Ácido Sabor

Ricky Martin started recording his eleventh studio album, initially titled Movimiento, in the second half of 2019, inspired by the 2019 political protests in Puerto Rico.^[1] While, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent personal experiences, Martin decided to split the album Movimiento into the two EPs Pausa and Play. He released Pausa in May 2020.^[2] "Ácido Sabor" was included as the first track on his second EP Play, released July 13, 2022.^[3] Following Martin's meeting with the production team SubeloNEO in April 2022, which led to a studio session to compose "Ácido Sabor", it became the last track that he recorded for the EP.^[4] During an interview with Billboard, the singer explained:

It's incredible. You never know what’s going to happen in the creative process. I went to the studio with Subelo Neo and iZaak, and we let the ideas flow. I thought a party song was going to be born, but apparently not.^[5]

Sony Music Latin released "Ácido Sabor" to Latin American radio stations on July 15, 2022, as the only promotional single from Play.^[6] An "Orbital Audio" version of the song was included as the first track on the Orbital Audio version of the EP, released simultaneously with the original.^[7]

"Ácido Sabor"

A 21-second sample of the song's chorus, which features "a dancing and melancholic" melody.^[8]

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Musically, "Ácido Sabor" is a Spanish-language pop ballad that contains elements of flamenco, bolero, urban pop, acoustic, electronic, and reggaeton.^{[5][8][9][10][11]} It was written by Freddy Montalvo, Martin, José Carlos Cruz, Isaac Ortiz Geronimo, and Sébastien Julien Alfred. The production was handled by Subelo NEO,^[12] and the track runs for a total of 3 minutes and 30 seconds.^[3] Lyrically, "Ácido Sabor", which translates to "Sour Taste" in English,^[13] is a romantic song "filled with many contradictions like life" that "represents finding love" and the singer himself,^[5] with lyrics including, "Peligroso / Tal vez todo se sienta dulce, pero es doloroso / Agarro tu mano, camino y me siento grandioso / No tengo alas / Pero tú me haces volar, eh" (Dangerous / It may all feel sweet, but it's painful / I hold your hand, I walk and I feel great / I don't have wings / But you make me fly, huh).^[14]

Upon release, "Ácido Sabor" was met with widely positive reviews from music critics. Jessica Roiz from Billboard described the song as a "very heartfelt track" with an "innovative rhythm".^[5] Also from Billboard, Griselda Flores highlighted it among the "pop gems" of Play.^[15] An author of Marca called the song "[a] hit", while Latina's Lucas Villa labeled it "seriously sexy".^[13][16] A writer of Happyfm gave "Ácido Sabor" a positive review, describing it as an "amazing song", commenting that Martin "has always shown to have enormous talent" and "always knows how to leave us speechless".^[17]

On June 27, 2022, Martin shared a photo of himself in action, revealing that it would be for his next music video, with the caption: "In this photo, a little tease of what the video of my next single is going feel like."^[18][19] Almost two weeks later, on July 13, he announced that the video for "Ácido Sabor" would be released "soon".^[20] The music video was released on July 14, 2022.^[21] It was directed by Carlos Perez,^[5] who had previously directed the videos for Martin's singles "Tal Vez",^[22] "Jaleo",^[23] "The Best Thing About Me Is You",^[24] "Frío",^[25] "Come with Me",^[26] "Perdóname",^[27] "Fiebre",^[28] "Falta Amor",^[29] "Tiburones (Remix)",^[30] "Recuerdo",^[31] and "Canción Bonita.^[32] Martin portrays a bullfighter in the visual, which contains some religious references and bullfighting. It depicts Martin in a confessional that seems to be inside a temple. In other parts of the video, he is shown in a symbolic battle against himself. A phrase appears in the end of the video: "La incertidumbre de un conflicto se desvanece con el poder de la integridad" (The uncertainty of a conflict it vanishes with the power of integrity).^[5][14] The music video was nominated for Favorite Video at the 2022 Buenos Aires Music Video Festival.^[33]

Credits adapted from Tidal.^[12]