First, it became all the rage thanks to New York Mets baseball games.
This past weekend, it was then featured by prominent college football programs at their games.
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If there’s a song that’s become the theme of 2022 in the sports world, it’s definitely “Narco.”
It might seem strange to see a nondescript song made in Europe in 2017 all of a sudden become so popular in the United States five years later, so here’s an overview about the sudden fame of “Narco.”
Who are the artists?
“Narco” was a single released in 2017 by an EDM duo from the Netherlands called Blasterjaxx (Thom Jongkind and Idir Makhlaf), accompanied by an Australian known as “Timmy Trumpet.”
After the song opens in a rhythmic drumbeat, the signature moment comes when Trumpet lives up to his name (OK, his stage name, his real name is Timothy Jude Smith) by blasting a brilliant trumpet solo that has the feel of one being called into battle, or even to just dance feverishly.
Why has Narco become so popular?
New York Mets relief pitcher Edwin Diaz first started to use “Narco” as his walk-up song in 2018 when he was a member of the Seattle Mariners.
Until this year though, few had heard of Diaz and the song.
That has changed with Diaz establishing himself as an All-Star and one of baseball’s best relief pitchers for the Mets, who reside in the nation’s biggest media market and who have spent most of the season in first place in the National League East Division.
All of a sudden, when Diaz entered games to “Narco,” it fired up fans to the point where they would stand up and hold their camera phones up to capture the moment when Diaz ran onto the field from the bullpen.
The Mets mascots got into the act by pretending to play trumpets as Diaz went to the mound. To view that on Twitter, click or tap here.
Timmy Trumpet makes live performance
Realizing just how much Diaz was popularizing the song, Timmy Trumpet made a visit to New York last week to take in the Mets’ series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On Aug. 31, with the Mets leading the Dodgers 2-1 going into the ninth inning, it was a save opportunity for Diaz and a chance for Trumpet to do something special.
As Diaz came into the game, Trumpet went on the field and did his part of “Narco” live, much to the delight of fans in the stands and around the world.
“Narco” takes over college football
During the first full weekend of college football this past weekend, prominent programs showed that they had taken notice of the song’s popularity at Mets games this summer.
The song was played over the stadium loudspeakers at Alabama (which got Diaz himself to give it a thumbs up on Twitter) and North Dakota State, and by a trumpet player in Ohio State’s marching band during the Buckeyes’ game against Notre Dame.
Just how popular has “Narco” become?
It has gone VIRAL.
Just a few weeks ago in the middle of August, “Narco” had more than one million streams and was No. 3 on Spotify’s playlist of Viral 50 songs in the U.S.
The term “Edwin Diaz song” has also become a popular search engine on Google.
Not too shabby for a seemingly nondescript song made five years ago in a country where baseball is barely known.
“I don’t know anybody that plays baseball here,” Makhlaf said to Variety. “It’s not very popular.”
But given how popular baseball and now football is making their five-year-old song, Makhlaf and Jongkind aren’t complaining.
“Our music has been played in stadiums before, but nothing like this,” Jongkind said to Variety. “Obviously, it has to do with the Mets and how well they’re playing. It’s all coming together right now.”