"Esperanza" (English: "Hope") is a song by Spanish singer

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; (born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican indie label Fonovisa and became the bestselling Spanish-language act of the decade. By the ...

for his third studio album '' Cosas del Amor'' (1998). It was co-written by Igleias and Chein García-Alonso with Rafael Pérez-Botija handling its production. A

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...

, it is a confessional song of love and forgiveness. Upon "Esperanza"'s release, one reviewer lauded Iglesias's vocals and the song's arrangements while another found it too similar to his debut single " Si Tú Te Vas". Filmed in Malibu, California, the accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Esperanza" was directed by

Emmanuel Lubezki Emmanuel Lubezki Morgenstern (; born November 30, 1964) is a Mexican cinematographer. He sometimes goes by the nickname Chivo, which means "goat" in Spanish. Lubezki has worked with many acclaimed directors, including Mike Nichols, Tim Burton, M ...

, which won Video of the Year at the 11th Annual Lo Nuestro Awards in 1999. "Esperanza" also won "Song of the Year" and an

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

(ASCAP) Latin Award in the same year. Commercially, it reached number one in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama as well as the ''Billboard''

Hot Latin Songs The ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs (formerly Hot Latin Tracks and Hot Latin 50) is a record chart in the United States for Latin songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Since October 2012, chart rankings are based on digital sales, rad ...

and

Latin Pop Airplay Latin Pop Airplay (also referred to as Latin Pop Songs) is a record chart published on ''Billboard'' magazine and a subchart of the Latin Airplay chart. The chart focuses on Latin pop music, namely Spanish-language pop music. It was established b ...

charts in the United States, while becoming top-five hit in Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador.

Background and composition

On 30 July 1998, Iglesias announced that he was recording his third studio album, '' Cosas del Amor'', at

Ocean Way Recording Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, California, Nashville, Tennessee, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates record ...

in Los Angeles, California. It was produced by Spanish producer Rafael Pérez-Botija, who had previously worked with Iglesias on his past records. ''Cosas del Amor'', which was released on 22 September 1998, features a collection of

s. One of the ballads from the album, "Esperanza", was written by Iglesias and Chein Alonso Garcia and is a "confessional song of forgiveness and love". The song was later included on Iglesias's compilation albums '' The Best Hits'' (1999) and the deluxe edition of '' Enrique Iglesias: 95/08 Éxitos'' (2008).

Promotion and reception

"Esperanza" was released as the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

from the album on 7 September 1998 by

Fonovisa Records Fonovisa Records is an American Spanish language record label founded in 1984 by Guillermo Santiso as a subsidiary of Televisa. Its former name before being acquired by Televisa in 1984 was Profono Internacional, which was founded in 1978. Fonov ...

. Its

was filmed in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malibu ...

and directed by

. The video features Argentine model

Inés Rivero María Inés Rivero (born 7 June 1975) is an Argentine model. She was discovered at 14 years old. She rose to prominence through her work as a Victoria’s Secret Angel and was shown on the covers of ''Elle'', ''Vogue'', ''Cosmopolitan'', ''Fashi ...

, whom Iglesias is attempting to

resuscitate Resuscitation is the process of correcting physiological disorders (such as lack of breathing or heartbeat) in an acutely ill patient. It is an important part of intensive care medicine, anesthesiology, trauma surgery and emergency medicine. W ...

after drowning while also reminiscing about the past with her. It won Video of the Year at the 11th Annual Lo Nuestro Awards in 1999. Joey Guerra of the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

'' praised Iglesias's "nuanced vocal" style and the song's "winsome" arrangement; however, Russell McCrory from '' The Monitor'' was less favorable towards the track, where he felt that "Esperanza" was too similar to his 1995 debut single " Si Tú Te Vas". The single received the Song of the Year award at the inaugural Ritmo Music Awards in 1999, and was recognized as one of the best-performing songs of the year on the Pop/Ballad field at the

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

Latin Awards. "Esperanza" was included on the

set list A set list, or setlist, is typically a handwritten or printed document created as an ordered list of songs, jokes, stories and other elements an artist intends to present during a specific performance. A setlist can be made of nearly any materi ...

of Iglesias's second world tour—the Cosas del Amor Tour, where he embarked on the same year. Commercially in Latin America, it reached number one in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama, and was a top-five hit in Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Honduras. In the US, "Esperanza" debuted at number four on the ''Billboard''

chart on the week of 26 September 1998. It reached the number one position on the chart in the week of 24 October 1998 following the chart's two week hiatus due to damage to the

Broadcast Data Systems Broadcast Data Systems (also known as BDS or Luminate BDS), is a service that tracks radio, television and internet airplay of songs. The service, which is a unit of MRC Data, is a contributing factor to North American charts published by co-owned ...

in Puerto Rico caused by

Hurricane Georges Hurricane Georges () was a powerful and long-lived Cape Verde Category 4 hurricane which caused severe destruction as it traversed the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico in September 1998, making eight landfalls along its path. Georges was the sevent ...

. It spent four consecutive weeks in this position before being replaced by

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the " Queen of Latin Music" and is ...

's song "

Ciega, Sordomuda "Ciega, Sordomuda" () is a song by Colombian singer Shakira from her fourth studio album, ''Dónde Están los Ladrones?'' (1998). A pop rock track, it utilizes mariachi trumpets and lyrically equates total love to a person being blind, deaf, an ...

". The track additionally peaked atop the

chart for four consecutive weeks.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Track listing

European CD single # "Esperanza" — 3:12 # "Viviré y Moriré" — 4:04 # "

Revolución Revolución, the Spanish word for revolution, may refer to: Music *''Revolución'', a 1985 album by La Polla Records * ''Revolución'' (WarCry album), a 2008 album by WarCry * ''Revolución'' (The Dead Daisies album), a 2015 album by The Dead Dais ...

" — 3:55 # "

Por Amarte "Por Amarte" (English: ''To Love You'') is the title of the third single released by Spanish singer-songwriter Enrique Iglesias from his eponymous debut studio album ''Enrique Iglesias (album), Enrique Iglesias'' (1995), It was released by Fonovi ...

" — 4:05 US CD single # "Esperanza" (Fernando's Club Mix) — 6:18 # "Esperanza" (Fernando's Dub Mix) — 5:19 # "Esperanza" (Fernando's radio edit) — 4:08 # "Esperanza" (album version) — 3:09

References

{{authority control 1998 singles 1998 songs Enrique Iglesias songs Spanish-language songs Songs written by Enrique Iglesias 1990s ballads Pop ballads Fonovisa Records singles Songs written by Chein García-Alonso