South of the Border

## Single by Ed Sheeran featuring Camila Cabello and Cardi B

### Songwriters

Ed Sheeran • Camila Cabello • Belcalis Almanzar • Fred Gibson • Jordan Thorpe • Steve Mac

## Cardi B Singles Chronology

**"South of the Border"** is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran featuring Cuban-American singer Camila Cabello and Cardi B. It was released on July 12, 2019 through Asylum and Atlantic Records, along with "Antisocial", as the sixth and seventh singles respectively from Sheeran's fourth studio album, *No.6 Collaborations Project*.

On “South of the Border,” the artists implore their significant others to leave the country and go on a romantic trip with them. The song was written by the artists alongside Pardison Fontaine, Steve Mac, and Fred Again, with the latter two producing it with Sheeran. It reached the top ten in eight countries and is certified Gold or higher in eleven countries.

## Background and composition

"South of the Border" marks Cardi's first collab with both Ed Sheeran and Camila Cabello. Sheeran's manager replied to a fan's tweet that it would be his next single. A few days later Sheeran reposted this reply onto his Instagram story. On 28 September, Cabello uploaded a poster for the music video.

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 4/4 common time in the key of D minor, with a tempo of 98 beats per minute. Sheeran, Cabello and Cardi's vocals range from the low note F3 to the high note of G5.

## Commerical performance

In the United Kingdom, "South of the Border" debuted at No. 40 on UK Singles Chart. It later climbed the chart and 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's fourth. It is also Cardi's second highest-charting song in the UK, after her number one single "WAP". On 10 January 2020, the song was certified platinum by BPI for surpassing sales of 600,000 units in the United Kingdom.

In the United States, the song debuted at No. 53 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 14 on Rolling Stone Top 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. It also reached No. 16 on the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart. On 9 December 2019, the song was certified gold by the RIAA for surpassing sales of 500,000 units in the United States.

The song also debuted in the top 15 on official charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Slovakia and Sweden.

## Music video

On July 12, 2019, the lyric video for "South of the Border" was released on Sheeran's YouTube channel, while thr music video for the song was released on October 4, also on Sheeran's YouTube channel. In the video, Sheeran plays the fictional character "Teddy Fingers", Cabello plays "Mariposa", and Cardi appears as herself alongside actress Alexis Ren as Scarlet Jones and actor Paul Karmiryan as "Agent X". It has over 240 million views.