Note: Colombian singer, Yeison Jiménez, passed away yesterday. I am not familiar with Yeison’s music. This coming week will be a week for me to listen to his music and learn more about him. I will publish a post discussing Yeison’s music and cultural impact on January 18.
Whenever I hear Willie Colón’s “Talento de Televisión,” I always think of Kim Kardashian saying “not bad for a girl with no talent” after she made it onto the cover of Forbes magazine in 2017. I mean, if someone has been blindly and consistently stereotyped as “supo ganarse la admiración” “con su trasero,” the first person that comes to mind is Kim K., right?
Willie Colón released salsa song “Talento de Televisión” in 1995 (the year I was born :’)). The song tells of a young, beautiful actress who always secured the best roles in TV shows based on her body rather than her acting skills.
Venezuelan composer Amílcar Boscán got the inspiration from the song while watching tv show “Súper Sábado Sensacional.” Súper Sábado Sensacional is a variety show that has been running since 1968. In the 90’s, the show’s cast included model Yuyito Gónzalez. To Amílcar, Yuyito was extremely beautiful, but she was a terrible salsa dancer. Amílcar thought to himself that, while she may be talented for certain things, she lacked talent when it came to dancing salsa. (This article has a link to see Yuyito Gónzalez dancing.) And thus a song was born.
One day, Willie called Amílcar and shared with him the new album he was working on with Ruben Blades. Willie was looking for songs for the new album, and asked Amílcar for a hit. Amílcar shared “Talento de Televisión,” and Willie snapped it up. “Talento de Televisión” has remained consistently popular since it was released, and it’s thought of as one of the classics of salsa. Spotify tells me the song has 393,917,415 listens since Spotify started tracking streams around 2014. I would estimate I’m 35 of those streams (in 2025).
Mi Diccionario Entry: Moza-noun. Girl, young woman. “No tiene talento pero es muy buena moza.” – Willie Colón.