Although Aitana described it as “a bit of a meme” during the World Cup celebration at Cibeles, ‘Superestrella’ is no joke. The unofficial anthem of the Spanish national team is destined to become the biggest solo hit of the Spanish artist on a global scale, even though it wasn’t initially released as a single and it has been sung by Sebastián Yatra as well. How did this happen?
‘Superestrella’ didn’t explode onto the scene with Aitana’s fourth album, ‘CUARTO AZUL’, about a year ago. At that time, the songs chosen to promote the album were ‘SEGUNDO INTENTO’ and ‘6 de FEBRERO’. Months later, in early 2026, the track rose to the top of Spotify’s Top 50 Spain, landing at number 2 on the official charts after going viral on TikTok.
After serving as a victory signal for the national team and sharing the tears of Cristiano Ronaldo and the streamer iShowSpeed, the song now experiences a renewed peak of popularity. And now it is at a global level, not just in Spain.
On Tuesday the track reached number 38 on Spotify’s Global Top 200, extending the spectacular rise that began on Monday, when it jumped 88 spots to #68—the largest surge on the platform since the World Cup final. The trend also holds across Latin America: the song continues to climb in nearly every market and, notably, in Argentina, where it moves from #37 to #22.
If ‘Superestrella’ made it onto the officially approved Spain squad playlist, it was because it could be heard in “training sessions, trips or in the locker room,” as El País notes. However, it is FIFA’s DJs who curate the songs played after each team’s victory. Among these selections were also ‘Despechá’, ‘NUEVAYoL’ and ‘LA GRACIOSA’.
What these tracks share—and most of those occupying the playlist—is that they belong to the urban genre’s black hole of styles. By contrast, ‘Superestrella’ is pure pop from its inception. Nico Cotton, the track’s principal producer, envisioned an “ABBA of 2025” and even used the Linndrum drum machine, the same one used by Michael Jackson and Prince in ‘Thriller’ and ‘When Doves Cry’.
Meanwhile, producer Guille Mostaza and the commentator Sheila Blanco praise the track for its irresistible charm in the same Prisa interview. Mostaza points to the tempo of 136 BPM as the key to making ‘Superestrella’ “danceable without stressing,” while Blanco highlights its meticulously crafted hook: “That the emphasis of the word ‘superestrella’ aligns with the music’s accent makes it very sticky,” El País summarizes.
If it’s so unfailingly catchy, why didn’t Aitana release it as a single? In an interview with Cadena Ser last November, the artist explained that she found it “too strange”: “I thought people wouldn’t like it so much, and in the end everything that has happened with it has slapped me in the face,” she confided. Yet watching the video reveals that what she really means is that she found the song a bit cheesy. She also revealed that she hadn’t planned to release a video.
Despite its carefree lyrics and breezy melody, ‘Superestrella’ did not appear to have all the odds in its favor to become a hit. Cotton claims it was completed in four hours, so it wasn’t one of the most polished pieces of the album. Moreover, it is one of four songs in Aitana’s discography labeled as “explicit” on Spotify, which typically limits its reach. The reason is the explicit words she spits out mid-song, including “fuck” and “shit.” In the end, they have become iconic.
The success is such that it has crossed the heteronormative borders. It might sound like a track aimed at teens, very much a staple for girls and gays, yet there are countless videos of fans belting out the chorus. ‘Superestrella’ is for everyone, because who doesn’t enjoy a good bit of gossip?
Another factor in its breakout is Aitana’s personal life. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that the singer’s private affairs have generated more headlines than those of any other Spanish pop star, perhaps even more than Rosalía. She herself spoke at length in an interview with this outlet about how painful it is to be told she can’t “be alone”: “Do you know how many people I’ve slept with? You’d be surprised to learn it’s very few,” she confessed.
That is why it makes sense that a song that clearly speaks to her then-recent relationship with Plex is widely listened to. Yet when discussing its origin she doesn’t attribute it to her personal life: “I was running out of ideas while making the album, I didn’t know what else to tell. Back in the studio, a person who works with me said, ‘Of course, you’re a superstar.’ I started thinking and said, ‘I love that word for the title of a track.’ That connotation caught my attention. Sometimes it’s easy to see yourself or be seen from a negative perspective, and I decided to give it a more ironic tone to tell a love story,” she told Apple Music.
Aitana has never publicly confirmed that ‘Superestrella’ is about her own relationship, but her Vogue profile makes clear she understands the issues the song reflects: “Since I rose to fame, I haven’t been able to go on a first date at a restaurant, because I know it will leak. And where do you have a first date? In a home? I don’t feel comfortable. It’s very difficult.” It’s not easy to fall in love with a superstar, but it is possible to fall for her songs.
