L.A.’s song of the summer could be this viral regional Mexican jam about getting hammered

After the yearlong pandemic deferred an infinite number of house parties and backyard kickbacks, the now-plummeting rates of coronavirus infections (and soaring rates of vaccinations) promise a Hot Girl Summer soon to come. But first, regional Mexican star Christian Nodal and San Luis Potosí rapper Gera MX lead a Sad Boy Spring pregame with their weepy new single, “Botella Tras Botella” (Bottle After Bottle), a song dedicated to the age-old tradition of drinking a breakup away.

“Bottle after bottle / I’m drinking to forget about her,” sings Nodal in Spanish. “My friends are well fed up / They tell me ‘Güey, you have to get over it’ / But I can’t!”

×

Released last Thursday, “Botella Tras Botella” is a yeehaw-worthy ranchera pop ballad with a beat — and it’s been spreading like wildfire from Mexico to Los Angeles. The song topped Spotify’s Global 50 chart, has over 50 million views on YouTube and ascended to No. 4 on Apple Music’s “Top 25: Los Angeles” chart — a new chart dedicated to the listening patterns of Angelenos. Not surprisingly, it’s gone viral on TikTok, where users are sharing Gera MX’s lines with boozy beverages in hand: “If you love someone, don’t let her go, so you don’t have to dedicate a song like this to her,” he raps.

Written and produced by Grammy-winning songwriter Edgar Barrera and up-and-comer Jay Rick, the song’s success is actually somewhat of a fluke. Nodal first teased a clip while playing video games on the popular livestream platform Twitch but had no intention of releasing it just yet. “Someone took that part [and] put it on TikTok,” Nodal said in a statement. “It had an impact that neither [Gera MX] nor I had planned.”

Nodal is no newcomer to the charts. Since the 2017 release of his debut single, “Adiós Amor,” the 22-year-old Latin Grammy winner has been a fixture on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Airplay chart, where he has claimed the most No. 1 songs of any solo artist ever.

Nodal most recently landed the No. 1 spot with “Duele,” his collaboration with regional Mexican music royalty Alejandro Fernández, which was released last week. Nodal will serve as Fernández’s opening act on his upcoming fall tour, which includes a stop at the Forum on Oct. 22.