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Mi Chico Latino

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"Mi Chico Latino"
Single by Geri Halliwell
from the album Schizophonic
B-side
  • "G.A.Y"
  • "Summertime"
WrittenLate 1998
Released16 August 1999 (1999-08-16)
GenreLatin pop
Length3:15
LabelEMI
Songwriter(s)
  • Geri Halliwell
  • Andy Watkins
  • Paul Wilson
Producer(s)Absolute
Geri Halliwell singles chronology
"Look at Me"
(1999) 		"Mi Chico Latino"
(1999) 		"Lift Me Up"
(1999)
Music video
"Mi Chico Latino" on YouTube

"Mi Chico Latino" (English: "My Latin Boy"), is a song by English singer Geri Halliwell for her debut solo album Schizophonic (1999). It was written by Halliwell, Andy Watkins and Paul Wilson, whilst produced by the latter two, who are known collectively as Absolute. "Mi Chico Latino" was released as the album's second single on 16 August 1999 by EMI Records. It is a Latin pop song that is centred on a lost love theme. The song was written by Halliwell in order to pay homage to her mother, who has Spanish background, whilst it also has a number of Spanish lyrics.

"Mi Chico Latino" received mixed reviews from music critics, who noted it was a contribution to the Latin pop phenom at the time, while others criticized Halliwell's Spanish pronunciation. The song was a commercial success in the United Kingdom, debuting at number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Halliwell's first number-one solo single in the country. The song also attracted some moderate success worldwide. "Mi Chico Latino"'s accompanying music video was directed by Doug Nichol and filmed on the island of Sardinia. It depicts the singer wearing a black bikini and dancing with semi-nude male dancers on a boat. In order to promote the single, Halliwell performed the song on Top of the Pops and Party in the Park in 1999.

Background and development

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"Mi Chico Latino" was written by Halliwell, Andy Watkins and Paul Wilson in late 1998. The singer wanted to make a song with Spanish influences, in order to pay homage for her Spanish mother. During a day in the studio, they came up with a melody but did not have any words. Then she called her mother for help.[1] Halliwell recalled asking her, "Mum, what do you say to a bloke in Spanish if you fancy him and are being romantic?" Her mother then said she did not remember that. So she asked her look at her library of Spanish language romances, and she read the titles out to Halliwell. Eventually she came out with "¿Dónde está el hombre con fuego en la sangre?" ("Where is the man with fire in his blood?" in English), and she liked the way it sounded and included the line at the beginning of the song. After "Look at Me" peaked at number two, her record company wanted her to release "Lift Me Up", while the Absolute team wanted "Bag It Up", but she chose to release "Mi Chico Latino" after receiving good reception from children.[1] She also thought,

"First and foremost I thought it was a good record. It was poppy and catchy and perfect for the summer. I think my core audience is young teenage girls and gay guys. Both of those groups tend to like pure pop music and I think that's what 'Chico' was. It was very different from the slightly leftfield style of 'Look at Me'. [...] The other thing that 'Chico' had going for it was that the music was Latin-based, I had written the song back in 1998 but by the time the summer of 1999 came around Latin-influenced music was ruling the charts. Ricky Martin had recently had a number one and there were others on the way. So it was a strange example of synchronicity that I should be ready to go with a Latin track which I had written almost a year before".[1]

Composition

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Mi Chico Latino
A 20-second sample of the song.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

"Mi Chico Latino" is a Latin pop song that moves at a moderate tempo of 104 beats per minute.[2][3] At the beginning of the song, Halliwell chants the spoken word line "¿Dónde está el hombre con fuego en la sangre?" (which translates to Where is the man with fire in the blood?).[4] The lyrics to the song are centred on a lost love theme, with castanets in the background.[3] During the song, the singer also sings in Italian on its chorus, when everything else is Spanish.[3] According to biographer David Sinclair in his book Spice Girls Revisited: How The Spice Girls Reinvented Pop, Halliwell continued to explore the Riviera-pop theme of her former group's song, "Viva Forever", whilst "murmuring sweet nothings in a peculiar brand of estuary Spanish while castanets and timbales clattered alongside a cod-flamenco guitar".[5]

Controversy

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In 1999 Ishtar, the Israeli lead singer of Alabina, said "Mi Chico Latino" was plagiarized from her song "Alabina (De La Noche A La Manana)", released the year before. A spokesman for Alabina's French record label Atal said that they were "anxiously contacting" Halliwell's record label about the songs' similarities. However, no legal actions were made.[6]

Critical reception

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"Mi Chico Latino" received mixed reviews from music critics. Jon Perks, whilst reviewing Schizophonic for Sunday Mercury, gave a positive review, stating, "Okay, so it sounds like a hybrid of La Vida Loca and Madonna's La Isla Bonita, but with a swimming-costumed Geri on the cover and a summery tune, it's a winning combination".[7] Chris Charles from BBC News commented that "Mi Chico Latino" could be mistaken with "Spice Up Your Life", Halliwell's previous hit with the Spice Girls.[8] The Daily Vault's Christopher Thelen felt that it "is an odd selection for a single".[9] Jonathan O'Brien from Hot Press magazine was negative, stating that "Mi Chico Latino" was "a dreadful pastiche of Madonna's 'La Isla Bonita'".[10] For Russell Baillie from The New Zealand Herald, Halliwell spends time on the album "flashing her eyelashes at [menfolk], especially if they're foreign", calling the song "glutinous".[11] According to Rolling Stone, "Mi Chico Latino" was her "impeccably timed contribution to the Latin-pop phenom, complete with awkwardly pronounced Spanglish".[12]

Release and chart performance

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"Mi Chico Latino" was released in the United Kingdom on 16 August 1999 as two CD singles and a cassette single.[13] The song debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart on 22 August 1999, selling 132,000 copies in its first week,[14] becoming Halliwell's first number-one solo single in the country.[15] It also was the beginning of a sequence of four consecutive Halliwell singles reaching number one in the United Kingdom.[4] It spent fifteen weeks in the charts,[16] and went on to sell over 400,000 copies in the UK and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).[17] "Mi Chico Latino" experienced moderate success in other European markets. In Austria, it entered the singles chart at number 34, eventually peaking at number 27 and spending a total of eight weeks on the chart.[18] In France, the song peaked at number 40, remaining on the chart for ten weeks in total.[19] On the Swiss Singles Chart dated 19 September 1999, it peaked at number 26.[20] In Australia, "Mi Chico Latino" was released on 23 August 1999 and debuted at its peak of number 43 on the ARIA Singles Chart on the issue dated 5 September 1999.[21][22] In the United States, the song was serviced to contemporary hit radio on 21 September 1999 and peaked at number 19 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart.[23][24]

Music video

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The accompanying music video for "Mi Chico Latino" was directed by Doug Nichol and filmed in Sardinia from 5–8 July 1999.[1][25] Halliwell wanted the video for the song to be very different in style to her previous single "Look at Me", as that one was filmed in Prague in the freezing cold, and she wanted something to connect with her fans. According to her, the video was also pretty easy to get: "a yacht, a girl in a bikini and some wicked boy dancers to keep both sets of fans [gay guys and teenage girls] happy". After the video was released, the singer got a huge amount of attention from it. "People came up to me and told me how great and how sexy it was. They also told me I looked really healthy, but how wrong they were. I wasn't healthy because I wasn't eating properly and although I was slim at the time, that was a mirage too because the tough regime of the diet was always going to lead me to binge and put the weight back on", and later, she began taking recovery meetings for bulimia.[1]

Live performances

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Halliwell first performed "Mi Chico Latino" as the opening number at her show held at G-A-Y nightclub. According to Brian Logan from The Guardian, the performance "served only to stress" her certain brand of pop, referring to it as "Madonna-lite."[26] Halliwell also performed the single in front of 100,000 fans at Party in the Park event in early July 1999.[6] On 26 August 1999, the singer performed the song on Top of the Pops.[27] On 8 July 2001, whist promoting her second album Scream If You Wanna Go Faster, she performed the song again on Party in the Park.[28]

Formats and track listings

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Credits and personnel

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Credits and personnel are adapted from Schizophonic album liner notes.[35]

Charts

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Certifications

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Certifications and sales for "Mi Chico Latino"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[17] Gold 391,500[55]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Halliwell 2003, p. 85
  2. ^ "Mi Chico Latino Sheet Music by Geri Halliwell". Sheet Music Now. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "GERI HALLIWELL – "Mi Chico Latino"". FreakyTigger. 25 November 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Number 1 today in 1999: Geri Halliwell – Mi Chico Latino". Official Charts Company. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  5. ^ Sinclair 2009, p. 167
  6. ^ a b Harpin, Lee (11 June 2015). "Hot people: GERI'S NICKED MY No1 SINGLE; Chico a cheeko, says Israel star". The People. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  7. ^ Perks, Jon (22 August 1999). "Believe your radio – Stereophonics on course for another smash hit; NEW RELEASES". Sunday Mercury. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  8. ^ Charles, Chris (6 June 1999). "Entertainment: New Music Releases – CD Review: Geri Halliwell". BBC. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  9. ^ Thelen, Christopher (27 August 1999). "Schizophonic – Geri Halliwell". The Daily Vault. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  10. ^ O'Brien, Jonathan (7 July 1999). "Schizophonic". Hot Press. Niall Stokes. Retrieved 5 April 2015.(subscription required)
  11. ^ Baillie, Russell (30 June 2000). "Geri Halliwell – Schizophonic". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  12. ^ "Schizophonic – Geri Halliwell". Rolling Stone. 8 July 1999. Archived from the original on 8 May 2006. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  13. ^ "New Releases – For Week Starting 16 August, 1999: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 14 August 1999. p. 23. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  14. ^ "Number 1 today in 1999: Geri Halliwell – Mi Chico Latino". Official Charts.
  15. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 637. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  16. ^ "Mi Chico Latino". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  17. ^ a b "British single certifications – Geri Halliwell – Mi Chico Latino". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  18. ^ a b "Geri Halliwell – Mi chico latino" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  19. ^ a b "Geri Halliwell – Mi chico latino" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  20. ^ a b "Geri Halliwell – Mi chico latino". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  21. ^ "Geri Halliwell". EMI Music Australia. Archived from the original on 15 October 2000. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  22. ^ a b "Geri Halliwell – Mi chico latino". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  23. ^ "CHR/Pop: Going for Adds". Radio & Records. No. 1317. 17 September 1999. p. 48.
  24. ^ a b "Geri Halliwell Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  25. ^ ""Mi Chico Latino" by Geri Halliwell". VH1. Archived from the original on 11 April 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  26. ^ Logan, Brian (7 June 1999). "Geri for queen". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  27. ^ "Top of the Pops, 26/08/1999". BBC One. 26 August 1999. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  28. ^ "Glee in the Park!". NME. 9 July 2001. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  29. ^ Mi Chico Latino (UK CD1 & European maxi-CD single liner notes). Geri Halliwell. EMI Records. 1999. 7243 8 87558 0 1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  30. ^ Mi Chico Latino (UK CD2 liner notes). Geri Halliwell. EMI Records. 1999. 7243 8 87559 2 4.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  31. ^ Mi Chico Latino (European CD single liner notes). Geri Halliwell. EMI Records. 1999. 7243 8 87595 0 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  32. ^ Mi Chico Latino (Australian maxi-CD single liner notes). Geri Halliwell. EMI Records. 1999. 7243 8 87576 2 1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  33. ^ Mi Chico Latino (French CD single liner notes). Geri Halliwell. EMI Records. 1999. 7243887633 2 5.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  34. ^ Mi Chico Latino (Italian 12-inch single liner notes). Geri Halliwell. EMI Records. 1999. 7243 8 87775 6 8.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  35. ^ Schizophonic (album liner notes). Geri Halliwell. EMI Records. 1999. 7243 5 21009 2 7.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  36. ^ "Geri Halliwell – Mi chico latino" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  37. ^ "Geri Halliwell – Mi chico latino" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  38. ^ "Oficiální Česká Hitparáda – Pro týden" (in Czech). IFPI ČR. Archived from the original on 29 August 1999. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  39. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 16, no. 36. 4 September 1999. p. 9. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  40. ^ "Geri Halliwell: Mi chico latino" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  41. ^ "Geri Halliwell – Mi chico latino" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  42. ^ "Top National Sellers" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 16, no. 41. 9 October 1999. p. 16. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  43. ^ "Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (Vikuna 23.9. – 30.9. 1999 39. Vika)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 24 September 1999. p. 10. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  44. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Mi Chico Latino". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  45. ^ "Top National Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 16, no. 39. 25 September 1999. p. 18. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  46. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 38, 1999" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  47. ^ "Geri Halliwell – Mi chico latino" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  48. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  49. ^ "Geri Halliwell – Mi chico latino" Canciones Top 50. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  50. ^ "Geri Halliwell – Mi chico latino". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  51. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  52. ^ "Year in Focus – Eurochart Hot 100 Singles 1999" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 17, no. 1. 1 January 2000. p. 11. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  53. ^ "Romanian Top 100: Top of the Year 1999" (in Romanian). Romanian Top 100. Archived from the original on 22 January 2005.
  54. ^ "Best Sellers of 1999: Singles Top 100". Music Week. London, England. 22 January 2000. p. 27.
  55. ^ Myers, Justin (22 August 2019). "Number 1 today in 1999: Geri Halliwell – Mi Chico Latino". Official Charts Company.

Bibliography

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