"Despacito" is a great song. Especially the one featuring the vocal talents of a platinum Justin Bieber. The 23-year-old appears on a remix of the Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi track and even shows off his skills with a verse in Spanish. And it's really, really good. (Perhaps even the song of the summer.) But here's the thing: Bieber learned Spanish for the song, but maybe doesn't know the language.
Comprende?
In a video on TMZ filmed at the NYC club 1 OAK, Bieber is seen performing the chart-topping bilingual banger to a crowd of (intoxicated) club-goers and he fumbles with the words. A lot. Okay — he just says "blah blah blah" in place of his Spanish verse. He laughs it off and then just skips over the rest of the song, based on the video.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Oops.
Upon discovering other videos of the singer performing the song live, it appears that he does indeed know the words to the song, and he may have just been a wee tipsy and unable to really deliver the lines.
Surprisingly, most people came to the defense of the singer after a few sites claimed he "mocked" the language or in some way disrespected his Spanish-speaking fans, when in reality, learning other languages is not a piece of cake (especially after some glasses of champagne).
@TMZ That's ? and ?. Why sing it live if you don't know the words. But to his defense those are hard lyrics to remember
— Jacqueline Oliva (@4everOliva) May 24, 2017
@Complex He was literally drunk, having fun with his friends in a club ? y'all want people to hate him so bad
— carina ? (@purposemelody) May 24, 2017
@Complex He literally just doesn't remember the lyrics.... did y'all stretch before you started reaching pic.twitter.com/VGjsYBOfp1
— JUSTIN_QUAVO_X (@nanette_bocamde) May 24, 2017
That same night, Bieber also took it upon himself to unveil a Bieber-ified cover of Kendrick Lamar's track, "HUMBLE." Oh, what a karaoke-filled night.
Something tells me we're going to get a Spanish-filled Instagram apology soon. "¿Es demasiado tarde para pedir perdón?"
Read These Stories Next: