“Mayores” by Becky G: who is the Peruvian who created the song, what phrases were removed and more secrets

I like them older / Of those who call gentlemen / Of those who open the door for you / And send you flowers

In July 2017, a year after releasing “Sola”, her first song in Spanish, the American singer of Mexican descent Becky G He launched “Mayores”, alongside Benito Martínez, or, as everyone already knows him, Bad Bunny. Within hours of its release, it became one of the most viral songs on the YouTube platform and its verses became the target of criticism for its double meaning content.

However, the artist, who was then 20 years old, came out to respond to her detractors, pointing out that the motivation behind her musical success was to break taboos. In addition, she clarified that in the XXI century it was sad to see the sexist criticism of many people, because she was sure that if the song had been composed and performed by a man, the response would have been different.

Who created this hit song?

Behind this song, which since its launch topped the charts in Spain, Ecuador, Chile, Peru and El Salvador, and reached number three on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs list; meets Patrick Ingunza (today known in the international recording industry as Patrick Romantik), Peruvian composer, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalistresponsible for musical successes such as “Duele el corazón” by Enrique Iglesias.

“The song was made at the request of the label, Sony Music. Becky G’s manager was looking for songs and they called three composers: Servando Primero, Mario Cáceres and me. There was also Alexander Castillo, Becky’s producer”, he comments the national artist, who is part of the staff of composers of Warner Chapell Music.

“They tell us that they need a theme for it, but they don’t indicate the concept that it should have, so we start to see options, but we don’t get anywhere. We spent some time talking, rambling, we spent like a couple of hours talking about other things, until we reached a point where I said: ‘Let’s do something.’ Becky G’s producer was playing the guitar with some chords and I start singing over it, then I show the boys the result. They liked the melody and from that we began to write and the concept of ‘Mayores’ came out.”, he clarifies.

With the daring and attractive proposal under their arms, the creatives turned to the manager of Rebbeca Marie Gomez, real name of the Californian singer, to see if her boyfriend, Los Angeles Galaxy soccer player Sebastián Lletget, he was older than her. Coincidentally, she was.

“For what we were writing to make sense, we checked with the manager and yes, her boyfriend was five years older. so we were on the right track”, highlights the Peruvian composer.

It also details that “Mayores” was written in Nicky Jam’s studio in Miami in less than an hour. “We get together around one in the afternoon, but we start writing at three. Everything went super fast, 45 minutes later the song was ready”, he refers.

Patrick Romantik was a fundamental piece for the success of Becky G to have cumbia as the main engine, a genre that predominates in most of the musical proposals of the Peruvian artist.

“We concluded that it should be cumbia because I came with all that stuff, plus it mixed very well with a track we had. From that, the concept of that very Latin rhythm was born. Cumbia was a new proposal for her”, he clarifies.

Changes

Likewise, it highlights that the song, which since it burst onto the music scene was involved in controversy and became a hit without even having had the support of the radio stations due to the ambiguity of its lyrics, underwent some mutations at the request of Becky g.

“The theme was made by verses, each one was giving their ideas, then together we decided which was the best and which was left. The double meaning was used because we were with the King of the double meaning, who is Servando Primera. It was all like a joke, a joke, and I think that marked the song. We were a little nervous because we didn’t know if they were going to accept that. Obviously, Becky and her mom had to see and approve the song before recording it. We had doubts, but we took on the challenge and it turned out. What’s more, they ordered us to remove phrases that were even less hot or strong than those that remained”, explains Patrick Romantik.

“There were even phrases within Bad Bunny’s verse, which were strong and had them removed. I don’t remember what they said, but I imagine they thought the double meaning was misunderstood. The day the song was recorded and we had contact with Becky G, she told us that she loved it and that she was excited. that satisfied us”, he manifests.

“Mayores” not only catapulted the career of the American artist, but also of those who were involved in the creation of the theme, such as that of the Peruvian artist.

“It was a super surprise what happened, because it is something that had not happened in Latin music. We were very excited about the success of the song and that inspired us to write more songs. In fact we got more workor,” he stresses.

The music video reached 1 billion views in January 2018 and has more than 1.1 billion views since May of the same year. It currently has 2.133 million. It is the most seen of the artist.

In October 2017, Son Tentación released a salsa version, performed by Amy Gutiérrez.