#Alibi is the three-way collaboration between Iranian-Dutch artist Sevdaliza, Brazilian pop star Pabllo Vittar and French singer-songwriter Yseult, released on June 28, 2024 as the second single from Sevdaliza’s third studio album Heroina. The record became one of TikTok’s defining viral songs — more than a million user creations in its first months, a hook (“Rosa, qué linda eres”) lifted from a 1918 Cuban son, and a dance-challenge format that was still trending in September 2026, propelled this year by belly-dance variants, celebrity cameos and the Neffah Twins’ tandem routine.
Quick Facts
- Artists: Sevdaliza, Pabllo Vittar, Yseult
- Release: June 28, 2024, via Twisted Elegance
- Parent album: Heroina (Sevdaliza, 2024)
- Sample: Magín Díaz’s version of the 1918 Cuban son “Rosa, qué linda eres,” first recorded by Sexteto Habanero Godínez
- Peak: Billboard Global 200; Shazam’s #1 Song of the Summer 2024; TikTok’s #3 global song of 2024
- Milestone: Sevdaliza’s first entry on the Billboard Hot 100
Origin
Sevdaliza, Vittar and Yseult built the record around a chant most listeners didn’t recognize as borrowed — “Rosa, qué linda eres” is more than a century old, first captured on wax by the Sexteto Habanero Godínez in 1918 and later popularized by Colombian musician Magín Díaz. Billboard Brasil and CubaNet traced the lineage after the song went global, framing the sample as a bridge between a Caribbean standard and a 2024 global pop record. The song dropped on June 28, 2024 through Twisted Elegance and immediately beat its own release to the chart; Wikipedia and Songfacts both note it went viral on TikTok before commercial release, a sequence that has become increasingly common for Sevdaliza’s rollouts.
The Song
Musically, Alibi is a slow, hip-first drag over Middle-Eastern-tinged production, with Vittar and Yseult taking vocal passes that reframe the chorus as an incantation. Sevdaliza described the record to Las2orillas and Songfacts as being “about finding safety and support in each other, especially in a world that challenges a woman at all costs.” The arrangement leaves long gaps for the “Rosa, qué linda eres” line to land, which is why it travels so cleanly as short-form audio.
Critical Reception
Critics clustered around the sample as the record’s hook (literal and metaphorical). Billboard Brasil described it as Pabllo Vittar’s crossover vehicle into continental and Francophone pop, and Songfacts cataloged how quickly the song moved from TikTok sound to Billboard charter. The record was Sevdaliza’s commercial breakthrough in the US: her first Billboard Hot 100 entry and a mainstay on the Global 200.
Peak Virality
TikTok passed a million user creations in the song’s first months, and the dance challenge — a belly-dance-informed routine riding the “I just killed a man” opening line and the Rosa chorus — kept generating sub-trends. The Paris 2024 Olympics mascot Phryges joined the challenge on the Games’ official account on July 17, 2024, and Pabllo Vittar herself staged a street-performance version with costumed dancers along São Paulo’s Avenida Paulista. Brazil’s women’s volleyball squad adopted the chant for their Olympic debut, with videos featuring player Rosamaria circulating widely. The challenge continued to seed new variations through 2026, including the Neffah Twins’ twin-choreography clips that re-exploded on TikTok’s September 2026 FYP.
Cultural Impact
Alibi is one of the clearest 2020s examples of a sample-first, hemisphere-crossing hit — a Cuban son line, a Brazilian drag-pop star, an Iranian-Dutch art-pop artist and a French Afro-pop singer meeting on a single that moved natively between Lusophone, Francophone and Anglophone TikTok. It also normalized the pattern of a dance challenge outlasting its originating song cycle: more than two years after release, the audio was still a reliable prompt on TikTok’s For You page.
Variations & Related Tags
- #Sevdaliza — the lead artist
- #PablloVittar — the Brazilian featured artist
- #Yseult — the French featured artist
- #AlibiChallenge / #AlibiDanceChallenge — the dance format
- #RosaQueLindaEres — the sampled chorus
- #Heroina — Sevdaliza’s parent album
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alibi_(Sevdaliza,_Pabllo_Vittar_and_Yseult_song)
- https://billboard.com.br/mascote-das-olimpiadas-se-rende-a-alibi-viral-de-sevdaliza-pabllo-vittar-e-yseult/
- https://www.songfacts.com/facts/sevdaliza/alibi
- https://www.cubanet.org/rosa-que-linda-eres-el-origen-del-coro-viral-es-cubano/
- https://billboard.com.br/pabllo-vittar-danca-alibi-com-zoologico-na-avenida-paulista-em-sao-paulo/