Hawái

The harmony is intentionally simple — a looping four-chord minor progression that keeps the reggaeton dembow pattern dominant. The song's emotional charge is carried by Maluma's melodic phrasing and the tension between the production's buoyant tropical textures and a lyric about loss and disbelief. This restraint is a deliberate structural choice in crossover reggaeton production: harmonic novelty would compete with the groove, so the chords step back and let the rhythm and vocal melody do the work.

'Hawái' was written by a ten-person team: Maluma, Édgar Barrera, René Cano, Kevin Cruz, Kevin Jiménez, Johan Espinosa, Stiven Rojas, Bryan Lezcano, Andrés Uribe, and Juan Vargas. Maluma denied publicly that the lyrics drew from his personal life, despite listeners and press drawing parallels to his real-world relationships. The song deals with a man watching his ex-girlfriend curate an image of post-breakup contentment on social media while doubting its sincerity.

Released in July 2020, 'Hawái' became Maluma's breakthrough global single, topping the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart for nine consecutive weeks and giving him his first number one on that chart. A remix with The Weeknd followed in November 2020, pushing the song to number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and making it the first track to reach number one on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart.