"Taki Taki" is a song by French-Algerian DJ and record producer

DJ Snake William Sami Étienne Grigahcine (born 13 June 1986), known by his stage name DJ Snake, is a French DJ and record producer. He was first credited with production work on several singles for other artists—including " Shut It Down" by Pitbull an ...

, featuring American singer

Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, producer, and businesswoman. Gomez began her career as a child actress, appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), a ...

, Puerto Rican singer

Ozuna Juan Carlos Ozuna Rosado (; born March 13, 1992), known simply by his surname Ozuna, is a Puerto Rican singer, born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico to a Dominican father and a Puerto Rican mother. Five of his studio albums have topped ...

, and Dominican-American rapper

Cardi B Belcalis Marlenis Cephus (; born October 11, 1992), known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper. Noted for her unfiltered public image and lyrics, Cardi B is one of the most successful female rappers. From 2015 to early 2017, she ga ...

. The song was released on 28 September 2018 as the second single from DJ Snake's second studio album ''

Carte Blanche A blank cheque or blank check in the literal sense is a cheque that has no monetary value written in, but is already signed. In the figurative sense, it is used to describe a situation in which an agreement has been made that is open-ended or va ...

'' (2019). It was written and arranged by Bava (aka Ava Brignol), Belcalis Almanzar, Jorden Thorpe, Juan Carlos Ozuna Rosado, Juan G. Rivera, Max Borghetti, Selena Gomez, Vicente Saavedra, William Grigahcine. Ozuna opens the moombahton and

reggaetón Reggaeton (, ) is a modern style of popular and electronic music that originated in Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puerto Rican musicians. It has evolved fr ...

song in Spanish, while Cardi B and Gomez follow in both English and Spanish. The song's music video, directed by

Colin Tilley Colin Tilley (born June 27, 1988) is an American filmmaker, music video director, and television commercial director. Tilley is the CEO and owner of Boy in the Castle Productions. He has directed more than 300 music videos. Tilley directed, pr ...

, was released on 9 October 2018 and features the four artists and several dancers inside of an ancient temple ruin within a volcano. The single reached number one in sixteen countries (including Argentina, Portugal and Spain), several of which were outside the

Hispanophone Hispanophone refers to anything related to the Spanish language. In a cultural, rather than merely linguistic sense, the notion of "Hispanophone" goes further than the above definition. The Hispanic culture is the legacy of the vast and prolonge ...

market. It received a Diamond

certification Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...

in France, went

quadruple Platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

in the US, and won nine

music award A music award is an award or prize given to honour skill or distinction in music. There are different awards in different countries, and awards may focus on or exclude certain music; for example, some awards are only for classical music and not f ...

s. "Taki Taki" made Cardi B the first female rapper to top the

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

Global Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...

chart, extended her record as the first female rapper with multiple billion-streamers on the platform, and made Ozuna the artist with the most one billion-view videos on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. It has amassed over two billion views on the platform as well as 1.5 billion streams on Spotify.

Background

In July 2018, Cardi B confirmed a collaboration with DJ Snake, Ozuna and a third mystery guest. The following month,

and Cardi B teased a behind-the-scenes look at the song's music video shoot, which was filmed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. On 17 September 2018, DJ Snake announced the release date.

Composition

"Taki Taki", a reference to percussion and drum beats, is classed primarily as a moombahton and reggaetón song. The whistle sample (in the

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's d ...

) is from ''Sounds of

KSHMR Niles Hollowell-Dhar (born October 6, 1988), known professionally as Kshmr (pronounced "Kashmir" and stylized in all caps), is an American musician, DJ, songwriter, record producer, former rapper, and singer. He was ranked 23rd on ''DJ Mag''s 20 ...

Vol.2''. The track runs for three minutes and thirty-two seconds. Ozuna opens the track and provides the chorus, while Cardi B and Gomez follow, performing in English and Spanish. Lyrically, the song sees Ozuna expressing his style of seduction, inviting his love interest to dance and interpreting what the other is thinking. Sheet music for "Taki Taki" showed the key of C♯ minor in

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

with a fast tempo of 96 beats per minute.

Music videos

The music video for "Taki Taki" premiered on 9 October 2018 on DJ Snake's YouTube channel. The video was directed by

. A short teaser clip was shown at the 2018 American Music Awards. The video is set in a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

world. The clip transitions with various landscapes showing the quartet together with a volcano in the background and in the solo scenes. These scenes include DJ Snake out in the storm near a

Range Rover The Land Rover Range Rover, generally shortened to Range Rover, is a Sport utility vehicle, 4x4 Luxury car, luxury SUV produced by Land Rover, a marque and sub-brand of Jaguar Land Rover, owned by Tata Motors. The Range Rover line was launched ...

, Ozuna in a women-filled pit, Cardi B wearing a black bodysuit covered by a black cape accompanied by dancers, and Gomez in a green monochromatic outfit in the forest. It became the fifth fastest video of 2018 to reach 100 million views, and ranked among the top 10 fastest overall. "Taki Taki" made Ozuna the artist with the most 1 billion-view videos on YouTube, with over seven videos. As of August 2022, the video has received over 2.3 billion views on

. A pixel video for "Taki Taki" was released on 11 December 2018 on YouTube, which featured animated pixel versions of the four artists dancing in various backgrounds. The lyrics "Booty explota como ''nagasaki''" (Booty blows up like Nagasaki) was criticized by Japanese media for belittling the

atomic bombing of Nagasaki On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, during World War II. The aerial bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civili ...

and the experience of its survivors. The lyrics were changed to "Booty explota como saki saki" (Booty blows up like saki saki), as requested by Universal Music LLC. This change in the lyrics was made in the official video.

Commercial performance

In the United States, "Taki Taki" debuted at number one on the

Hot Latin Songs The ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs (formerly Hot Latin Tracks and Hot Latin 50) is a record chart in the United States for Latin music, Latin songs, published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine. Since October 2012, chart ranki ...

, where Ozuna replaced himself at the top with " Te Boté", while bowing at number 27 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It eventually reached number 11 on the Hot 100 during its fourth week. It became Gomez's 16th consecutive top 40 entry on the Hot 100, the longest active run of any artist. In the US

Latin Airplay Latin Airplay is a chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It was established on October 20, 2012. This chart lists the 50 most-played songs on Spanish-language radio stations across the country ...

chart, it became the first number one for both DJ Snake and Gomez, the eighth for Ozuna and third for Cardi B. In addition, "Taki Taki" reached number one in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Spain and Venezuela; the song also reached the top 10 in Belgium, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Paraguay, the Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland; as well as the top 20 in Austria, Finland, Ireland, Lebanon, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States. The song had a strong international impact, reaching the top of the

Global 50 chart where it has stayed for over four weeks. This made Cardi B the first female rapper to achieve such a feat. It became DJ Snake's third song to reach a billion streams on Spotify, as well as Cardi's third and Gomez's and Ozuna's first. Cardi B extended her record as the first female rapper with multiple billion-streamers. As of November 2018, the song has reached number one on the official charts of 15 countries and the top 10 of 33 countries around the world.

Live performances

Ozuna and Cardi B performed the song together live for the first time at the Dominican Republic's ''Electric Paradise Festival'' on 22 December 2018. Ozuna also performed the song at the 2019 Premios Lo Nuestro. On 15 March 2019, he performed the song as part of a medley with " Baila Baila Baila" on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It i ...

''. The only time in which all four artists—DJ Snake, Ozuna, Cardi B and Selena Gomez—took to the stage together was during DJ Snake's set at the 2019

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colora ...

Indio, California Indio (Spanish language, Spanish for "Indian") is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. Indio is approximately east of Los Angeles, east of Palm Springs, ...

, much to the audience’s excitement. Ozuna featured the song during his headlining set and livestreamed performance at the

Viña Del Mar International Song Festival The Viña del Mar International Song Festival () is an annual international music festival held every third week of February in Viña del Mar, Chile. Started in 1960 it is the oldest and largest music festival in Latin America, and one of the long ...

, in

Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, on 28 February 2020. He also performed the song during the ''

Celebrating America ''Celebrating America'' is a television special which aired as part of the post-inaugural events following the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20, 2021. Hosted by actor Tom Hanks and produced by Ricky Kirshner, Glenn Weiss, and Stephanie Cut ...

'' inauguration special in 2021.

Awards and nominations

Track listing

*Digital download #"Taki Taki" – 3:32 *CD single #"Taki Taki" – 3:33 #" Magenta Riddim" – 3:15

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

*
Vertical video
on

{{Authority control 2018 singles 2018 songs Cardi B songs DJ Snake songs Selena Gomez songs Ozuna (singer) songs Geffen Records singles Macaronic songs Spanglish songs Reggaeton songs Moombahton songs Songs written by Cardi B Songs written by Selena Gomez Music videos directed by Colin Tilley Songs written by DJ Snake Number-one singles in Greece Number-one singles in Portugal Number-one singles in Romania Number-one singles in Spain Argentina Hot 100 number-one singles Songs written by Pardison Fontaine Songs written by Ozuna (singer)