When Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee released ‘Despacito’ in 2017, it was a big hit and topped the Billboard Hot 100 charts. It was the anthem of last summer and was instantly recognizable because of its catchy Latin rhythms. During the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, the hit has enjoyed a resurgence as the sporting event has let everyone know that this hit is going nowhere soon.
Anyone who saw the ice dancing competition last Sunday will know that three teams used ‘Despacito’ for their performance in the short program. This was not simply a coincidence as one of the rules of the competition was that the skaters must include a Latin rhythm into their routines. They clearly then turned to one of the most recent Latin hits as they knew it would be popular with the audience and was a song that spectators of all nationalities would recognize.
The pairs who performed an ice dance routine to the Latin hit were Maksym Spodyriev and Natalia Kaliszek from Poland, China’s Xinyu Liu and Shiyue Wang, and South Korea’s Alexander Gamelin and Yura Min. The latter pair are both American-born but have chosen to represent South Korea.
Many spectators, both at the rink and viewing from home, have enjoyed watching the talented skaters perform to different versions of the Latin hit. However, there are others who have complained about hearing the same song so much. Some have even taken to social media to vent their frustration at the lack of originality shown by so many pairs choosing the same track for their performance.
At least these three pairs respected the rule to incorporate a Latin rhythm into their routine as not every couple quite managed to achieve this. In fact, one pair chose to skate to Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ as the soundtrack for their Latin element of the ice dance. While this song is catchy and was a huge hit, it can hardly be described as a Latin track.
There has been a rule change for this Winter Olympics. At previous events, skaters could only compete to music without lyrics. At this Olympics in PyeonChang, they are now allowed to chose music with lyrics. This has certainly livened things up for both the competitors and the spectators as there have been some interesting music choices.
In the men’s free skate program, there has been an emphasis on rock music. Brendan Kerry, representing Australia, performed to a medley of Pink Floyd’s ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond’ and ‘Money’. Following a similar rock theme, Georgian skater Moris Kvitelashvili performed to a medley of music by Imagine Dragon, which included ‘Believer’, ‘Dream’, and ‘Radioactive’.
Not all the contestants have chosen rock music, though, as some have used film and television for inspiration. Germany’s Paul Fentz opted to perform to music from ‘Game of Thrones’ and had a matching themed costume for his routine. The movie ‘Moulin Rouge!’ was also a source of inspiration for the skaters. Canadia skaters Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue performed a routine to the Moulin Rouge version of Police’s ‘Roxanne’ and Vincent Zhou, the American skater performed to a medley of ‘Come What May’ and ‘Nature Boy’, both of which are songs featured in ‘Moulin Rouge’.
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