[1][2] The song was written by Rosalía, David Rodríguez, el Kagueto del Guetto, Juan Orengo, Justin Quiles, Michael Uzowuru, Noah Goldstein and Urbani Cedeño.

With lyrics about transformation and metamorphosis, Rosalía's "Saoko" contains an interpolation of "Saoco" by Wisin and Daddy Yankee.

[4] The song's accompanying music video, directed by Valentin Petit, was shot in Kyiv, mainly at Podilskyi Bridge.

"Saoko" was first mentioned in November 2021, in a Rolling Stone article by Diego Ortiz that covered the emancipation of Rosalía and the recording process of her album Motomami.

[7] A teaser of the music video for "Saoko" was posted on 2 February, indicating the release of the song that week.

"[11] It features heavy synthesizers, a distorted piano and traditional reggaeton drums, as well as a ten-second avant-jazz talking interlude between the singer and her team at Electric Lady that was compared to Eddie Palmieri's The Sun of Latin Music (1974).

[12] Described by music critics as "bizarre, industrial and psychotic", the song combines influences of Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral (1994), and Kanye West's Yeezus (2013), both of which Rosalía has cited as an artistic inspiration, as well as Arca, who she previously worked with on "KLK".