Abrázame Muy Fuerte (song)
"Abrázame Muy Fuerte" has been ranked among Gabriel's best songs by several music critics. The track received several accolades including Hot Latin Song of the Year at the 2002 Billboard Latin Music Awards. Commercially, the track became Gabriel's seventh number-one single in the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart and was the best-performing Latin single of 2001. In 2015 Gabriel re-recorded the song with Italian singer Laura Pausini on his 28th studio album Los Dúo. It has been covered by several artists including Marc Anthony, and Isabel Pantoja. Anthony's version peaked at numbers 21 and four on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs and Latin Pop Airplay charts, respectively.
Background and composition
Since the 1970s, Juan Gabriel, one of the best-selling Latin music artists, has sold over 40 million copies and with more than 300 artists who have recorded one or more of his 900 compositions in a career spanning over 25 years. In 1999, he released the studio album Todo Está Bien, which was met with mixed reviews. On 29 March 2000, El Siglo de Torreon reported that a telenovela, then titled Pecado mortal, was being released later in the year and that Gabriel would compose its main theme song. This was corroborated by Billboard editor John Lannert on 6 May, stated that Gabriel was set to release the song Mexican radio stations titled "Abrázame" in the upcoming weeks. The telenovela's name was changed to Abrázame muy fuerte on the insistence of the singer that it match the name of the song. The telenovela, which stars Victoria Ruffo, Aracely Arámbula, Fernando Colunga and Pablo Montero, began broadcast in Mexico on 31 July 2000. It became very successful and won five TVyNovelas Awards in 2001, including Best Telenovela, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.
"Abrázame Muy Fuerte" is a romantic ballad with a Latin and pop sound. It was produced by Argentine musician Bebu Silvetti. The song is backed by a full orchestra, beginning softly with a piano and violins. The melody builds as the song progresses to a "powerful orchestral event" until it reaches to a "climatic crescendo". Lyrically, it is an "emotional confession of love". In the song, he chants: "Embrace me, for time passes and never forgives" and "[h]ug me, because time is evil and a cruel friend". Gabriel was inspired to compose the track after his sister Virginia Aguilera Valadez, who took care of him after their mother died, fell into a coma for seven years.
