Today, Latin Music has been taking another direction. Reggeaton, Latin Pop, and Trap Latino have been at the top of the Latin Billboards. These genres are becoming popular among the youth and are the songs you would hear at parties. However, this does not mean that traditional Latin music has faded away. Salsa and merengue, for example, continue to lift the spirits of Hispanic people. Just because newer genres are taking the stage, does not mean that the other genres have less influence now.
In the year 2013, Marc Anthony’s song “Vivir Mi Vida” hit the radios and became a sensation. “Vivir Mi Vida” was released in his album 3.0. This Salsa song became very popular in the Latin community. The actual song lyrics are not actually original lyrics that Marc Anthony wrote.
Courtesy of Amazon
The Salsa song “Vivir Mi Vida” is actually a Spanish cover of the song “C’est La Vie” by Algerian singer Khaled. Marc Anthony conveniently wrote the lyrics during a time where Latin communities were feeling oppressed and losing joy. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to bring out a song that would bring joy back into the Latin community. The French lyrics of the song seemed inspirational and perfect so instead of creating something new, Marc Anthony essentially created the Spanish translate, Salsa remix version of the song.
Courtesy of Amazon
Once the Salsa song was released, it became number one on the Latin Billboards. The song even won an award for song of the year. Every party would play the song and it was bringing happiness to the Latin community. In Spanish classes across America, this song was played to give students an idea of the Latin culture and also gave students practice with translating. It was not long before this song became rather symbolic of Latin America.
The lyrics repeat “Voy a reír, voy a bailar, vivir mi vida la la la la, voy a reír, voy a gozar, vivir mi vida la la la la”. This roughly translates to “I’m gonna laugh, I’m gonna dance live my life, la la la la, I’m gonna laugh, I’m gonna enjoy live my life, la la la la”.
The message of the song is quite simple. It is to live your life in a happy way. The song was sensational and brought the Latin community together. The song helped bring unity, hope, and happiness to the people through its motivational words. Newer songs have come out since that have become the new symbols of Latin music. However, “Vivir Mi Vida” is still a popular song and can still be heard widely today and its influence still lives on.
This blog would not be complete without the music video. Check out the song that brought some joy and happiness to the Latin community.
Dan, I enjoyed reading this post. I have listened to this song many times and it is one of my favorite Hispanic songs. I did not know, however, that Marc Anthony did not write the lyrics and that it was a translated version of a French song. I also liked the video at the end!
It is indeed a lovely song. It just fills you with hope and happiness every time I listen to it. I did not know that the original is by Khaled, that too is a great song.
I am from India and don’t understand Spanish, but I doubt there is anyone who will listen to “Vivir Mi Vida” and not love it 🙂
Especially in current times, everyone should listen to this on repeat.
It was nice reading your article. Cheers!!!
“Vivir mi vida” is my favourite song through the happiness it conveyes to not only to the Latino world but to humanity overall. Only today I’ve learned that the original is by Khaled, that’s why I was doing research and have found this page. Actually it might be interesting to watch the initial version as well (which also has more than 300 million clicks): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dWeeUIZFgA
I was doing research for one of my talks based on the Hispanic Heritage Month, and decided on this song. I would not have guessed that this song was a copy of a French song by an Algerian. It just goes to show how more things unite us than separate us.
BTW, my wife went to, and has taught at Penn State. Love the area.