Biig Piig – Cuenta Lo
- NICK DUTFIELD
- Feb 25, 2021
- 3 min read
Colacao is one of those Spanish brands that helpfully takes culture shock, pops it in a tin with a yellow label, and then fills shelves with it. It´s confusing because the UK equivalents might have a similar flavour or kitchen requirements, but they are way off in terms of impact. Colacao is a chocolate powder drink, like hot chocolate, but with the cultural power of PG Tips. Or Horlicks or Ovaltine in 1948. My outsider status here is confirmed by a lack of clarity about Colacao´s exact role – I think children drink it in the morning or as a part of merienda, the afternoon snack. Perhaps adults have it too, probably as that the half-arsed gesture known here as breakfast. Or maybe at night too, it might make you sleepy. What I do know is that adults don´t drink it in public, except…..a teenager was telling me the other about her uncle, who has two daughters and actively orders Colacao in bars. For himself. We were discussing the moment when waiters always have to instantly re-adjust in order to give the powdered chocolate concoction to one of the grown ups, and whether this would justify the outburst, “TOTES AWKS!” As I am 49, and she is Spanish, we were equally out of our depth in that point.
Biig Piig mentions Colacao in her new track, Cuenta Lo, it is a part that goes……
Por noche en mi cama bebo Cola Cao Solita y tocándome en mi Castillo
(At night in bed I drink Colacao
Alone and touching myself in my castle)
The Castillo could be a brand of gin, rather than a metaphorical castle. That would work well with the moody nocturnal vibe of the track. Biig Piig says Cuenta Lo is, “an alter-ego-driven song about money, sex and power. The video is based around when I used to be a poker dealer, and it’s about the coldness and greediness that money can bring in all industries…including music.”
Unlike Don´t Turn Around, her brilliant, exuberant hit from last year, this time the gloss is under low lights, with hidden grime. There´s an air of seductions achieved and feasted upon, like unseen night time chemtrails, traced out above casinos, as well as country clubs.
Papel en mis manos sienta bien, cuéntalo
(Paper in my hands feels good, tell it)
That´s the chorus and the paper is cash, we suppose, or a dealer´s playing cards. Wherever the power is strongest. Actually, the castle was probably a metaphor, and not a gin. After a night in the casino, maybe getting home feels like security, a place where things are rock solid, not conditional, not floating delicately on the next spin of the wheel.
Given that Biig Piig was born in Cork and lives in London, it may seem odd that she is rapping in Spanish here, but she lived in Spain for years growing up and it works, combining well with the high glitz of the video too, giving the production an air of global potential, which is quite an achievement, maybe that same glut of possibilities you feel when you walk towards the casino´s bright lights across Leicester Square.
THIS WEEK
Biig Piig – Cuenta Lo
116, 022 views since 12th Feb Weekly Average Views – 62,473
LAST WEEK
El Michels Affair – Murkit Gem
Weekly Average Views – 2,508 Blog Week Views – 1,819
EXTRAS – Biig Piig and her connections
Biig Piig – Don´t Turn Around
Lava La Rue – Magpie
NiNE8 – FVR 105
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