"La Incondicional" (The Unconditional") is a

pop song Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

written, produced, and arranged by Spanish

Juan Carlos Calderón Juan Carlos Calderón López de Arróyabe (7 July 1938 – 25 November 2012) was a Spanish singer-songwriter and musician. Born in Santander, he was the author of "Eres tú", which, performed by Mocedades, came second in the Eurovision Song Co ...

and performed by Mexican singer Luis Miguel. It was released in 1989 as the third single from his studio album entitled ''

Busca una Mujer ''Busca una Mujer'', also known as Un Hombre Busca una Mujer, is the sixth studio album by Mexican singer Luis Miguel. It was mainly written and produced by Juan Carlos Calderón, and released on November 25, 1988, as the second album released wit ...

'' (1988) and became his second #1 single on the ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Tracks chart after " Ahora Te Puedes Marchar" in 1987. The song broke several airplay records in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

, topping the charts in Mexico (where it became the biggest hit of the year), Chile and Peru; and the top-ten in other countries. The success of the song helped push the album to #3 on the ''Billboard'' Latin Pop Albums with approximate sales of four million units. "La Incondicional" won Pop Song of the Year at the

Premios Lo Nuestro The Lo Nuestro Awards or Premios Lo Nuestro ( Spanish for "Our Thing") is a Spanish-language awards show honoring the best of Latin music, presented by Univision, a Spanish-language television network based in the United States. The awards began i ...

in 1990. In 2008,

VH1 Latin America VH1 Latin America was a music channel from ViacomCBS-owned ViacomCBS Networks Americas. The network was launched on April 1, 2004 exclusively on Cablevisión D.F. in Mexico, and in the rest of the region some months later. The channel targeted au ...

aired the program entitled ''The 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s in Spanish'' which declared "La Incondicional" as the #1 Spanish track of the 1980s.

Chart performance

The song debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Tracks chart at #32 the week of April 1, 1989. After its first week at #32, it dropped out of the chart for one week but then reentered the following week at #36 and climbed all the way to the Top Ten the week of May 6, 1989. "La Incondicional" reached #1 the week of May 27, 1989, and held this position for seven consecutive weeks (replacing " Cómo Tú" by

José José José Rómulo Sosa Ortiz (17 February 1948 – 28 September 2019), known professionally as José José, was a Mexican singer and actor. Born into a family of musicians, José began his musical career in his early teens playing guitar and sin ...

and being replaced by " Baila Mi Rumba" by José Luis Rodríguez. "La Incondicional" ranked third in the Hot Latin Tracks Year-End Chart of 1989 and became Luis Miguel's second #1 single in the United States following " Ahora Te Puedes Marchar" which reached #1 two years earlier. In Latin America, "La Incondicional" reached number one in Mexico and it was certified gold. Additionally, the song topped the charts in Chile and Peru; and reached the top-ten in Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Puerto Rico.

Music video

A music video was directed by Pedro Torres, and was one of the first super-productions presented in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The music video was filmed in locations of

Heroico Colegio Militar The Heroic Military College (officially in es, Heroico Colegio Militar) is the major military educational institution in Mexico. It was founded in 1823 and located in the former Palace of the Inquisition in Mexico City. Initially designated as t ...

in Mexico City. The story was about a man who serves for the

Mexican Air Force The Mexican Air Force (FAM; es, Fuerza Aérea Mexicana) is the primary aerial warfare service branch of the Mexican Armed Forces. It is a component of the Mexican Army and depends on the National Defense Secretariat ( SEDENA). The objective of ...

in his country, and separates from the love of his life. The music video surprised some of his fans because Luis Miguel's look at the time had him sport a semi-long hair, yet in the video he appears with a very short military hairstyle. It was included in Grandes Exitos Videos. In the long version of the music video, Luis Miguel is having his hair cut to simulate military standards.

Cover versions

"La Incondicional" has been covered by several performers including the All Stars Big Band, Miguel Angel, Austin, Banda Viejo Oeste,

Richard Clayderman Richard Clayderman (; born Philippe Pagès , 28 December 1953 in Paris) is a French pianist who has released numerous albums including the compositions of Paul de Senneville, Olivier Toussaint and Marc Minier, instrumental renditions of popular ...

, Ernesto D'Alessio, Estilo de Durango, Fabian, Florida, Mikel Herzog, Juan Gotti, the Latin Stars Orchestra, the Latin Tribute Players, Edith Márquez, Los Nietos,

Nu Flavor Nu Flavor is an R&B quartet from Long Beach, California consisting of Jacob Ceniceros (baritone), Anthony DaCosta ( tenor), Rigo Luna (alto), and Frank Pangelinan, Jr. (tenor/lead). History Nu Flavor formed in 1994. Under their manager's directi ...

, La Posta, Emilio Santiago, and Tropical Florida. Sergio Vargas of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

also recorded a tropical merengue version of the song which was included on his self-titled fourth album. This version peaked at #28 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Tracks chart in 1990. Spanish singer Elsa Ríos included a version of the song on her 2007 album also entitled ''La Incondicional'' which was a Juan Carlos Calderón

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

. The album peaked at #61 on the Spanish Album Chart.

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

-born,

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

-based singer

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also recorded a

Cantopop Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") or HK-pop (short for "Hong Kong pop music") is a genre of pop music written in standard Chinese and sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production ...

version titled 他(Him) for her 1990 album 珍重 sung in the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

language of

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Incondicional 1989 singles 1988 songs Luis Miguel songs Spanish-language songs Songs written by Juan Carlos Calderón Warner Music Latina singles Song recordings produced by Juan Carlos Calderón 1980s ballads Pop ballads