"Nunca Te Olvidaré" () 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 written by Iglesias 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 staying in love through time and other lovers. Upon its release, it was met with generally positive reactions from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

, although one reviewer was less impressed with it along with the other ballads from the album. The song was featured as the main theme for the 1999 Mexican telenovela of the same name. "Nunca Te Olvidaré" was released as the second single from ''Cosas del Amor'' in January 1999 and 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 ...

for the Cosas del Amor Tour (1999). The song's 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 ...

was filmed in Mexico and features several woman watching the artist sing through their windows. The track was a recipient of 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 1999. Commercially, it topped the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

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.

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, "Nunca Te Olvidaré", was written by Iglesias. The ballad is about a "confessional moment, a vow to stay in love through the passage of time and other lovers". According to Iglesias: "It is one of the songs that I have sent the most joy and sadness when writing. Say that there are times in life, this sounds very philosophical, what do you know that there are people you meet and you end up loving them very much, but you know that no matter how much you love them you will not be able to be together; due to circumstances, ways of being or because you are very different, they are one of those people that you will never, ever to be able to forget". The ballad is backed by a

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and a "cinematic" orchestra while Iglesias performs with a

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...

Promotion and reception

"Nunca Te Olvidaré" was released as the released as the second single from ''Cosas del Amor'' in January 1999 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 ...

. The song was featured on the Mexican ''telenovela'' of the same name which began airing in the same month. "Nunca Te Olvidaré" was later included on Iglesias' compilation albums '' The Best Hits'' (1999) and '' Enrique Iglesias: 95/08 Éxitos'' (2008), On the review of ''Cosas del Amor'', a writer for '' El Norte'' called "Nunca Te Olvidaré" "one of the best tracks on the album". 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' "nuanced vocal style" and the song's "winsome arrangement". Russell McCrory from '' The Monitor'' noted Iglesias "lamenting his way" in the song and cited it along with "Contigo" where the artist "understands that girls (his primary audience) can't help but like a sensitive man". ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

'' critic Mario Tarradell unfavorably cited the song as one of the ballads on the album being "underbaked". In 2020, ''

'' editor Lucas Villas listed it as one of "Our 10 Favorite Hits" by the artist on the website and commented that Iglesias "tapped into his falsetto for a performance that’s truly unforgettable." "Nunca Te Olvidaré" was included on the

of Iglesias's second world tour—the Cosas del Amor Tour (1999). The accompanying

was filmed in

San Miguel de Allende San Miguel de Allende () is the principal city in the municipality of San Miguel de Allende, located in the far eastern part of Guanajuato, Mexico. A part of the Bajío region, the city lies from Mexico City, 86 km (53 mi) from Queré ...

, Mexico and features Mexican actress

Edith González Edith González Fuentes (; 10 December 1964 – 13 June 2019) was a Mexican actress. She is best remembered for working on multiple telenovelas produced by three different multimedia companies, which included Televisa, TV Azteca and Telemundo. G ...

, who is also the lead actress of the ''telenovela''. In the video, Iglesias is performing the track with an orchestra while several women watch outside their windows. It was recognized as one of the best-performing songs of the year 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 under the pop/ballad category in 2000. Commercially, "Nunca Te Olvidaré" topped the ''Billboard''

and

charts in the US.

Formats and track listings

Radio edit # Nunca Te Olvidaré (radio edit)3:59 # Nunca Te Olvidaré (club version mix)6:01

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nunca Te Olvidare 1998 songs 1999 singles 1990s ballads Telenovela theme songs Enrique Iglesias songs Spanish-language songs Songs written by Enrique Iglesias Fonovisa Records singles