"TKN" (phonetic abbreviation for "Tekken", a 1994 Japanese fight videogame) is a song performed by Spanish singer-songwriter Rosalía and American rapper and singer Travis Scott. Produced by Rosalía, El Guincho, Sky Rompiendo el Bajo, Tainy and Teo Halm, the song was released on May 28, 2020, through Columbia Records. This marks the second collaboration between the performers, the first one being a remix of Scott's "Highest in the Room". The song reached number one in Spain and Colombia, as well as the top ten in Panama, Costa Rica, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Argentina and New Zealand. Its music video, directed by Canada, was awarded a Latin Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video and a Premio Lo Nuestro for Video of the Year, among others.
Background
In March 2020, during the international lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Rosalía appeared on several radio stations and TV shows to promote her new work, a promotional single titled "Dolerme"; she told El Hormiguero that she had released that track in substitution of a "very aggressive track that featured an American artist which was meant to be released that month but that didn't match the whole situation". In April, Rosalía told Zane Lowe on Beats 1 that the collaborator was Travis Scott, who she personally met through Kylie Jenner in the summer of 2019 and then performed at his Astroworld Festival in Houston in November. She stated that "this song is so aggressive, it has like an energy that I think that is so specific for a certain moment. It is really meant to be played in a club".
On May 22, Rosalía shared a 30-second clip on Instagram stories of her in Miami listening to the song on her phone. The clip showed Scott rapping in Spanish for the first time in his career. Three days later, she officially announced the name of the track as well as its respective cover art. On May 27, Rosalía changed the picture of her selfmade Spotify playlist 'La Rosalía' with one that was taken during the filming of the music video. Later, she shared a preview of the song and the music video on social media.
Composition and lyrics
"TKN" was first written by Rosalía in a homemade studio in Hollywood Hills in January 2019 as a solo project. However, the track was re-recorded at the Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles in February and turned into a duet. The track is two minutes and nine seconds long, one of the shortest songs in both artists' repertoire. The track was written by DJ Nelson, Pablo Díaz-Reixa and the performers themselves and produced mainly by Rosalía and El Guincho, with help by Sky Rompiendo el Bajo, Tainy and Teo Halm. In July 2021, it was revealed that Puerto Rican singer Lunay was scheduled to collaborate on the track before Scott jumped on it.
The track is a conceptual song centered around a gangster family formed by the two performers, Rosalía and Travis Scott. The song sees Scott being murdered in a gang war between drug networks, while Rosalía becomes a widow who still dresses in black in order to express mourning. According to XXLs Trent Fitzgerald "The gang could either be Italian or Brazilian due to the uncountable Sicilian references, from 'capo' to 'omertà' and for the use of the word 'brazuca', which references someone originary from Brazil". Rosalía sings about how she cannot trust anyone anymore, while Scott's lyrics contains "a conversation with and about the woman of his life, his wife, and how she had nothing to do with this business, that he assumes all the responsibility". Rosalía, the mother and wife, constantly talks about not breaking the 'omertà' a.k.a. the Sicilian law of silence, which forbids talking about any criminal act or crime. The track also references Argentinian film director Gaspar Noé, whose films usually are about drugs, gangs, crime and sects; and a woman dressed in black named "Kika" which references the role played by Verónica Forqué on the 1993 Pedro Almodóvar film Kika.
On release day, Rosalía told Spotify's "Baila Reggaeton" that she got inspired by the "squads" and "clans" some artists have. She stated that the song is based in the most pure and classical reggaeton. Production took a lot of time to develop and perfect, almost a year.