"South of the Border" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran featuring Cuban-American singer Camila Cabello and American rapper Cardi B. It was released as the seventh single from Sheeran's fourth studio album, No.6 Collaborations Project. The song was written by Sheeran, Cabello, Cardi B, Steve Mac, Fred Gibson and Jordan Thorpe, and produced by Sheeran, Mac and Gibson. It reached the top ten in eight countries and is certified Gold or higher in eleven countries.
Background
Sheeran's manager replied to fan's tweet that it would be his next single. A few days later Sheeran posted a picture of his manager replied on Instagram story. On 28 September they posted a poster for the music video.
Composition
Musically, "South of the Border" is a three minutes and twenty-four seconds Latin pop song. In terms of music notation, "South of the Border" was composed using common time in the key of D minor, with a tempo of 98 beats per minute. Sheeran, Cabello and Cardi B's vocals range from the low note F3 to the high note of D5, giving the song one octave and five notes of range.
Music video
On July 12, the lyric video for "South of the Border" was released on Sheeran's YouTube channel, while a music video for the song was released on October 4, also on Sheeran's YouTube channel. In the video, Sheeran plays Teddy Fingers, Cabello plays Mariposa, and Cardi B appears as herself alongside actress Alexis Ren as Scarlet Jones and actor Paul Karmiryan as Agent X. As of April 2020, it has received over 100 million views.
Commercial performance
The song debuted at No. 53 on Billboard Hot 100 and No. 14 on Rolling StoneTop 100 when it became available for download and stream on the release of the album in the United States. It received 10.2 million streams in the first week it was available to streaming services, according to Rolling Stone. Following its release as a single, the track re-entered the Hot 100 at No. 100. It has since risen to a new peak of No. 49 there, while reaching a high position of No. 16 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart. In the United Kingdom, the song debuted at No. 40 on UK Singles Chart. It has since been climbing the chart until it reached its peak at No. 4 on the chart issue dated 25 October 2019, becoming Sheeran's twenty sixth top 10, Cabello's fourth and Cardi B's fourth. It's also Cardi B's highest charting song in the UK. It also reached No. 16 on the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart. The song debuted in the top 15 on official charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Slovakia and Sweden. On 9 December 2019, the song was certified gold by the RIAA after reaching 500,000 units in the United States.
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of No.6 Collaborations Project. Publishing
Published by Ed Sheeran Limited and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Limited, Rokstone Music Limited administered under exclusive license to Universal Music Publishing Limited, Promised Land Music Ltd. / Universal Music Publishing Ltd., Milamoon Songs BMI published by Syco admin. by Sony ATV, Washpoppin Inc/Sony ATV Tunes LLC and Sony/ATV Songs LLC. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
