"Rabiosa" (English: "Rabid") is a song by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira featuring rappers Pitbull and El Cata. It was released as the third single from her third bilingual and seventh studio album, entitled Sale el Sol. Two versions of the song were recorded, one in English, that features vocals from rapper Pitbull, and one in Spanish that features vocals from El Cata. "Rabiosa" entered the top ten of the Spanish Singles Chart, charted within French Singles Chart and the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles, and received positive reviews from American critics such as Billboard. The music video for the song was shot in late April in Barcelona, Spain. "Rabiosa" was originally written and performed by El Cata on his first album "El Malo", as with another track on Sale el Sol, "Loca". Musically, "Rabiosa" is a Merenrap/Dancehall reggae song with Latin and rap influences. Shakira recorded the song in the summer of 2010 in the Dominican Republic with Pitbull and El Cata.
The trio wrote and produced it, along with Dizzee Rascal. There are two different versions (as in the cases of "Loca" & "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)"). The original English language version features Pitbull and includes some Spanish lines, while the Spanish version features El Cata and was released as a single in Spain, South America, Mexico and France. The lyrics are both sung and spoken in English as well as in Spanish, ending with Code-switching, a type of phrasing that combines both Spanish and English words and expressions ("Bite me en la boca"). Due to digital downloads, the song debuted at number 25 in the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (equivalent of #125 in the Billboard Hot 100) in the United States, prior to the album's release. Thus made Rabiosa become Shakira's fifteenth song to enter the Hot 100 (including the Bubbling under extension) in the history. The next week it fell off the chart, losing over 10,000 sales. After half a year, "Rabiosa" re-enter two Billboard surveys: Hot Latin Tracks, peaking at number twenty-three and Latin Pop Airplay, where it peaked within the top twenty.Shakira "Rabiosa (English Version)" Song ft. Pitbull
After a month of airing on the radios all over the country, the Spanish version of "Rabiosa" (featuring El Cata) reached number 57 in the French Airplay Chart, out of 250 positions. The following week, the song debuted at number 94 in the French Singles Chart, because of the strong digital selling in the week ending March 27. The same week it rose to number 51 in the Airplay Chart. In the French Singles Chart, "Rabiosa" peaked, so far, at number eighteen, after reaching the top twenty in its second full month in the survey. In the Ultratip Chart from Wallonia, Belgium, the song debuted inside the top 50, at number 47 and reached the top twenty, as it peaked at number-twenty. It then entered the top forty of the Ultratop Wallonia official chart. In Spain, the song debuted at number twenty-three inside the Spanish Singles Chart, becoming that week's second best debut, after Lady Gaga's "Judas". The next week, "Rabiosa" climbed to number-six, being the greatest gainer.
It then moved further to number-five to reach the top three the next week and finally set its peak to date at number-two. It defended the peak position for two other weeks. In Portugal the song peaked within the top forty of the Airplay Chart. In the Italian Singles Chart, the song debuted at number twenty-nine and it peaked at number seven. In Switzerland it became an airplay hit and debuted at number twenty-eight and then moved to number twenty-six to latter peak at number twenty-four within the Swiss Singles Chart. In Germany it is reported to have debuted at number forty-four within the Media AG charts, though this fact wasn't confirmed thus far. Within the Youth Airplay Chart, the song peaked at number-eight in that country. In Austria the song debuted at number thirty-six and moved to number twenty-one the next week. In Sweden, the song debuted at number forty-eight to fall off the chart the following week. "Rabiosa" has also entered the charts in Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Mexico and received airplay in Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey.
The video starts with a man opening the gate to a party inside a house for Shakira. We then see a scene depicting people partying, a couple kissing (pushing the camera away from them) and a man smoking, exhaling his smoke in Shakira's direction as she makes her way through the corridor. After walking down a staircase she finally reaches the house's basement, where people are throwing confetti and party-string towards the camera while Shakira makes her way towards a guy with whom she starts to flirt. The video cuts repeatedly to shots of Shakira, with long blonde hair, pole-dancing in a dark room filled with bright lights. She continues flirting with the guy, who pushes her into a dry bathtub filled with coloured plastic balls and teasingly throws more in her direction. In the final scenes, we see her ending her pole dancing in a leg split, paying an homage to her 2009 music video She Wolf which took part in a golden cage, and in the ending scene we see her crowd surfing away.
Shakira with her cover "Rabiosa"
Shakira performance at her video clip "Rabiosa"
