Selena - Ven Conmigo

About "Ven Conmigo"

Ven Conmigo (English: Come with Me) is the second studio album by American singer Selena, released on November 12, 1990, by EMI Latin. The singer's brother, A.B. Quintanilla III remained her principal record producer and songwriter after her debut album's moderate success. Selena's Los Dinos band composed and arranged seven of the album's ten tracks; local songwriter Johnny Herrera also provided songs for Selena to record. Ven Conmigo contains half cumbias and half rancheras, though the album includes other genres. Its musical compositions are varied and demonstrate an evolving maturity in Selena's basic Tejano sound. The album's structure and track organization were unconventional compared with other Tejano music albums. The songs on Ven Conmigo are mostly love songs or songs following a woman's struggles after many failed relationships.

After Ven Conmigo's release, the band hired guitarist Chris Pérez who introduced his hard rock sound to the band's music and performances, and further diversified Selena's repertoire. Her promotional tour for the album attracted upwards of 60,000 attendees to her shows, and critics praised the singer's stage presence. The album's single, "Baila Esta Cumbia" was the most played song on local Tejano music radio stations for over a month and helped Selena to tour in Mexico. Ven Conmigo peaked at number three on the US Billboard Regional Mexican Albums chart, her then-highest peaking album. It received critical acclaim, bringing Selena recognition as a Tejano singer and establishing her as a commercial threat.

In October 1991, Ven Conmigo went gold for sales exceeding 50,000 units, making Selena the first female Tejano singer to receive the honor. The event dissolved the male hierarchy in the Tejano music industry, which saw women as commercially inferior. Ven Conmigo received a nomination for the Tejano Music Award for Album of the Year – Orchestra at the 1992 annual event. The album peaked at number 22 on the US Billboard Top Pop Catalog Albums chart after it was ineligible to chart on the Billboard 200 following her shooting death in 1995. In October 2017, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album triple platinum, denoting 300,000 album-equivalent units sold in the United States. In 2019, the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".