Acoustic Avenue: Sauce Boyz 2

In this weekly column, senior Emily Thomas provides her take on a new albums, concerts, and artists.

Ana Toro, Assistant Interactive Media Editor
December 10, 2021

If you know anything about Latin music, you know that the best artists come from Puerto Rico. One of those artists, Eladio Carrion, dropped a new album last Friday titled Sauce Boyz 2. It is a sequel to his previous album, which also dropped in 2021, Sauce Boyz.

Eladio Carrion is someone I recently started listening to because of a feature that Bad Bunny had on one of Eladio’s songs “Kemba Walker.” It was through Bad Bunny that I discovered Eladio.

To start off, this album is fantastic. It is the perfect mix of hip hop and reggaeton. There are some fantastic features on here and lyrics that make you feel empowered and like you are on top of the world. My favorites include “No Te Deseo el Mal” featuring KAROL G, “Par de Tenis,” “Mami Dijo,” and “Cheque” featuring Jon Z and Noriel.

“No Te Deseo el Mal” is such a funny song because it is a complete oxymoron. The title translates to “I don’t wish anything bad on you.” This would make you think that it’s a sweet song wishing someone well; but it’s not. It is the complete opposite. Karol G and Eladio both start by saying they don’t wish bad things on their ex’s and then proceed to give a list of bad things they wish would happen to them. The funniest line on this track is when Karol says (translated) “I hope that you fall in love again and then Neymar steals your girl.”

Now, for some context. The Colombian singer Maluma used to date model Natalia Barulich before they broke up and she moved on to the infamous Brazilian Soccer player Neymar after a very short time. The reason why this line is hilarious is because, not only is she making fun of Maluma’s relationship but Karol is wishing that her ex falls in love again only for it to be ripped away from him. It gets even better when Eladio continues on with his verse and basically destroys his ex as well. Overall, the song is lyrically very well done. Also because there is a small Bad Bunny feature in which he just talks a little bit in the middle of the song.

The other reason why I really like this album is because of “Mami Dijo.” This song is so fun to listen to because it’s Eladio talking about how his mother used to tell him that if he didn’t have anything nice to say then he shouldn’t say it, but his dad told him that he should never let anyone push him around. So basically he goes into the contradicting statements and details his success which he has gained from knowing when to take that criticism from people and when to tell them off. It certainly makes you feel very empowered and like you can have control over your own life. It’s a great message when broken down.

Honestly, this album was great. There isn’t a song on here that I don’t like. From a more technical point of view, it has got great production, great features, and fantastic lyrics to top it all off. I am very excited to see the response to this album and what Eladio comes up with next.