Mestizaje & Mainstream
Reggaeton & Whitening….
The academic article Bienaventurado el que escuche este liriqueo: Negotiating Latinidad through reggaeton by Regina Solis Miranda describes “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi ft Daddy Yankee as , “characterized by catchy rhymes and romantic lyrics that highlight body parts.”(Miranda, 504). The songs, referring to body parts, is a key detail representative of appealing to the white gaze which often associates Latinx communities with hypersexuality. The music video features grinding and other “sensual” forms of movement. That, combined with the forwardly sexual lyrics may intentionally or unintentionally be leaning into what white viewers expect, or even want to see in pop music from Latinx performers. Lyrics aside, the melodies and rhythms of the song are notably less complex than the Reggaeton genre's origins in Reggae. They are easy to hum along to and do not require much past exposure to the style to be able to engage with – an element that is key in fostering “mainstream” popularity and a lesson taught to those who aspire to write long lasting and catchy hooks in music. Miranda’s claims about the “sonic blanqueamiento" (whitening) of Reggaeton in the Early 2000s is supported by the boom of music like “Despacito”.
“Whitening” as an inherently intersectional topic, begs our attention to be turned to the narratives about women. Looking into the presence of women in modern Latinx music and media is a phenomenon worth comparing with early 20th century Mexican writer and politician José Vasconcelos. Vasconcelos promoted the consolidation of the “mestizo as the superior, universal race” as Linnete Manrique puts it in the academic article Dreaming of a cosmic race: José Vasconcelos and the politics of race in Mexico, 1920s–1930s. Vasconcelos believed in the superiority of the mixed person, yet still with a white phenotype. His movement focuses on controlling the ethnic outcome of the population via eugenics methodology. This led women – as the harbingers of new generations – to be policed in their reproductive “choices”. Women who were unideal according to Vasconcelos' standards were susceptible to coerced or even forced sterilization. Those who were considered unfit, were often phenotypically connected to the African diaspora. The women that appear in “sexy” songs and videos like “Despacito” will be the kind that adhere most to white standards of beauty and the standards of brownness that Vasconcelos would likely approve of. Perhaps they will have slightly darker features than the arian features historically valued in women, but nothing more than politely bronzed skin and dark brown hair. Most importantly, they will be very VERY skinny – a standard of skinniness that is deeply motivated by racism which actively discriminates against features associated with blackness and brownness. The “palatable” women in these videos assist the acceptance of Latinx presence in the mainstream with the condition that they not diverge too far from white taste.