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Thomas Inskeep: Female Argentine popstar Lali teams with drag queen Brazilian popstar for “Caliente,” which is as hot as its title would indicate. It’s got a reggaeton backbeat and feels like global pop, the two stars trading and sharing lines about partying. It makes me wanna have sex on the beach after drinking a couple sex on the beach(es), and it gets my ass shaking. Mission accomplished.
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Ryo Miyauchi: Lali and Pabllo Vittar prove themselves worthy to fulfill what is asked of “Caliente,” yet another dance-pop record showing you the thrill of rhythm through its very music. The two play exactly to expectations, no more and no less, but at least they never let the energy wind down.
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Stephen Eisermann: Lali and Pabllo provide the track with the necessary energy to match the loud production, but the song feels a bit dated despite the strong vocal turns. Still fun, sure, but this type of song has been fun for several years, so this type of Latin party-pop is starting to sound a bit stale.
[5]
Edward Okulicz: Definitely catches the attention, but those chipmunky vocals in the background seem to dominate the mix and do my head in. It’s to the tracks’ detriment, making what is almost a fun party slammer sound like a series of ill-judged production tics that detract from the fun and the stars up front.
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Joshua Minsoo Kim: The synth flourishes that are added in the second verse are a nice surprise, helping to develop the song in conjunction with the inherent differences between Lali and Pabllo Vittar’s voices. That this is what stands out most is indicative of how unsurprising the rest of the song is.
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Alfred Soto: A collaboration between drag star Pabllo Vittar and Lali should offer more fulsome pleasures than anthem-ready reggaeton complete with distorted helium voices — I mean, those distortions are a straight musician’s idea of subversion.
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Juana Giaimo: I sometimes think that I avoided pop when I was younger because Argentina I didn’t have a pop star to look up to — Argentina loved their rock heroes and consumed international pop artists. Lali hasn’t just filled in that blank space, but she has also built a strong identity through her music. I wished I had a pop star like Lali when I was a teenager, who could teach me to fight for feminism, for the legalization of abortion and for transgender rights. Her music is subversive, not political. In “Caliente,” she joins drag star Pabllo Vittar and, in the music video, their bodies are treated both as equally sensual and their skins touch as if they were one. They sing in both languages, each bringing their own personality to the same lines: Lali’s voice is light and fast while Pabllo’s is strong and deep. Reggaeton (a genre which Argentina has always denigrated as much as women and non-cis people) is combined with the spirit of a carnival of Brazil. “Caliente” is about partying, dancing, and losing your mind, but it is also about forgetting boundaries by becoming more fluid and letting the rhythm guide you.
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