Spain Divided on Reggaeton: Postcolonial Resentment or Taste?

Reggaeton isn't hated due to postcolonial resentment

Disliking reggaeton doesn't make someone an imperialist nostalgic. The thesis attributing Spanish adults' rejection to a supposed postcolonial wound — published by a media outlet and shared on social networks — has received a majority response that is far from academic: most who detest the genre say they do so because of its musical structure, not its geographic origin. The critics' main argument is that the aversion is aesthetic, not geopolitical.

What the postcolonial resentment thesis proposes

The starting point is an assertion: in Spain there exists a kind of postcolonial resentment that explains why adults reject reggaeton. The idea relies on a presumed link between the genre's Latin American origin and the discomfort it causes in generations raised with other references.

The problem is that the premise collapses under its own weight when one verifies that the rejection is not exclusively Spanish. It is argued that in France, Italy, or the UK, reggaeton also generates notable disdain, and there is no Spanish empire to resent there. If the hatred were postcolonial, it should have a specific geography. It does not.

The musical argument: repetitive rhythm and poor lyrics

The most repeated criticism mentions neither history nor politics. It speaks of music. It is maintained that reggaeton is repetitively exhausting, with an identical rhythmic base song after song, interchangeable synthetic voices, and lyrics reduced to a handful of phrases about sens, money, and violence. The comparison with hip hop or classic rap is recurrent: even those who don't enjoy the genre acknowledge there is musical production behind it. Here, they say, there is none.

Some go further and label it anti-music, a product designed to stimulate basic impulses rather than to be listened to attentively. The list of grievances includes Spanglish, sonic uniformity, and the feeling of facing a recycled formula of funk and rap for mass consumption.

The counterargument: reggaeton has been here for decades

Not everything is anathema. Some messages recall that reggaeton is not a recent invasion. It has been with us for many years: some place its massive breakthrough in the era of "Gasolina," when twenty-somethings then already went out partying to that beat. Several generations of young Spaniards have grown up with it and it is, simply, what they like.

That fact partially dismantles the generational thesis. If the rejection were a matter of adults against youth, it would not explain why many of those adults have lived with the genre for two decades without their aversion changing.

The historical twist: viceroyalties, not colonies

The conversation quickly drifts into historical territory. Several messages deny the major premise: Spain did not have colonies in America, but viceroyalties and captaincies that legally formed part of the Crown. The term colony would be from the 19th century, subsequent to the viceroyal system. From this reading, postcolonial resentment would be a misapplied concept, because it presupposes a relationship that never existed under that name.

The discussion gets tangled with demographic figures, comparisons with the English model in North America, and cross-reproaches about who exterminated whom. Reggaeton is almost forgotten.

The complex detector

The final stretch of the exchange returns to the beginning via another route: the accusation of racism. It is maintained that calling someone racist for not standing reggaeton is a way to close the debate without arguments. The most repeated response is that musical taste is not a sarracena issue and that confusing aesthetics with ideology impoverishes the discussion.

The balance is clear: the postcolonial resentment thesis has worked better as provocation than as explanation. With these elements, it is foreseeable that the next attempt to intellectualize the rejection of reggaeton will crash against the same wall again. Although you never know: maybe next time the argument comes with data.