs”. In particular I think it is interesting to note that women are also compared to bee’s in Elvis Presley’s “I Got Stung” in 1958. The music in “She Bangs” has many obvious Latin influences as can be seen though the salsa like melody.
Artist: K7
Title: Come Baby Come
Album: Tommy Boy Greatest Hits
Year Released: 1990
Recording Label: Rhino
Catalog #: 73667
This song also describes women as sex objects through it’s very descriptive and directive lyrics and it’s rough rap lyrics. The song is very paternalistic (When I come into the bedroom, wham bam, ‘Cause I’m king of the castle) and seems to order the woman around (Well you gotta give me lovin’ and you gotta give me some). The song is purely about sex and has very little regard for love or any meaning in the relationship. The song itself also is sung by all men with male background singers that occasionally echo what is sung by the lead singer. This arrangement emphasizes the masculinity in the relationship and the powerlessness of the women within the act of sex.
Artist: Enrique Iglesias
Title: Do You Know? (The Ping Pong Song)
Album: Insomniac
Year Released: 2007
Recording Label: Interscope Records
Catalog #: 0008964
This song describes the anguish of a man who has been left by the woman he loves. It portrays women as uncommunicative and cruel in a relationship where the man is left confused and alone. The lyrics state, “Do you know what it feels like loving someone that’s in a rush to throw you away? Do you know what it feels like to be the last one to know the lock on the door has changed?” The song has been recorded in both English and Spanish and the techno beat of the song shows the influence of the Spanish discotecas found in Mexico.
Artist: Daddy Yankee
Title: Gasolina
Album: Barrio Fino
Year Released: 2004
Recording Label: Universal Distribution
Catalog #: 3041
This song also portrays women as sex objects. This reggaeton song was written in Spanish and when translated, it technically talks about women liking gasoline. However, “gasolina” is actually Puerto Rican slang for the male ejaculate, suggesting instead that women like sex. Additionally, the song is sung almost entirely by male singers with the exception of the occasional chanting of the women saying “da me mas gasolina”, translated to mean “give me more ejaculate”. The entire song is degrading to women and portrays them as beings there purely for the sexual enjoyment of men.
Artist: Kat DeLuna
Title: Love Confusion
Album: 9 Lives
Year Released: 2007
Recording Label: Epic
Catalog #: 8869704023
This song discusses the confusion of a woman who has fallen too much in love with a man to differentiate what she feels and who she is. This song can almost be interpreted as a cautionary tale to women to retain their individuality even in the midst of a love affair for risk of losing yourself in the process. The lyrics state, “Why, why am I so lost in you? And I don’t even know me anymore. Why, I don’t know why I’m so confused, Cause I’m hating that I love you this much boy”. The music of the song shows Latin salsa influence while sung in English, showing the artist’s connection to both cultures.
