La Bomba (Ricky Martin song)

In 1995, Ricky Martin released his third studio album A Medio Vivir. On it, he shifted from his traditional ballad-style compositions to a riskier fusion of music focused on traditional Latin sounds, epitomized by the song "María". Taken aback by the starkly different musical style, the executives at his record label Sony Music Mexico felt the song would ruin Martin's career. Despite this, "María" was chosen as the album's second single and became a breakthrough hit, reaching number one in 20 countries.[1][2] As of 2014, A Medio Vivir has sold over three million copies worldwide.[3] While on tour in 1997, Martin returned to the studio and began recording material for his fourth studio album. He said the experience of touring and recording at the same time was "brutal and incredibly intense".[1] On December 7, 1997, Martin confirmed he was completing his next project and that the album would be released in February of the following year.[4] He worked on the album with producers K.C. Porter and Robi Rosa, and recorded it in studios across the United States, Puerto Rico, and Spain.[5][6] The album's title, Vuelve, was announced on January 25, 1998. In an interview with CNN en Español, he emphasized the album is going to "reaffirm the internationalization of my career and I know that it will help me a lot to destroy the stereotypes that may exist with my culture".[7] The album consists mainly of "red-hot" Latin dance numbers and "melodramatic" pop ballads.[8][9]

A Spanish language up-tempo dance song,[10][11] "La Bomba", along with "Por Arriba, Por Abajo" and "Lola, Lola" combines salsa music with elements of rumba, jazz, and rock.[12] Ramiro Burr of the San Antonio Express-News described "La Bomba" as "samba-flavored", a statement which The Dallas Morning News editor Mario Tarradell echoed.[13][14] The track features Cuban musician Paquito Hechavarría on the piano solo.[6] The song was written by Rosa, Porter, and Spanish musician Luis Gómez Escolar, with the production being handled by Rosa and Porter,[15] It runs for a total of 4 minutes and 34 seconds.[16] The song's title, which translates to "the Bomb" in English, is derived from the Afro-Puerto Rican dance music of the same name.[17] Lyrically, it is a metaphor in which Martin compares the bomba music, a genre native to Puerto Rico, "to a drink that makes you drunk; the listener is high from the rhythm of the dance".[18]

A screenshot from the music video, depicting Martin singing the song and dancing to it.

"La Bomba" was released on CD as the album's third single on June 16, 1998.[18][19] The track was included as the sixth track on Martin's fourth studio album Vuelve on February 12, 1998.[16] A CD single, titled "La Bomba (Remixes)", which includes four remixes of the song alongside the original, was released in the US by Sony Discos on November 24, 1998.[20][21] The song's music video was filmed during April 1998 in Miami, and directed by American director Wayne Isham, who had also directed the videos for Martin's previous singles "Vuelve" and "The Cup of Life".[22][23] It depicts Martin singing and dancing surrounded by people. At the beginning of the visual, he appears in a party on a beach.[24] An author of Cultura Colectiva listed it among the "13 Videos to Appreciate Ricky Martin's Talent and Sickening Good Looks".[25] The clip was later included on Martin's video compilation albums The Ricky Martin Video Collection (1999) and La Historia (2002).[26][27] The music video was uploaded on the singer's YouTube channel on October 3, 2009.[28] The original version of the song was also added to Martin's compilation albums La Historia (2001),[29] Greatest Hits (2011),[30] Greatest Hits: Souvenir Edition (2013),[31] and Esencial (2018),[32] while the remix version was included on 17 (2008).[33]

"La Bomba" has been met with widely positive reviews from music critics. An author of Cultura Colectiva gave the song a positive review, saying: "This song is one of those that automatically makes you move your hips and destroy the dance floor."[25] Newsday critic Richard Torres praised the track's "hip-swaying elegance",[34] while Selene Moral from Los 40 argued that "there was no nightclub that did not play" the song in the summer of 1998.[35] AllMusic's Jose F. Promis mentioned it as one of the album's highlights, as did Rolling Stone critic David Wild.[8][36] Burr stated the singer "stokes the fire" on the track.[13] Tarradell listed "La Bomba", along with "Lola, Lola", and "Marcia Baila" as being the record's "best of the bunch".[14]

In 2016, Marco Salazar Nuñez from E! Online placed "La Bomba" on an unranked list of "9 Ricky Martin songs perfect to liven up your own wedding", citing how the song's lyrics "sound perfectly" at the time when drinks would be served.[37] Writing for O, The Oprah Magazine, Amanda Mitchell ranked the track as Martin's ninth best song on her 2019 list, saying like the title suggests, it is, "in fact, 'the bomb'."[18] Leila Cobo from Billboard acknowledged the song as one of his "signature dance hits",[38] while Agustin Gurza from the Los Angeles Times described it as a "festive dance hit".[39]

"La Bomba" is one of Martin's most commercially successful songs in his career.[43] It was a top-five hit in Central American countries, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.[44][45] The song debuted at number 32 on the US Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart on July 11, 1998, becoming Martin's 16th entry.[46][47] It subsequently peaked at number 27 on the chart issue dated August 15, 1998. In the same week, the song peaked at numbers 11 and 13 on Billboard's Latin Pop Songs and Tropical/Salsa charts, respectively.[48] In Spain, it reached number five, giving Martin his second top-five hit in the country, following his chart-topper hit, "La Copa de la Vida" (1998).[49][50] "La Bomba" also peaked in the top 40 of several non Spanish-speaking countries, such as Australia and Sweden.[51][52]

Martin performing "La Bomba" on his Movimiento Tour in 2020.

Martin performed "La Copa de la Vida" and "La Bomba" at the 1998 Festivalbar.[53] The latter was included as part of the setlist for the Vuelve World Tour,[54] the Livin' la Vida Loca Tour,[55] One Night Only with Ricky Martin,[56] Música + Alma + Sexo World Tour,[57] Ricky Martin Live,[58] Live in Mexico,[59] One World Tour,[60] All In,[61] the Movimiento Tour,[62] and the Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin Live in Concert.[63] Martin also performed the song along with his other hits during the 48th, 55th, and 61st editions of the Viña del Mar International Song Festival in 2007, 2014, and 2020, respectively.[38][64][65]

A live version of "La Bomba" was recorded and taped as part of Martin's MTV Unplugged set in Miami on August 17, 2006.[66][67] The artist then embarked on the Black and White Tour, including four sold-out shows at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in Puerto Rico.[68] The concerts in Puerto Rico were compiled into his second live album Ricky Martin... Live Black & White Tour (2007) which includes his performance of the track.[69] Martin opened the 8th Annual Latin Grammy Awards on November 8, 2007, by performing "Lola, Lola" and "La Bomba", accompanied by Blue Man Group.[39][70]

"La Bomba" was featured in the British comedy romance film Born Romantic (2000).[71] The song has been used several times on various dance competition talent shows. In 2012, Louis Smith and Flavia Cacace danced to it on the tenth series of British television dance contest Strictly Come Dancing.[72] Angelina Kirsch and Massimo Sinató did the same on the tenth season of Let's Dance in 2017.[73] On its 2021 challenge, Malika Dzumaev and Zsolt Sándor Cseke used the song along with Martin's other tracks, "María" (1995), "She Bangs" (2000), "Casi un Bolero" (1998), and "Livin' la Vida Loca" (1999), to perform a dance rendition in the styles of samba, cha-cha-cha, rumba, and jive.[74] In 2019, Nicolás Occhiato and Florencia Jazmín Peña danced to "La Bomba", "She Bangs", and "Pégate" on season 14 of Argentine dance competition television series Bailando por un Sueño.[75]

Credits are adapted from Tidal.[15]