| "El Costo de la Vida" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Juan Luis Guerra | ||||
| from the album Areito | ||||
| B-side | "Burbujas de Amor" | |||
| Released | 1992 | |||
| Studio | 4:40 | |||
| Genre | Merengue | |||
| Length | 4:10 | |||
| Label | Karen | |||
| Composer(s) | Diblo Dibala | |||
| Lyricist(s) | Juan Luis Guerra | |||
| Juan Luis Guerra singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "El Costo de la Vida" on YouTube | ||||
"El Costo de la Vida" (transl. "The Cost of Living")[1] is a song by Dominican Republic singer-songwriter Juan Luis Guerra from his sixth studio album, Areíto (1992). The song was released as the album's third single in 1992 by Karen Records. It is a Spanish-language adaptation of soukous song "Kimia Eve" composed by Diblo Dibala. The song features Dibala on the guitar and is performed by Guerra as a merengue number. The lyrics to the song provides a social commentary to the rising cost of living, while Guerra denounces the dislevel of socioeconomics as well as political corruptions in Latin America. Guerra also references the racial identities of Latin America.
The song received positive reactions from music critics for its social commentary and music. "El Costo de la Vida" won the Lo Nuestro Award for Tropical Song of the Year at the 1993 Lo Nuestro Awards which caused controversy with the Cuban community in Miami. Commercially, the song reached number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart in the United States. The music video for the song features Guerra as a newscaster who reports about the cost of living. The video includes graphic content depicting the poverty and repression Latin American countries suffered from. Due to the violent nature of the scenes, it was censured in several Latin America countries, despite still receiving substantial play in both Latin America and the US.