What Does 'Honey Boo' By CNCO Really Mean?
Latin American boy band CNCO had a big year in 2019. They crossed over to the American mainstream with performances on "Good Morning America" and at the Teen Choice Awards, per Hollywood Life. The following year, fans were anticipating the third album titled "Deja Vu" from members Richard Camacho, Erick Brian Colón, Christopher Vélez, Zabdiel De Jesús, and Joel Pimentel, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that album was pushed back, per Billboard.
CNCO urged fans to stay home during the pandemic, and although the album was delayed, the group teased the release of the project's first single, "Honey Boo," which featured singer Natti Natasha. As covered by Billboard, the band built pre-release hype around the track by starting the Honey Boo Challenge to social media. They encouraged fans to stay inside during the early stages of the pandemic by urging them to film themselves doing the challenge at home.
Once the full version of "Honey Boo" was released, it became a certified hit. The collaboration was even a fan favorite of the group's with Billboard readers. Speaking to Euphoria, the group said they enjoyed topping the charts, but their goal something else. "Our nerves aren't always we hope it gets a billion views, we are more hoping our fans love it and we touch people with our music," they said during a May 2020 interview.
Keep reading to see how the surprising way this collaboration came together.
Why CNCO finally released the song
CNCO released "Honey Boo" in April 2020, but they had recorded the song almost two years earlier. "At the time we didn't feel like it was the right time to release it," the group told Euphoria in May 2020. "We felt like 'Honey Boo' had more of an advanced sound on what we were doing at that moment." The COVID-19 pandemic inspired the Latin boy band to drop the feel-good track. "We want people to dance and find the joy in all this," group member Richard Camacho told Hola in April 2020.
The song is a straightforward ode to the prettiest girl in the neighborhood. "It's a love song about a really cool girl. There is nothing like her and that she is the number one in your life," CNCO told Hola. "How she poses/ I already started to feel the butterflies," the group sings on the hit single, via Lyrics Translate. "Honey boo/ No one has more sex appeal than you," they sing in the chorus.
Originally, Natti Natasha was not slated to appear on the cut, but she was apparently looking to collaborate with CNCO, as the band told Hollywood Life in April 2020. "We had a song that we were working on that we thought she would sound really good on, so we sent it over to her," they said. Within 24 hours they had Natasha's vocals, and they filmed the video together only four days later.