Ricos Besos

Album: non-album single (2014)
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Songfacts®:

  • Reggaeton singer Karol G had a hit with the flirty dancehall number "Ricos Besos" ("Sweet Kisses") in her native Colombia in 2014. Her growing success caught the attention of Universal Music Latino, the label that refused to sign the Medellin-born artist years earlier because they thought a female reggaeton performer was a bad commercial risk. In 2016, she was offered a contract by the very label that rejected her, and she issued her debut album, Unstoppable, the following year.
  • Karol G wrote this with Daniel Oviedo, better known as Ovy on the Drums, her longtime producer. The pair first met in 2013 when Ovy was asked to work on "Amor De Dos," her collaboration with Nicky Jam. When Ovy was delivering the finished track, he overheard Karol talking about how she needed a DJ to accompany her on gigs. Ovy offered his services and, although she was put off by his boldness, the singer accepted. Despite her reservations, Karol G warmed up to her new DJ over the course of the year and agreed to work on a song together, which ended up being the first of many: "Ricos Besos."

    "It was like he took a chip from my brain," Karol G told Rolling Stone in 2023. "It was exactly what I wanted for the song, and that's what has always happened with Ovy."

    Ovy felt the same spark and knew they found something special in their partnership. "The chemistry was born in the first song," he explained in a video interview. "There's always been a fluid energy between us.… Musically, I've given her my best and she's given me her best."
  • The Spanish-language lyrics find Karol G falling in love, or lust, at first sight and telling the object of her affection how she yearns to kiss him.

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