LATIN LOVERS: Setting the Mood with Ten Romantic Latin Love Songs
Nov 05 '09 (Updated Nov 09 '09)
The Bottom Line Latin love songs make for the most romantic mixes. Here's ten of my favorite latin love songs to set the mood for romance!
The term "romance language" actually means those languages that stem from Latin roots --- the language of the Roman Empire, which dominated Europe some two thousand years ago. But the romance languages all have a rhythm and general sound to them that's softer and smoother than than the sharper, harder sounds that seem to characterize Scandinavian and Germanic languages (including English).
Every language has its own feel and cadence, and every songwriter subconsciously (or consciously) writes their songs leveraging the sounds of their own native language.
To me, that means that at some fundamental level, the best, most seductive sounding love songs will be in Italian, Portugese, French, or Spanish. It's spanish language music that I always prefer, just as its Latin American women who I most want to seduce. A good collection of romantic love songs on the iPod, ready to be played when opportunity knocks, is what I'm talking about!
******************* TEN OUTSTANDING LATIN LOVE SONGS *******************
Here's ten of my favorite romantic latin hits. Hope you like 'em too!
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Secreto de Amor
Artist: Juan Sebastian
Album: Secreto de Amor
Release Year: 2000
Style: Ranchera
When Secreto de Amor first came out, it stuck at the top of the pop charts for quite a long time, powered by its popularity as the theme song for a Mexican telenovela (always a surefire route to fame and fortune in the latin music arena), which propelled sales of the album to well over the 2 million mark. (And there's even more romantic love songs on the album, if you care to give the whole album a listen.) Secreto de Amor kicks off with the plaintive wails of a lonesome soul, but quickly picks up the tempo, as it delves into a man's most profound love. This song was nothing short of a blockbuster hit for Sebastian --- probably the gran obra of his long and prolific musical career.
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Eres Para Mi
Artist: Julieta Venegas
Album: Limon y Sal
Release Year: 2006
Style: rock
I love Julieta Venegas and the sassy, self-confident mood of Eres Para Mi plays at my heart strings as I dream that she's singing the song to me. The song has some sly humor, brilliant lyrics, and deeply romantic passiona and devotion. It also works in some imagery of urban sophistication and the mood of midnight, with low techno wails amid a sultry pounding beat. Julieta even tries her hand at a little improvised rap. It's unexpected, but it fits the mood of the song.
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Ciega, Sordomuda
Artist: Shakira
Album: Donde Estan los Ladrones
Release Year: 1998
Style: rock
I love Ciega, Sordomuda! I love the forlorn trumpet solos in the opening, and I love the quick paced danceable beat. I also dig on the depth of feeling that the lyrics convey as they express how deeply a person can love someone else, to the extent that the whole world revolves around them. I like the staccato delivery of some of the verses, and I bet few other vocalists would have the range and the ability to deliver these kinds of lyrics with the utter conviction that Shakira packs into them.
...ojerosa, flaca, fea, desgrenada, torpe, tonta, lenta, necia, desquiciada, completamente descontrolada...
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Rosas
Artist: La Oreja de Van Gogh
Album: Lo Que Te Conte Mientras Te Hacias la Dormida
Release Year: 2003
Style: rock/pop
I normally don't care for sappy ballads, but if I'm gonna have 'em, I want 'em to cut into my soul like a stone honed razor sharp stilletto. I want 'em to sound like Rosas. This is a ballad --- just not a stupid one that sounds like a remake of every other ballad ever sung. I love the music on this one, and I love the way the delicately delivered lyrics just work aural magic on my eardrums. The song is innovative and sharp, though it does carry hints of R.E.M. (reminds me vaguely of Man on the Moon). Hey, baby! I'm not losin' touch...
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Ya Estoy Cansado
Artist: Intocable
Album: Contigo
Release Year: 1999
Style: tejano (country)
It's a great love song in its own right, and its also a song that shows off why people love Intocable. Just give a listen to Ya Estoy Cansado -- this is one of the most popular Intocable tunes ever laid down on shiny little plastic discs --- it gets tons of airplay, and its got a lot of energy with a fast beat and great lyrics. Rough gist: I'm tired of crying over your kisses, waiting for you to come back, hugging a memory...I'm tired of looking for you in all the same old places, waiting for a moment...I'm tired of the silly waiting, you left, you don't care, and I feel like my life is over. I'm waiting for something, don't come back". Love it!
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Amor Prohibido
Artist: Selena
Album: Amor Prohibido
Release Year: 1994
Style: tejano (pop)
Selena's greatest album, and her best song off of it --- title track Amor Prohibido ---- represent the theme of forbidden love. If you watched the movie about Selena's life (starring a babe-A-lishous J.Lo), you probably know that this is pretty much a topic that would have been on her mind, given her father's discontent about her relationship with guitarist Chris Perez. Que importa que diran, Tu padre y tu mama, Aqui solo importa nuestro amor, Te quiero... This is really a great song that sounds as fresh now, 15 years after the album came out, as it did when I first heard it. A classic!
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Besame
Artist: Limite
Album: De Corazon a Corazon
Release Year: 1998
Style: tejano (pop)
Besame ("kiss me") breaks all preconceptions of what a Limite song sounds like. This tune has some great percussions that delve into a staccato rhythym that reminds me of what you hear in kids songs from singers like Tatiana, but this is definitely not Junior's kid-time tune! I absolutely love the rollercoaster of sounds that rockets around a few turns then slows down as it climbs a hill, only to take off on a rocket pace again as the bottom falls out. Besame...Youch! This is a cool sounding tune, and one of the best cuts on the album.
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O Me Voy O Te Vas
Artist: Marco Antonio Solis
Album: Mas de Mi Alma
Release Year: 2002
Style: ballad (pop)
O Me Voy O Te Vas has got to be one of Solis' biggest hits to date. It's a "born to be a telenovela theme song", along the lines of a softer, gentler Abrazame Muy Fuerte. I hear O Me Voy O Te Vas all the time, and while it does have some cool percussions in it, the song is really too soft and gentle for my generally real-world tastes. (By the way, this tune was number 1 on Billboard's Hot Latin 50 list back in the summer of 2002 and it clocked in on the year-end list at a very respectable number 4, per www.billboard.com). Great song for wooing latin women!
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Perdoname Mi Amor
Artist: Conjunto Primavera
Album: Perdoname Mi Amor
Release Year: 2003
Style: norteno (ranchera)
Perdoname Mi Amor is a classic ranchera style heart string puller that's just born to be the theme song of big telenovela series. Perdoname Mi Amor works its aural spellcasting right from the first note of its rolling keyboard solo, which does nothing if not set a lonesome, winsome, gently reflective mood. It's a mood that's perfectly complemented by the humble lyrics of pleading contrition. I'm not usually a sucker for romantic type songs, and that's really what Perdoname Mi Amor is, but I am a sucker for a well executed piece of music, and that's what this song represents to me. All the pieces work together in total harmony to create a mood and to create sympathy for the poor guy who just really wants his love to give him a second chance. Not a particularly new concept, but one that's always played well to audiences, and not just in latin genres, but across the musical spectrum.
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Si Yo Quisiera
Artist: Los Lobos
Album: La Pistola y el Corazon
Release Year: 1988
Style: rock/folk/ranchera
Los Lobos are some of the hardest working guys in the music business, and their work combines rock styles and sensibilities with traditional Mexican elements. They do a fair number of love songs, but Si Yo Quisera is one of their best. I love Si Yo Quisiera because its a marriage in which opposites attract, and amazingly, form a more perfect union. While the song is a traditional ranchera, it also opens sounding like a Los Lobos house rock gig, but then it throws in some absolutely amazing accordian work, and even a bit of sax to bring complexity to the whole piece. It's fast, it's fun, and it's hard to believe that it's still in essence, a ranchera. Brilliant stuff!
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Con los Años Que Me Quedan
Artist: Gloria Estefan
Album: Mi Tierra
Release Year: 1993
Style: cubana
The first track on Gloria Estefan's classic 1993 album, Con Los Anos Que Me Quedan, is a surefire hit with the ladies (and anyone else who has romance in their soul). The song is as gentle and smooth as a meandering creek, and the strumming guitars set a mood that makes me picture eager young men courting their would-be loves through the stereotypical upstairs window as minstrels strum words of enticement from the cobblestone street below. (Hey! A guy can daydream, ya know!)
******************* ARTISTS SPECIALIZING IN LATIN LOVE SONGS *******************
My list doesn't include many of the traditional baladas and boleros that make up the vast bulk of latin love songs (I personally prefer rock and more complexity to my music than simple ballads). Yet latin music is chock full of singers whose signature style is swooning crooning love songs. There are millions of latin hits that are nothing but retreads of the same "I'll love you forever, I can't live without you" theme. Lots of people love those crooners, lots of people (especially women), buy their albums.
I do have a couple of tracks on my list for the soft sweet syrupy love song crowd, but for the most part, if that's really how you want your romance, here are some artists whose work you should focus on:
* Luis Miguel
* Alejandro Fernandez
* Juan Gabriel
* Julio Iglesias
* Marc Anthony
* Marco Antonio Solis
******************* INHERENTLY ROMANTIC MUSIC *******************
When it comes to romance and love, latin music is a fertile field ripe for the picking. Almost every artist in every style does powerful love songs, there are artists who seem to do nothing but love songs, and there are entire genres that set the mood with soft, mellow rhythms that just beg to be used as romantic background music, filling the air with sounds for love. These genres include:
* salsa romantica
* bossa nova
******************* TEN OUTSTANDING LATIN LOVE SONGS *******************
There you have it! Ten of my favorite latin love songs. There's whimsy love, romantic love, passionate love, and wistful love. There's mostly modern rock or pop style songs, but an occasional ballad or ranchera makes it into the mix to keep things interesting sylistically. Love is a major theme in all music, especially so in latin music, so my favorites probably won't be yours. Got a few of your own favorite "latin lovers" ? Leave me a comment and tell me about it....I'm always looking for fresh ideas to "set the mood"!
Until next time, I'll be in the bedroom. Don't knock, okay...just come back tomorrow....
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