Atencion Lyrics – In the Heights

Song Overview

“Atención” is the short, shiver-inducing bulletin on the In The Heights Original Broadway Cast Recording where Kevin Rosario, voiced by Carlos Gómez, breaks the news to the barrio: Abuela Claudia has died. On the 2008 Ghostlight album it lands right after “Carnaval del Barrio” and before “Alabanza,” running just 0:53 yet changing the temperature of the whole score.

Personal Review

The lyrics here do one clean job: stop the party. “Atención” is a dispatch over taxi radios, a public-service tone that slices through the joy of the previous number. No ornament, no hedging. Just a father, a boss, a neighbor, asking everyone to slow down. In one sentence: the song is a thirty-second cloud that makes the next track possible.

Song Meaning and Annotations

“Atención” functions as a hinge. Structurally it turns the community from revelry to vigil, teeing up “Alabanza,” the communal prayer that follows. In the Broadway script, Kevin uses his dispatch network as a loudspeaker, telling every driver - and by extension every block - that the matriarch is gone.

Style-wise it’s parlando over a light underscore, more radio break than full song, which is the point. It keeps the rhythm of the show moving while lowering the lights. The arrangement across the album benefits from Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman’s orchestration brain trust, so even this fragment snaps into place musically.

On record, the placement is surgical: Disc 2, Track 17. The timing - 0:53 - matters because the brevity adds shock. It’s a message, not a eulogy. Then “Alabanza” does the mourning.

Film adaptation note: the 2021 movie soundtrack keeps “Alabanza,” but “Atención” is not listed as a separate track, the announcement essentially absorbed into dialogue. Different medium, same gut-punch.

Annotations - line by line

“Atención, atención”

The phrase means “attention.” The simple Spanish keeps the message clear for mixed audiences and echoes an earlier dispatch gag in “Benny’s Dispatch.”

“Roll down your windows / Turn up your radios”

Kevin leverages the Rosario dispatch as a neighborhood PA system. Drivers become messengers, which fits the show’s web of street-level communication.

“Un momento, por favor”

Literally “one moment, please.” It reads like a quiet “moment of silence” before the news - a respectful hush.

“Abuela Claudia passed away / At noon today”

In the original staging, the party chatter from “Carnaval del Barrio” is still hanging in the air when the lights drop and the tone flips. Nina’s frantic dash underscores the shock before Kevin’s announcement lands.

Creation history

In The Heights opened on Broadway in March 2008 after years of development. The cast album was recorded in May 2008 at Legacy Studios and released June 3, 2008 by Ghostlight Records, with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Andrés Levin, and Kurt Deutsch as album producers and a creative team led by Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman on arrangements-orchestrations.

Verse Highlights

Opening call

Kevin’s first “Atención” sets the meter and mood. Short, clipped syllables ride the beat like turn-signal clicks.

Directive couplets

“Roll down your windows / Turn up your radios” doubles the command pattern. It’s efficient writing - two actions that widen the message’s reach.

The noon timestamp

“At noon today” is the cold stamp of reality. It pins memory to a clock so the neighborhood can process together.

Key Facts

• Featured lead: Carlos Gómez as Kevin Rosario.
• Writers: Music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
• Album: In The Heights - Original Broadway Cast Recording.
• Release Date: June 3, 2008.
• Label: Ghostlight Records.
• Length: 0:53.
• Track #: 17 on Disc 2.
• Producers on album: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Andrés Levin, Kurt Deutsch - with Alex Lacamoire, Bill Sherman, Joel W. Moss credited in producer roles across the project.
• Orchestrations-arrangements: Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman.
• Language: Spanish-English blend; spoken-sung dispatch style.

Questions and Answers

Who produced “Atención” on the cast album?

The album’s primary producers are Lin-Manuel Miranda, Andrés Levin, and Kurt Deutsch, with Alex Lacamoire, Bill Sherman, and Joel W. Moss also credited across the production.

When was it released?

June 3, 2008, on Ghostlight Records.

Who performs the lead vocal?

Carlos Gómez as Kevin Rosario.

Where does “Atención” sit in the show and album?

Right after “Carnaval del Barrio” and just before “Alabanza,” as Disc 2, Track 17.

Is “Atención” in the 2021 film soundtrack?

The announcement exists in the film’s storytelling, but it is not listed as a separate track on the movie soundtrack.

Awards and Chart Positions

The In The Heights Original Broadway Cast Recording won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.

Album performance: No. 82 on the Billboard 200, No. 1 on Billboard’s Cast Albums chart, later certified Gold by the RIAA in the United States.

Songs Exploring Themes of Loss and Community

“Alabanza” - In The Heights. The immediate response to “Atención.” Where the dispatch is information, “Alabanza” is ritual. The melody rocks gently, like neighbors holding candles. It names the loss and invites the whole block to breathe together.

“Left Behind” - Spring Awakening. A solo grief song that sinks inward. The lyric circles small details of memory, and the guitar figure keeps time like a clock you suddenly hear again. Unlike “Atención,” it doesn’t call the town - it asks the heart to make room.

“No One Is Alone” - Into the Woods. Community formed in the aftermath. The counsel is plainspoken and the harmony does the heavy lifting. It’s not a bulletin like “Atención,” but it works the same duty shift: turn panic into connection, step by step.