Myke Towers’ latest hit was born “in one of those magical moments that when I hear a rhythm I like, I can’t switch it off until I get something out of it,” recalls the Puerto Rican artist. Since chasing down that rhythm, Towers’ “LALA” has become an unlikely hit, with its arresting reggaetón thump and bewitching vocal sample rising to No. 1 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart.
“LALA” started nearly three years ago, when Puerto Rican producers YannC of Full Harmony and Chalko were looking for an attention-grabbing vocal. The song begins with a woman repeatedly chanting the titular sound as if in a trance. YannC and Chalko combined that hypnotic hook — which the former discovered in his “library of vocal shouts” — with a mid-2010s reggaetón beat and added a vintage synth. It wasn’t until last year, when Towers was en route to his tour of Spain, that he received the beat within a pack of eight options sent by YannC. “I knew I had something special,” Towers recalls of hearing the vocal sample for the first time. “I knew my fans would like it.” The flirtatious song follows a dancefloor fling — as Towers admits, “After all, women are always a strong inspiration for my music.”
“LALA” was one of the last songs to be added to the tracklist of the singer-rapper’s third studio album, La Vida es Una, which arrived in March. The música urbana single notched a fifth week atop the Argentina Hot 100 on the Sept. 9 chart. “I didn’t expect it at all,” Towers says of the track’s global success. “The chemistry I have with YannC surprises me more and more.”
“It has a catchy beat, and Myke knew how to play with it,” YannC says. Adds Chalko: “I feel like that was the key to Myke’s success: The lyrics he added further propelled the instrumental. The song has its own identity.”
This story originally appeared in the Sept. 23, 2023, issue of Billboard.
