Qué Hiciste

Music and lyrics

"Qué Hiciste" is a Latin rock song, with a length of four minutes and fifty-eight seconds (4:58). The song was written by Jimena Romero, Julio Reyes, Marc Anthony, and produced by Estéfano and Reyes. The song marked the beginning of a musical project that lasted for three years and was originally conceived from a dream that Anthony had with Spanish recording artist Rocío Dúrcal two weeks after the singer's death. According to him, Dúrcal asked him to listen to a piece of music, which turned out to be the primary melody for the song. He elaborated that, within the dream, Dúrcal told him that the song, yet to be titled, was exclusively "for Jennifer." Lopez revealed that as Anthony did not want to forget the lyrics, and without any studio equipment nearby, she grabbed her phone, called up her answering machine and asked her husband to sing the melody. She also revealed that, with the help of a composer, "Que Hiciste" was finished in a couple of weeks. After a few months, Lopez started to write the lyrics with a Spanish songwriter, and finished it on fifteen minutes. Lopez asserted that recording a song in her parents' language was "a dream come true" for her.

The song was originally meant to be a ballad. However, as the lyrics were being written, "Qué Hiciste" turned into "something harder, with a bit more of a rock tinge to it. It's an incredibly intense song. [...] It's passionate and a lot of fun, with a killer message." Lopez claimed she loves the song, "and I hope other people love it as much as I do." James Reed of The Boston Globe noted the song to be a "diva-mode kiss-off" of a lover who "unraveled her happy home", noting the lyrics: "Se te olvidó que era el amor lo que importaba/ Y con tus manos derrumbaste nuestra casa" ("You forgot that it was love that mattered/ And with your hands you tore down our home"). He concluded by stating "that's about all the trash-talking Lopez wants to do". Two months later, Lopez and Anthony re-recorded the song in salsa which was produced by Anthony's longtime producer Sergio George in The Hit Factory Criteria studio in Miami. George commented that his years of experience with Anthony made the task "easier and the result, extraordinary".

Critical response and accolades

Tijana Ilich of About.com gave a positive review of the song, stating that if the rest of Como Ama una Mujer is as good as "Qué Hiciste", "it's going to mean another big hit for Lopez". James Reed of The Boston Globe called "Qué Hiciste" a detour on "an otherwise lush, quiet album". Sal Cinquemani of Slant magazine expressed his disappointment in Como Ama una Mujer lacking a "Latin booty-shaker" song, citing "Qué Hiciste" as "the closest we get".

On the Billboard Latin Music Awards of 2008, "Qué Hiciste" received a nomination for Latin Pop Airplay Song of the Year which was awarded to "Eres Para Mí" by Julieta Venegas. The song received a Broadcast Music, Inc. Awards of 2008, the song received a BMI Latin award.

Commercial performance

"Qué Hiciste" became a commercial success for Lopez, appearing in a wide range of charts around the world. The song became her first Spanish-language song to chart inside the Billboard Hot 100, reaching a peak position of eighty-six. Additionally, the song became a hit on several other Billboard charts, including top positions at the Latin Songs and Hot Dance Club Play charts. Apart from the United States, the song appeared in several European national charts. In Italy, "Qué Hiciste" debuted atop the national chart on the week ending March 15, 2007 and stayed atop the chart for two consecutive weeks before dropping to number five. In Switzerland, the song debuted at number one on the week ending March 25, 2007. The following week, the song fell to number two, only to regain its peak position atop the chart on its first week before slowly dropping from the chart, where it stayed for 32 weeks. In Germany, "Qué Hiciste" managed to reach the top ten, peaking at number ten. In Belgium, the song reached number thirteen in Flanders and eleven in Wallonia. Finally, it reached the nineteenth position of the charts in Austria. The ringtone of the song managed to reach number one in Portugal.

Promotion

The music video premiered on MTV on February 5, 2007.

The clip opens with Lopez driving an old car down a dusty highway in the middle of the desert, leaning out of the window singing. She pulls over at a gas station and enters the bathroom to change clothes. She is then seen dancing in the desert with flames in front and behind her. The view cuts between this and Lopez changing into new clothes and dying her hair at the washbasin. She then continues driving, but this time across the desert sand, away from the highway. She stops and gets a can of gasoline out the trunk, then pours it over the car. The car then explodes behind Lopez as she walks away. She is then seen dancing in a change of clothes in the sand, cutting between her back in the car and in the desert with the flames.

On April 11, 2007, Lopez performed "Qué Hiciste" on American Idol. She became the first artist to perform a Spanish-language song in the show's history. The performance featured a heavy use of a smoke machine and was introduced with a montage of outtakes from Lopez's stint on the show the day prior.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Como Ama una Mujer.