Arde Bogotá return after two years with the first single from their third album, not yet announced. Fans of the Murcian band will receive ‘Instrucciones’ with open arms because it is pure Arde Bogotá. However, where they see “a discharge of power and forcefulness, of impact and epicness, of intention and personality”, according to the press release, the rest of us see a generic riff, a flat production and one of their laziest lyrics.
‘Instructions’ was presented, ironically, in an exhibition organized by Apple Music and the Cervantes Institute titled ‘The Best Lyrics in Spanish’. This brought together 42 original pieces signed by such important authors as Amaral, Miguel Ríos, José Luis Perales, Manuel Alejandro or Mecano.
Of course, Arde Bogotá had to be part of this club: “Bam-bam, bam-bam, bam-bam, ba-bam / Bam-bam, bam-bam / A latir, bam-bam”, sings Antonio García in ‘Instrucciones’. At least Daddy Yankee in ‘Despacito’ only used this trick a couple of times. The people of Murcia use it more times than Karol G in ‘BICHOTA’, which is saying something.
The vocalist explains that ‘Instructions’ is about “a kind of text that guides you to make a heart that feels nothing.” The plot twist is that if you follow the manufacturing process exactly, what you get is not a heart of iron, but something that hurts you inside, because clearly no one finds it pleasant to have a “bus”, “armor” or even a “tractor wheel” on their chest. What would an Arde Bogotá song be without a list?
‘Instructions’ doesn’t offer anything musically dazzling or surprising, but it won’t go unnoticed. If ‘Instructions’ will be remembered for something, it is for discovering to Spanish society the meaning of “tractomula”, whose Google searches skyrocketed with the publication of the topic. Something is something.
