A music video directed by Jessy Térrero was filmed in Los Angeles and premiered on 22 April 2016.

[3][4] "El Perdedor" is musically complete with reggaeton beats and a tropical sound over which Maluma sings about heartbreak and his need to reconcile with a former lover.

[5] Lucas Villa from AXS praised Maluma's vocal abilities filled with "swagger" and added "there's no doubts that he's winning plenty of hearts with this fresh cut".

[5] On 24 June 2016, a remix version of "El Perdedor" featuring Puerto Rican singer Yandel was available for digital download.

"[1] "El Perdedor" jumped from the position of seven to the top of the Mexican Monitor Latino chart for the week of March 14.

A music video for the song, directed by Jessy Terrero was filmed in various locations in Los Angeles in late March 2016.

[9] In order to promote the clip, Maluma reposted numerous Dubsmash videos of fans answering the phone to the opening lyrics of "El Perdedor" on his Instagram profile prior to its release.

Upon its release, Maluma clarified that it was meant to showcase the racism and discrimination by the US police to people of Latin descent living in the country.

[13][14] A similar storyline is present in the video; Maluma gets arrested due to a relationship with an American police officer's daughter who strongly opposes against it.

The video ends with the pair kissing each other and a quote in Spanish follows translating to, "Race, color, religion, gender nor social class should be an obstacle for love.

[17] PopSugar writer Macy Daniela Martin was very positive towards Maluma's acting skills and the video's story.

She called it "basically a full-on short film, featuring all the action shots and bold definition you can handle in under five minutes".