South of the Border (Ed Sheeran song)

"South of the Border" was initially released as the second track of Ed Sheeran's compilation album No. 6 Collaborations Project. In September 2019, Sheeran's manager, Stuart Camp, replied to a fan's tweet on Twitter, suggesting that it would be his next single. A few days later, Sheeran posted a picture of the exchange on an Instagram story.^[5] On 28 September, Cabello posted a poster for the music video.^[6]

Musically, "South of the Border" is a three-minute and twenty-four-second long Latin pop song.^[2] In terms of music notation, "South of the Border" was composed using ⁴
₄ common time in the key of D minor, with a tempo of 98 beats per minute. Sheeran, Cabello, and Cardi B's vocals range from the low note F₃ to the high note of G₅.^[7]

On 12 July 2019, the lyric video for "South of the Border" was released on Sheeran's YouTube channel. The official music video for the song was released on 4 October, also on Sheeran's YouTube channel. In the music video, Sheeran plays Teddy Fingers, Cabello plays Mariposa, and Cardi B appears as herself alongside model Alexis Ren as Scarlet Jones and actor Paul Karmiryan as Agent X. As of May 2024, it has received over 250 million views.^[8]

In the United Kingdom, the song debuted at No. 40 on the UK Singles Chart. It later climbed the chart and reached its peak at No. 4 on the chart issue dated 25 October 2019, becoming Sheeran's twenty-sixth top 10, Cabello's fourth, and Cardi B's fourth. It's also Cardi B's second highest-charting song in the UK, after her number one single "WAP".^[9] On 10 January 2020, the song was certified platinum by BPI for surpassing sales of 600,000 units in the United Kingdom.

In the United States, the song debuted at No. 53 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 14 on Rolling Stone Top 100 when it became available to download and stream with the release of the album in the United States.^[10] It received 10.2 million streams in the first week it was available to streaming services, according to Rolling Stone.^[11] Following its release as a single, the track re-entered the Hot 100 at No. 100. It rose to a new peak of No. 49, while reaching a high position of No. 16 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart. It also reached No. 16 on the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart.^[12] On 9 December 2019, the song was certified gold by the RIAA for surpassing sales of 500,000 units in the United States.

The song also debuted in the top 15 on official charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Slovakia and Sweden.

Credits adapted from the liner notes of No.6 Collaborations Project.^[1]

Publishing

• Published by Ed Sheeran Limited and Sony/ATV Music Publishing (UK) Limited, Rokstone Music Limited administered under exclusive license to Universal Music Publishing Limited, Promised Land Music Ltd. / Universal Music Publishing Ltd., Milamoon Songs BMI published by Syco admin. by Sony ATV, Washpoppin Inc/Sony ATV Tunes LLC (ASCAP) and Sony/ATV Songs LLC (BMI). Used by permission. All rights reserved.
• Camila Cabello appears courtesy of Syco / Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment
• Cardi B appears courtesy of KSR / Atlantic Recording Corporation

Recording

• Mixed at Mixstar Studios, Virginia Beach, Virginia
• Recorded at Rokstone Studios, London; Henson Studios, Los Angeles, California; Glenwood Recording Studios, Burbank, California; and Promised Land Music Studios, London

Personnel