"Enamorada de Ti" is a song recorded by American Tejano recording artist Selena and originally written for her second studio album, Ven Conmigo. The song was written by Selena y Los Dinos band member Pete Astudillo and her brother, A.B. Quintanilla III, and produced by Quintanilla, and is a Spanish-language adaptation of "Is It the Beat?", an English song originally written by Quintanilla and Pamela Phillips Oland. "Enamorada de Ti" is a freestyle song, a musical genre popular during the late 1980s. The recording was remixed by Juan Magan for the eponymous album in 2012, a project headed by Humberto Gatica. Although the song was moderately successful during the early 1990s, it was exposed to a wider audience in the remix album Enamorada de Ti. Because of this, the song peaked at number 17 on the US BillboardRegional MexicanDigital Songs chart that year. In 1997, the posthumously-released remix version of "Is It the Beat?" adopted the rap verse found in "Enamorada de Ti". In the lyrics the protagonist sings to her love interest about his departure, which has saddened her; without him she cannot function normally, because she is in love with him. Selena performed the song during her Ven Conmigo Tour and at the 1990 Tejano Music Awards, where she received the Female Vocalist of the Year award. During the first season of Telemundo's La Voz Kids, a Spanish-language version of the US singing competition The Voice, Xairexis Garcia performed "Enamorada de Ti".
Background and development
In 1989, Selena was signed to EMI Latin and released her self-titled debut album that year. Around that time her brother, A.B. Quintanilla III, began producing and writing most of her songs. Selena had earlier recorded three demo songs for a potential English crossover album, one of these songs being "Is It the Beat?", written by Quintanilla III and Pamela Phillips Oland, but was told that she was not ready for an English debut. According to Quintanilla III in the 20 Years of Music series, his father Abraham Quintanilla, Jr. originated the idea of recording a "hip-hop"-type song for Selena's second studio album, Ven Conmigo. He said that Quintanilla Jr was told by Jose Behar, president of EMI Latin, that several pop-music executive producers were going to attend an upcoming performance by Selena and her band. The idea was that Quintanilla III could write a song which could attract a crossover deal from EMI Records. Upon listening to the original recording of "Is It the Beat?", the decision was made to write and record a Spanish-language adaptation of the song, called "Enamorada de Ti", for Ven Conmigo. During the interview, Quintanilla III said that the writing for "Enamorada de Ti" began in an Albuquerque, New MexicoMotel 6 with fellow band members Pete Astudillo and keyboardist Ricky Vela. In the same interview Selena's sister Suzette Quintanilla called the recording a "Top 40 song" and "fun, that was definitely one of the fun songs on the album", with the recording "bringing out Selena's soul side". The recording is a freestyle dance-pop song in common time at a tempo of 112 beats per minute. In the lyrics, the singer is saddened and bewildered by the departure of her love interest. She tells him how much she is in love with him, and cannot live without him. The remix version featured on Enamorada de Ti is a merengue duet with Spanish singer Juan Magan. At the 1990 Tejano Music Awards Selena performed "Enamorada de Ti" with three backup dancers, emulating dance moves popularized by Michael and Janet Jackson. She won the Tejano Music Award for Female Vocalist of The Year. During the first season of Telemundo's La Voz Kids, a Spanish-language version of the US singing competition show The Voice, Xairexis Garcia performed "Enamorada de Ti".
Critical reception and legacy
Federico Martinez of La Prensa called "Enamorada de Ti" a "popular title track". In his review of the remix album Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that all its songs were "rooted in the '90s and sound that way", and altering the recordings to "update it" was unfeasible. Carlos Quintana, a Latin-music writer for About.com, called "Enamorada de Ti" one of the best tracks on the remix album. Enrique Lopetegui of the San Antonio Current called it a "crowd-pleasing" song with an "unbearable" merengue. Nilan Lovelace of Reporter Magazine Archives noted that although the original recording of "Enamorada de Ti" was a "slow tempo love song", the remix version had a "lively, tropical tone". "Enamorada de Ti" has been featured on several compilation albums since its debut on Ven Conmigo in 1990. A club-mix version of the song was featured on All My Hits/Todos Mis Exitos Vol. 2, and the original version was added to La Leyenda. In 1997, "Is It the Beat?" was released posthumously on the soundtrack for Selena's biographical film and as a single; the soundtrack version included a rap verse taken directly from "Enamorada de Ti". The single also included two versions of "Enamorada de Ti": a Spanish radio edit and a Spanish club mix, as well as a Spanglish version which combined verses from both songs. In 2012, Humberto Gatica headed the production of Enamorada de Ti with the goal of rejuvenating several of Selena's songs in popular genres. Spanish singer Juan Magan remixed and sang a small part in "Enamorada de Ti" for the album. The recording peaked at number 17 on the US Billboard Regional Mexican Digital Songs chart that same year.
