El Amor (Ricardo Arjona song)

"El Amor" is a song recorded by Guatemalan latin pop singer-songwriter Ricardo Arjona for his thirteenth studio album, Independiente (2011). It was written and produced by Arjona, with additional work from Dan Warner, Lee Levin and Tommy Torres. The songs development was motivated by Arjona's idea of showing "those big dark events within love that nobody talk about", saying that "love's dark sides are really fundamental to understand its great value".^[1] "El Amor" serves as the album's official lead single; it was released on August 23, 2011.

Background and composition

"El Amor", a piano and guitar mid-tempo ballad, was created by Arjona in an attempt to show all sides of love. As said by Arjona himself, "So many good things about love has been shown, that somebody had to turn it around and tell the bad ones".^[2] "El Amor" marks the return of the known Arjona on a music basis, after the multi-genre and politically charged Poquita Ropa's lead single, "Puente", which failed to make impact on the United States and proved moderate success in Latin America. "El Amor" is mainly composed of guitar and piano, with additional use of violin on the chorus, very similar to those heard on past singles like "Como Duele" and "Pingüinos en la Cama".

Music video

The music video for "El Amor", filmed entirely in black-and-white, was released on September 8, 2011. It was directed by Ricardo Calderón, who also directed Arjona's music video for "Como Duele", and filmed in Mexico City.^[3]

Credits and personnel

Credits are taken from Independiente Liner notes.

Chart performance

In the United States, the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Latin Songs, becoming his fourth number-one hit on that list after "Desnuda", "Cuando" and "El Problema", and No. 2 on the Billboard Latin Pop Songs. It also became a hit in the rest of Latin America, reaching No. 1 in Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Costa Rica, Panama and Guatemala.^[4]

Charts

References