Music by the band La Mosca Tsé-Tsé had more than 1.5 million plays on Spotify.
“Muchachos, ahora nos volvimos a ilusionar” broke Spotify’s daily listening record in Argentina. The song that became the anthem of the country’s victory in the World Cup was heard more than 1.5 million times between Sunday and Monday, said Spotify, the biggest brand in the country’s history.
The success of the Argentines in this Cup is their face: dramatic, without hiding the pain or losing hope.
The lyrics provoke Brazil because of the 2021 Copa America but recall their own defeats in football and even in the Falklands War. The love for Maradona is so much that it extends to his parents, Don Diego and Tota.
Watch the video with the translated lyrics and learn about the story of the song below.
The origin of ‘Muchachos.’
The original music is by the Argentinean band La Mosca Tsé-Tsé. It was launched in 2003 with the title “Muchachos, Esta Noche me emborracho”.
The rhythm is close to the Rioplatense murga, a local style, and is also reminiscent of Brazilian samba-reggae. On the streets of Buenos Aires, it could be loosely called “batucada.”
The early 2000s, when the original music came out, was the most successful time for the band that mixes ska, cumbia, merengue, and rock, also called La Mosca.
The lyrics about drunkenness reached football stadiums and were especially adopted by Racing fans, with lyrics altered to provoke their rival, Independiente.
Fan lyrics
The version that broke out in Qatar has a date of birth: September 9, 2021. Fernando Romero, a 30-year-old Argentine teacher, Racing fan, went to the Mâs Monumental stadium to try to see Argentina x Bolivia for the World Cup qualifiers.
He and four other friends didn’t have a ticket for the game, but they were interviewed by the TyC Sports channel and sang the new version they created for “Muchachos”.
Even without tickets, they were excited, as Argentina had just won its first title in 28 years: the Copa America, over Brazil, at Maracanã.
The video with lyrics that provoke Brazilians and talk about hope for the third world championship with Messi went viral and was adopted by Argentine fans.
Bleachers and locker room
The band re-recorded the song with the new title “Muchachos, Ahora nos volvimos a illusionary” (“Friends, now we have hope again”) and gave co-writing credit to Fernando Romero. He and his friends participated in the video, which was released on November 11.
The song became the most sung by Argentine fans in stadiums in Qatar. After the Mexico game, the Argentina players also sang in the locker room.
“Muchachos” became an unofficial anthem: at the end of the matches, the players gathered in front of the crowd, and everyone sang together.
‘Defeats, pain and hope’
Messi told the Argentine sports newspaper “Olé” that the song has become his favorite and that he sings it with his teammates in all previews of the games.
“Having Messi sing this song is like an orgasm,” said Guillermo Novellis, 62, lead singer of La Mosca Tsé-Tsé, to the newspaper “Clarín”.
The original song’s singer and co-author considers the lyrics the fan wrote in 2021 better than in 2003: “It talks about defeats, the Malvinas, pain, and hope.