"Taki Taki" is a song by French DJ and record producer DJ Snake featuring vocals from American singer Selena Gomez, Puerto Rican singer Ozuna and American rapper Cardi B. The song was released on 28 September 2018 as the second single from DJ Snake's second studio album Carte Blanche. It was written by DJ Snake, Gomez, Ozuna, Cardi B, Ava Brignol, Jordan Thorpe, Juan Vasquez and Vicente Saavedra. Ozuna opens the moombahton and reggaeton song in Spanish, while Cardi B and Gomez follow in English and Spanish. The song's music video, directed by Colin Tilley, was released on 9 October 2018 and features the four artists dancing in a lava-drenched crater of a volcano. The single reached number one in sixteen countries, received a Diamond certification in France, triple Platinum in the US, and won nine music awards. "Taki Taki" made Cardi the first female rapper to top the SpotifyGlobal chart, extended her record as the first female rapper with multiple billion-streamers on the platform, and made Ozuna the artist with the most 1 billion-view videos on YouTube.
Background
In July 2018, Cardi B confirmed a collaboration with DJ Snake, Ozuna and a third mystery guest. The following month, Selena Gomez and Cardi teased a behind-the-scenes look at the song's music video taping, which was filmed in Los Angeles. On 17 September 2018, DJ Snake announced the release date.
Composition
"Taki Taki" is a moombahton and reggaeton song. It runs for 3 minutes and 32 seconds. Ozuna opens the track and provides the hook, while Cardi B and Selena Gomez follow performing in English and Spanish. Lyrically, the song sees the performers expressing their ways to seduce and interpreting what their partners are thinking.
Music videos
The music video for "Taki Taki" premiered on 9 October 2018 on DJ Snake's YouTube channel. The video was directed by Colin Tilley. A short teaser clip was shown at the 2018 American Music Awards. The video is set in a post-apocalyptic 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, 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. As of May 2020, the video has received over 1.8 billion views on YouTube. "Taki Taki" made Ozuna the artist with the most 1 billion-view videos on YouTube, with over seven videos. 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" were changed to "Booty explota como saki saki", as requested by Universal Music LLC to avoid an offensive reference in Japan about the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. This change in the lyrics was made in the official video.
Commercial performance
In the United States, "Taki Taki" debuted at number one on Hot Latin Songs, where Ozuna replaced himself as it follows "Te Boté", and number 27 on the BillboardHot 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 chart, it became the first number one for both DJ Snake and Gomez, the eighth for Ozuna and third for Cardi B. In addition the song 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 Spotify 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.
