"Hasta Que Me Olvides" (transl. "Until You Forget Me")[1] is a song by Mexican singer Luis Miguel from his ninth studio album, Aries (1993). The song was composed by Dominican Republic singer-songwriter Juan Luis Guerra with Miguel and Kiko Cibrian handling the production. It was released as the album's second single in August 1993 by WEA Latina. A sentimental ballad, the song narrates the protagonist who insists on loving his partner until he is forgotten.
In 1991 Miguel released his eighth studio album Romance, a collection of classic boleros. The album, which was produced by Armando Manzanero and arranged by Bebu Silvetti,[2] was a commercial success in Latin America and sold over seven million copies worldwide.[3][4] It revived interest in the bolero genre and was the first record by a Spanish-speaking artist to be certified gold in Brazil, Taiwan and the United States.[4] In spite of the album's success, Miguel did not want to release a follow-up record that was similar to Romance.[5] When asked why he chose not to record more boleros, he replied, "I wanted to try my music, just forgetting a little bit about those boleros that everyone knows."[6] The singer began working with the composers for the album a year before recording in a studio in 1992; in Miguel's words, he wanted to "discuss the works, the themes, and melodies; ... The creation of an album has to be part of me or else I would not be able to interpret it, or sing in it."[7]
On 24 August 1992, El Siglo de Torreón reported that Miguel had begun collaborating with David Foster and Juan Carlos Calderón on some compositions, along with English-speaking composers, and selecting cover versions for the album.[8] Due to difficulty finding a suitable producer for the record, he decided to co-produce the album with his long-time associate Kiko Cibrian.[6] A chance meeting with Dominican Republic singer-songwriter Juan Luis Guerra in Mexico, led to him writing "Hasta Que Me Olvides" in a napkin for Miguel which the artist recorded for Aries (1993).[9] Composed by Guerra, it is a sentimental ballad in which the protagonist "will insist until his partner forgets him, so he waits for an opportunity to recover his love, but if he realizes that she no longer feels anything for him, he will make the decision to leave".[10]
Promotion and reception
"Hasta Que Me Olvides" was released as the album's second single in August 1993 by WEA Latina.[11] The song was later included on his greatest hits album Grandes Éxitos (2005).[12] A live version of the song was featured on his live album El Concierto (1995) (which was recorded from his Segundo Romance Tour in August 1994),[13] and was released as a promotional single in Spain in the same year.[14] On the review of the album, the Sun-Sentinel's John Lannert praised Miguel for "crooning seductively on Juan Luis Guerra`s emotion-drenched love ode".[15]La Prensa de San Antonio author Diana Raquel commended the track, along with "Tu y Yo", for exerting "eternal poetry".[16] The track was listed among "10 Luis Miguel Songs You Should Know" by Emily Paulín on Sonica and "20 Best Luis Miguel Songs to Listen on YouTube Music" by an editor for El Comercio.[17][18]
^"Hit Parade". El Siglo de Torreón (in Spanish). Editora de la Laguna. 24 August 1992. p. 50. Archived from the original on 17 July 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
^Arias, Vilo (9 August 1993). "Article - Hit ParadeHit Parade". El Siglo de Torreón (in Spanish). p. 44. Archived from the original on 25 March 2022. Retrieved 25 March 2022.