A Bit of Taste?

Some songs succeed because of the beauty of their musicality and language, while others succeed precisely by stripping language down to a hypnotic rhythm.

"Un Tin," by Payaso por Ley, Rowell Urban, and Ernesto Losa, belongs to this second category. Its musicality doesn't stem from the depth of the lyrics, but from obsessive repetition, phonetic play, and the ability to embed itself in the collective memory as an unavoidable chorus that today resonates everywhere.

Its defenders speak of “street poetry,” of a popular spontaneity that connects with the immediate codes of the neighborhood, of celebration, and of shared humor. And, indeed, there is an oral dimension to the phenomenon because the song functions more as a slogan than as a narrative. It's not listened to in order to discover hidden meanings, but to participate in a collective experience where rhythm, complicity, and repetition generate a sense of belonging.

Why has it caught on so much? Because it responds exactly to the dominant logic of contemporary cultural consumption. Digital platforms reward the instantaneous, the easily replicable, what can become a meme, a dance, a viral phrase, or reusable audio.

In that ecosystem, refinement often loses ground to immediate impact. The song triumphs because it’s simple, recognizable in seconds, and emotionally effective without demanding too much attention. Its success seems to rest on the unexpected mix of cast and an operatic introduction that is undoubtedly novel.

Added to this is an extremely simple and repetitive chorus, and the algorithmic logic of platforms like TikTok, where recognizable scraps triumph in just a few seconds.

The song found something very valuable today: being instantly identifiable in an infinite ocean of content.

But such success doesn't necessarily mean a rejection or displacement of beauty, of what is truly creative. The speed of the cultural market favors fast-moving consumer products, while more elaborate works require time, silence, and emotional disposition—three increasingly scarce things. Beauty today competes against the algorithm.

Popular culture almost always functions as an emotional barometer of a society. When millions of people repeat a seemingly absurd chorus that talks about "pechaje" and "culaje," they aren't seeking intellectual depth, but rather shared energy, catharsis, identity, and collective release, or a pause or escape from daily weariness.

It's probably a mistake to view phenomena like "Un Tin" with elitist disdain because this success seems to be revealing "a little bit" of many other things. It reveals, for example, something striking about our times: the need for escapism, for brief humor, for directness, for shared rhythms amidst a reality saturated with crises, anxiety, information overload, and misinformation.

The question isn't just why these songs are successful, but why so many people find in them an immediate, albeit fleeting, form of relief and collective belonging. Is it perhaps because, unfortunately, their environment has only provided them with a sliver of taste? Will the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those young people who sing today consume and reward with their likes songs like this, or even more basic ones, because this is the art of the future, the art we deserve?

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff