Chimbala Pushes Dembow Into Spain With His 'Rueda' Remix

Chimbala’s “Rueda” is a slippery single. The cheerful melody evokes the golden oldie “Stand by Me,” preparing listeners for warm expressions of eternal affection. But that’s a feint — the Dominican singer uses this back-drop to say “good riddance” to an ex.

Merging this combination with a galloping beat gave Chimbala his biggest hit: “Rueda” has nearly 30 million streams on Spotify and another 20 million on YouTube. The Dominican singer released a new version of the track on Thursday with help from two Spanish collaborators, Omar Montes — who hit Number One in his native country last year with the Bad Gyal collaboration “Alocao” — and Juan Magán.

The “Rueda” remix is a shrewd nod to the Spanish listeners who have already embraced the Dominican hit. “‘Rueda’ is a track that really surprised us all,” says Pedro Guzman, who leads music operations for MediaNet Partners, which invests in local Dominican labels. “It spent over four months between the Top Ten and Top 20 on the Spotify chart in Spain.”

Now Montes and Magán will give the single a second life. “‘Rueda’ has lost its prime-time streaming-wise,” Guzman says, “but in the clubs, it was really strong up until three weeks ago. We’re putting all our cards into that territory.”