Vida (Ricky Martin Song)
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"Vida" () is a song recorded by Puerto Rican singer
Ricky Martin Enrique Martin Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography incorporati ...
for the '' One Love, One Rhythm – The 2014 FIFA World Cup Official Album'' (2014). It was written by Martin,
Salaam Remi Salaam Remi Gibbs (born May 14, 1972) is an American record producer. He is most known for producing material for close associates Nas, Amy Winehouse, and Jazmine Sullivan, but has also produced for other mainstream acts including Alicia Key ...
, Elijah King, Afo Verde, Roxana Amed and produced by Remi. The song was chosen in a musical contest organized by
FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
and
Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...
which King won, and it was subsequently arranged for Martin to record the track. It was digitally released as the second single from the compilation album on April 22, 2014. "Vida" is a
Latin pop Latin pop () is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. It originates with List of countries where Spanish is an official language, Spanish-speaking ...
song that features
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
,
ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...
,
percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...
, horn and "exotic sounds with a
Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
feel". The song received generally positive reviews from
music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...
who praised the liveliness of the track and noted the consistency with other songs performed by Martin. It peaked at number five on the US
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 ...
and became Martin's 23rd top-ten single on the chart. An accompanying music video, directed by Kátia Lund and Lívia Gama of Bossa Nova Films, was shot in
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
. It features Martin singing and dancing on the beach accompanied by around 100 other people. Martin performed the song on several occasions including at the 2014 Latin ''Billboard'' Music Awards and on season eighteen of the ''
Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...
'' US series. With the release of the single "Vida", Ricky Martin achieved what no international artist had achieved, occupying the # 1 position on the list of local, popular and domestic music in the same week in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
.


Production and release

In December 2013
FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
and
Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...
launched a worldwide music contest inviting aspiring musicians and football fans to submit original song proposals. The organizers received over 1600 compositions from musicians and fans originating from 29 countries. In February 2014 it was announced that Elijah King and his track "Vida" had won the contest; it was chosen by Martin, a judging panel, and by public vote. The song was co-written by Ricky Martin, King and
Salaam Remi Salaam Remi Gibbs (born May 14, 1972) is an American record producer. He is most known for producing material for close associates Nas, Amy Winehouse, and Jazmine Sullivan, but has also produced for other mainstream acts including Alicia Key ...
with additional writing from Afo Verde and Roxana Amed for the Spanish and Portuguese version of the song. It was produced by Remi under his production name Salaamremi.com. Subsequently, the song was set to be recorded by Martin himself and included on the '' One Love, One Rhythm – The 2014 FIFA World Cup Official Album'' (2014). The singer previously recorded and sang " La Copa de la Vida (The Cup of Life)", which served as the official song of the
1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...
. Following the announcement, King traveled to
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
where he worked with Martin and Remi to finish the track. Gleyder "Gee" Disla recorded the song at the Instrument Zoo and Hit Factory Criteria in
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
and Louder than Life Labs in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. Enrique Larreal provided the vocal engineering and editing, while David Cabrera served as an additional vocal producer. Disla mixed "Vida" at Instrument Zoo, while Ari Blitz and Larry Ryckman served as the
mastering engineer Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the Audio mixing (recorded music), final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source ...
s. Martin, King and Domingo Ramos sang the
background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...
. Vincent Henry and Dan Warner played the
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
, the latter also provided the
ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...
, Hal Riston played the horn and Robert Villahara was responsible for the
percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...
. The
Spanglish Spanglish (a blend of the words "Spanish" and "English") is any language variety (such as a contact dialect, hybrid language, pidgin, or creole language) that results from conversationally combining Spanish and English. The term is mostly u ...
version of the song was released as the second official single from ''One Love, One Rhythm – The 2014 FIFA World Cup Official Album''. On April 22, 2014, it was digitally launched in Austria, Germany, Switzerland the United Kingdom, and the United States. An
extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
consisting of Spanish, Portuguese, and Spanglish versions together with a remix from David Cabrera Bahía was released on May 6 in France and Italy. Additionally, the EP was released in the United Kingdom and the United States among other countries on the same date. Apart from that material, the Spanish extended play release also contains the Predikator Remix, Brian Cross Extended Club Remix and Brian Cross Remix of "Vida". On June 10, a Bubu Borgex Remix of "Vida" was released worldwide including in Austria, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States. The
Afrojack Nick Leonardus van de Wall (; born 9 September 1987), known professionally as Afrojack (stylized in all caps), is a Dutch DJ, record producer and remixer. In 2007, he founded the record label Wall Recordings; his debut album ''Forget the World ( ...
remix of the song was launched on July 1.


Controversy

On April 25, 2014, it was announced that Hundred Proof Club, Think Famous Productions, Akela Family and JDK Entertainment were suing Sony Music and King for fraud in the Sony and FIFA's SuperSong competition. The lawsuit claimed that the competition was rigged and that King, who co-wrote "Vida" was always going to win, cheating the other entrants out of their chance of winning the competition. Although the contest was open to applicants worldwide, King had a contractual agreement and Sony apparently asked King to enter the song "Vida": Sony allegedly pressured the plaintiffs to release King from his contract so that he would be eligible to win, in return for compensation. The lawsuit alleges that Sony induced King's release from his publishing contract and refused to pay compensation. The attorney Alicia Roman told ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...
'', " e're looking toannul the release due to the fraud they committed. When it's annulled, all of the rights to Elijah's songs are returned to my client, particularly the song 'Vida' that Ricky Martin sang." Martin has not made any comment on the lawsuit. Additionally, Luis Adrian Cortes Ramos, a finalist from the first season of '' Idol Puerto Rico'' filled a $10 million lawsuit towards Martin. He sued the singer for releasing "Vida" despite claims that he submitted his version of the track as part of SuperSong contest, a version that was never recognized. Ramos' lawyer released a statement saying "Ramos was surprised, disillusioned and suffered mental anguish because the song was almost identical to the one he composed. Until that moment, Martin was an idol for Ramos." However, Martin's representative never commented on the lawsuit.


Composition

"Vida" is a
Latin pop Latin pop () is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. It originates with List of countries where Spanish is an official language, Spanish-speaking ...
song that lasts for three minutes and twenty-five seconds. It features guitar, ukulele, percussion, guitar and "exotic sounds, with a
Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
feel". Carolina Moreno of ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...
'' described the song as upbeat and energetic. Lyrically, the single is about the ability of the football tournament to bring people from different parts of the world together to celebrate and enjoy 'the good life'.


Reception


Critical

Melissa Redman of '' Renowned for Sound'' gave the song three and half stars out of five and wrote that "the track is everything you would expect from Ricky Martin and a single for a global sports event." She also stated that although the song is not "groundbreaking" it is "a lively and exuberant track that people are bound to bop away to". Redman concluded that it is better than Pitbull's " We Are One (Ole Ola)", which serves as the official song of the tournament. Mike Wass of website Idolator wrote, "there's something to be said for consistency and Ricky sure knows how to knock out a summery smash with generic Spanglish lyrics that probably sound pretty inspiring after a couple of Coronas." "Vida" received nomination for a Start-Party song at the 2014 Premios Tu Mundo held on August 21, 2014. In 2022, Noelia Bertol from
Cadena Dial Cadena Dial is a Spanish radio station. The station belongs to the Spanish media group PRISA. It was founded in 1990 and broadcasts exclusively pop music in Spanish (and Catalan, in the case of Catalonia). On 7 April 2017 Cadena Dial began broad ...
ranked it as one of the "10 Ricky Martin songs that brighten up summers".


Commercial

Following Martin's performance of the song at the 2014 Latin Billboard Music Awards "Vida" entered at number four on the US Latin Digital Songs chart after selling 6000 copies in its first week. Subsequently, the single debuted at number 10 on the US
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 ...
; it became Martin's 23rd top 10 single on the chart. It peaked at number five on the latter chart. It was more successful on the US
Latin Pop Songs The '' Billboard'' Latin pop charts began in 1985 when an album chart were introduced as Latin Pop Albums in the June 29 issue of the magazine. In October 1994, ''Billboard'' then established Latin Pop Airplay, which initially rank the most-played ...
chart where it peaked at number four. "Vida" debuted at number 20 on the Spanish Singles Chart. In its fourth week the single reached its peak of number five. Additionally, it peaked at number 12 in the Dominican Republic and number 16 in Mexico, a pop charts part of Monitor Latino. It was less successful in Australia and South Korea where it peaked at number 75 and 146 respectively.


Music video

The music video for "Vida" was filmed in
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
and was directed by Kátia Lund and Lívia Gama of Bossa Nova Films. According to Lund, "The lyrics and the emotion that are reflected in the video for "Vida" inspire a celebration of life, in a way that is pure and simple: the sun, coming together and the energy." She said that the visual is about life in which differences are celebrated and appreciated easily and with happiness and claimed that was the reason Martin "just wanted it to be natural" and to differ from what he had done before with choreography, big sets and directed scenes. Martin also commented the shooting process, "It's an incredible feeling to have had the opportunity to participate in a global initiative like SuperSong. I'm very excited to finally be able to sing 'Vida' and share this special song with the world." On April 21, Martin released a teaser from the video on his official social networks, while the full video premiered on his
Vevo Vevo LLC ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized in all caps until 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available ...
channel 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 ...
the next day. It features the singer relaxing in shorts and a tank-top while he sings on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro. The video also contains around 100 extras including kids, samba dancers, models and others intended to represent the diversity of the Brazilian nation. Wass of Idolator praised the video, writing that Martin "looks great" in it and mentioned the Brazilian scenery was "pretty awesome".


Live performances

Martin performed "Vida" for first time at the 2014 Chinese Music Awards on April 23, 2014, where he also sang his 2013 single " Come with Me". He performed the song again on April 24 at the 2014 Billboard Latin Music Awards. A writer from ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' described it as a "vibrant, colorful performance". On April 28, the singer performed "Vida" on a season eighteen episode of the American dance show competition ''
Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...
''; he was accompanied by the show's Pro Dancers. Martin performed the single on ''
The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The show ran for nineteen seasons from September 8, 2003, to May 26, 2022, in which it broadcast 3,339 episodes. It was produced by ...
'' on May 2 while three days later, on May 5, he performed the song on '' The Queen Latifah Show''. He also performed the song on May 18, at the 2014 ''Billboard'' Music Awards. On November 14 it was part of Martin's performance at the opening ceremony of the 22nd Central American and Caribbean Games.


Formats and track listing

*;Digital download #"Vida (Spanglish version)"  – 3:25 *;Digital EP #"Vida (Spanglish version)"  – 3:26 #"Vida (David Cabrera Bahia Remix)"  – 3:39 #"Vida (Spanish version)"  – 3:23 #"Vida (Portuguese version)"  – 3:23 *;Dudu Borges Remix #"Vida (Dudu Borges Remix)"  – 3:32 *;Spanish digital EP #"Vida (Spanglish version)"  – 3:26 #"Vida (David Cabrera Bahia Remix)"  – 3:39 #"Vida (Spanish version)"  – 3:23 #"Vida (Portuguese version)"  – 3:23 #"Vida (Predikador Remix)"  – 3:30 #"Vida (Brian Cross Extended Club Remix)"  – 6:05 #"Vida (Brian Cross Remix)"  – 3:50 *;Afrojack Remix #"Vida (Afrojack Remix)"  – 3:26


Credits and personnel

;Recording *Recorded at Instrument Zoo, Hit Factory Criteria (Miami); Louder than Life Labs (New York City); Sony Music Studios (Sydney) *Mixed at Instrument Zoo ;Personnel *
Songwriting A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...
 – Ricky Martin, Salaam Remi, Elijah King, Afo Verde, Roxana Amed * Production – Salaamremi.com * Recording engineers – Gleyder "Gee" Disla *Vocal engineering and editing – Enrique Larreal *Vocal engineering (Spanish/Portuguese)  - Adrian Breakspear *Additional vocal production – David Cabrera *Mixed By – Gleyder "Gee" Disla * Mastering – Ari Blitz, Larry Ryckman *Additional programming – Hal Ritson, Michelle Balduzi *Background vocals – Ricky Martin, Elijah King, Domingo Ramos *Guitar – Vincent Henry, Dan Warner *Ukulele – Dan Warner *Horn – Hal Ritson *Percussion – Robert Villahara *Extra percussion and drum programming – David Cabrera, Enrique Larreal *Production coordinator – Kim Lumpkin Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''One Love, One Rhythm – The 2014 FIFA World Cup Official Album'',
RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...
.


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications and sales


Release history


References


External links

* {{Authority control 2014 songs 2014 singles Ricky Martin songs Songs written by Salaam Remi Song recordings produced by Salaam Remi Spanglish songs Sony Music singles Songs written by Ricky Martin