"El Costo de la Vida" () is a song by Dominican Republic singer-songwriter Juan Luis Guerra from his sixth studio album, Areíto (1992). The song was released as the album's third single in 1992 by Karen Records. It is a Spanish-language adaptation of soukous song "Kimia Eve" composed by Diblo Dibala. The song features Dibala on the guitar and is performed by Guerra as a merengue number. The lyrics to the song provides a social commentary to the rising cost of living, while the artist denounces the dislevel of socioeconomics as well as political corruptions in Latin America. He also references the racial identities of Latin America.
The song received positive reactions from music critics for its social commentary and music. "El Costo de la Vida" won the Lo Nuestro Award for Tropical Song of the Year at the 1993 Lo Nuestro Awards which caused controversy with the Cuban community in Miami. Commercially, the song reached number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart in the United States. The music video for the song features Guerra as a newscaster who reports about the cost of living. The video includes graphic content depicting the poverty and repression Latin American countries suffered from. Due to the violent nature of the scenes, it was censured in several Latin America countries, despite still receiving substantial play in both Latin America and the US.
Background and composition
In 1990, Juan Luis Guerra released his fifth studio album Bachata Rosa which sold over five million copies and won the Grammy Award for Best Tropical Latin Album in 1992. The album popularized the bachata genre which became mainstream in the Dominican Republic, having been previously seen as music for the lower-class. When Guerra recorded the following album, Areíto (1992), he stated: "[t]here was lot of pressure for me, as well as the record label, principally because of the audience, which is always waiting for a hit. The problem is that people get used to a type of song, but an artist always has to be evolving. This album is completely different than the last one." Recording took place at his 4:40 Studio in New York City with Guerra handling its production and writing the lyrics for all the tracks. The final release consists of various Latin music styles including merengue, mambo, salsa, bachata, cha-cha-cha and balada.
One of the album's merengue tracks is "El Costo de la Vida", which is a Spanish-language adaptation of the 1988 soukous song "Kimia Eve" by Congolose band Loketo. The band's lead musician and song composer Diblo Dibala makes an appearance on the track playing the soukous guitar for Guerra's cover. The merengue tune also features a South African melody. It is one of the album's two protest songs, in which Guerra sings about "tragi-comical, socio- political realities". In the song, he strongly denounces the dislevel of socioeconomics as well as political corruptions. Guerra critiques the consequences of the global economic situation in Latin America and proclaims: "Nobody cares because we don't speak English, not Mitsubishi, not Chevrolet". He also comments about the cost of living going up stating "you can't eat beans anymore or a pound of rice or a measure of coffee". Guerra also makes references to the racial identities of Latin America since the encounter of the New World by European settlers 500 years ago and asks "but, who discover whom?"
Music video
The accompanying music video portrays Guerra as a newscaster who reports the cost of living. The news monitor behind the singer depicts graphic content with footages of starving children, the Chilean military dictatorship and the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. This content is interspersed with scenes of "erotic modern dance" and footage of Japanese sumo wrestlers. The video was controversial and censured in North America and Latin America. Guerra was asked by network stations to remove the graphic content which he refused to do as it is the "reality of our nations". Despite the controversy, the video received substantial play in both continents and was nominated in the category of Video of the Year at the 5th Annual Lo Nuestro Awards in 1993, but ultimately lost to "Una Rosa Es una Rosa" by Mecano. It was nominated for International Viewer's Choice: MTV International at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards, which was awarded to "América, América" by Luis Miguel. The video won Best Music Video at 1993's Soberano Awards.