Jenni Rivera
Jenni Rivera‘s posthumous album Misión Cumplida is here, and producer Pavel Ocampo breaks down some of its most prominent songs.
Released on Friday (June 30) under Sony Music Latin, Misión Cumplida includes 16 tracks with the distinctive sound of La Gran Señora of regional Mexican music. Songs such as “Q.T.M.L. (El Corrido de la Diva)” show the temperament that made her unique, while “El Que Hoy Está En Tu Lugar” shows off her unrivaled boldness and “Pedacito De Mí”, dedicated to her children, reveals her tenderness. There are also new versions of “Engañémoslo” and “Aparentemente Bien.”
Ocampo, lead producer of Banda MS, was chosen to bring to fruition the recordings that Rivera left incomplete, and to give the right sound to others, with the help of Sergio Lizárraga and the children of the late Diva de la Banda.
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“We worked together with Sony Music, Jenicka, Johnny, Jacqie and Chiquis. This led to very good results,” Ocampo tells Billboard Español, explaining that they had to “clean up” noises of people talking and other sounds to rescue the iconic singer’s voice. “The challenge was to keep Jenni sounding like Jenni.”
Misión Cumplida arrives on time to celebrate Rivera’s birthday — she who would have turned 54 this Saturday (July 1). The chart-topping singer of No. 1 Billboard hits such as “De Contrabando” and “Dos Botellas de Mezcal” died in a plane crash on December 9, 2012 at the age of 43.
Below, Ocampo breaks down five essential songs from Jenni Rivera’s Misión Cumplida.
“Misión Cumplida”
“‘Misión Cumplida’ (Mission Accomplished) is my favorite because of what it represents and the way they discovered it. It was a 30-minute audio that showed the creative process. It wasn’t a studio recording, it was about how she was creating it. The feeling of hearing Jenni singing after 10 years was amazing. The title also says a lot of things. For this one, [her son Johnny] suggested we include a piano part and that gave it a special touch.”
“Q.T.M.L. (El Corrido de la Diva)”
“‘Quisieran Tener Mi Lugar’ (They Would Like to Have my Place) is a song that represents her, her style, her way of thinking and her way of being: a woman of strong convictions. In this song we respected her way of composing and musicalizing. It is very much her, starting with the title.”
“Pedacito De Mí”
“Pedacito De Mí’ (Little Piece of Me) was also written by Jenni and is one of the audios that were in storage and were not designed to be part of an album. In fact, the song was not finished. It is a very special song because it is the connection between Jenni and her children, it is pure love. On the musical side, we wanted to respect the idea she had; in those audios they sent us, we could appreciate the creative process and her ideas and that is what we worked on.”
“Aparentemente Bien”
“In the case of ‘Aparentemente Bien’ (Apparently OK), it’s a song that the Rivera family had already released [in 2019] and they asked us to do a new version. I think this one has more of Jenni’s essence. The previous one sounds very good, but I think this one was particularly challenging because there was something [before]. We wanted the song to sound more like Jenni and achieving that was very satisfying.”
“Engañémoslo”
“I really like ‘Engañémoslo’ (Let’s Fool Him) for the melody, for what it says, for the way she sings it. This one does have vocals designed for recording because in reality, it had already been recorded. The challenge was similar to that of ‘Aparentemente Bien’: to make a new concept of something that had already been released. Sergio and I were given the opportunity to be part of this production and we did it with great pleasure, and hopefully it won’t be the only time we work with them. We feel very fortunate that they have taken us into account to create the album of an icon of Mexican and Latin music.”
Listen to all the songs from Misión Cumplida here:
Chiquis has released a mariachi version of her debut single “Paloma Blanca” in honor of her mother Jenni Rivera’s death 10 years ago, on Dec. 9, 2012. The new interpretation comes eight years after the original banda track debuted in 2014.
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Accompanied by the all-female Mariachi Divas, the Mexican-American singer belts out a heartfelt love letter to La Diva de la Banda, expressing how much she misses her, what she would’ve changed about their mother-daughter relationship, and her biggest life lessons learned.
The song was produced by Cindy Shea, Ulises Lozano El Licenciado and Janney “Chiquis” Marin, and co-written by Marin and Claudia Brant.
“When ‘Paloma Blanca’ was originally released, I wasn’t entirely happy with the way it was recorded. I have always wanted to re-release it,” Chiquis said in a press statement. “My vocals and delivery have greatly evolved over these last eight years and I feel better than ever about my music so I decided to record it alongside Mariachi Divas. It will always be dedicated to my mom who passed away ten years ago but I also wanted to re-record it for her fans as well as mine.”
Bringing the emotional lyrics to life, a music video helmed by director Oscar Eden shows Chiquis performing the song dressed as an angel as well as never-before-seen footage of her mother.
The sweet tribute comes a month after Chiquis received her first-ever Grammy nomination for best regional Mexican album and her second Latin Grammy win in the best banda album category with Abeja Reina.
Watch the music video for “Paloma Blanca” below:
Jenni Rivera‘s untimely passing left a void in Latin music. At the time of her death in a plane crash in Mexico on December 9, 2012, Rivera, 43, was at the peak of her career and the single most successful woman in regional Mexican and on the Billboard Latin charts.
With anthems such as “Inolvidable,” “De Contrabando,” “Basta Ya” and “Resulta,” Rivera was able to create a blueprint for herself in a male-dominated genre, and was on the verge of a major crossover, with a residency in Las Vegas in the works and her very own television series. Still, the regional Mexican icon may no longer be here but her presence on and off the Billboard charts looms larger than life.
Ten years after her tragic death, Rivera’s legacy is very much alive thanks to her five children — Chiquis, Jacqie, Michael, Jenicka and Johnny who spoke at length about their mother at this year’s Billboard Latin Music Week — and her empowering anthems sang by a strong yet vulnerable woman for women from all walks of life. She’s also been an inspiration for the new generation of regional Mexican acts such as Grupo Firme, who’s frontman Eduin Caz told Billboard of her influence on him.
With more than 30 entries on the tally on the Regional Mexican Airplay, fourteen of those hit the top 10, and 25 songs on the Hot Latin Songs chart, Billboard‘s Latin editors have chosen Rivera’s 10 best songs (in no particular order). From “Ovarios” to “La Gran Señora” and “Las Malandrinas,” check out the list below.
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