La Perla, neighbourhood made famous by Despacito, destroyed in Hurricane Maria
A neighbourhood in Puerto Rico that became the setting of the most-streamed video of all time has been destroyed by Hurricane Maria.
La Perla, which is a stretch of shanty town along the Atlantic coastline of the city of San Juan, was the filming location for the music video of Despacito, 2017's song of the summer. Starring the song's creators, Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi and rapper Daddy Yankee, the video showed day turning to night in La Perla as a woman danced with locals and, later, in a club, and has been viewed more than 3.7 billion times.
But now the area, along with much of the city of San Juan, has been left devastated by Hurricane Maria, which swept Puerto Rico on Wednesday.
As CNN report from the area:
Many of the brilliantly-colored buildings have been torn apart, leaving only hints of what once was – a bright yellow wall, jumbled in a mess of debris; deep red and royal blue foundations standing amid downed power lines and clusters of wooden beams.
Fonsi was among the musicians, including Ricky Martin, who shared their condolences for Puerto Rico, on Instagram:
A post shared by Luis Fonsi (@luisfonsi) on Sep 20, 2017 at 9:53am PDT
La Perla has long had a musical connection. It has a recording studio, El Estudio D'Oro, which has been part of the community for decades, and in 2006, Nelly Furtado filmed a music video to a remix of her song No Hay Igual in La Perla.
