El Chico del Apartamento 512

El Chico del Apartamento 512
Single Selena
from the album Amor Prohibido
Genre	Mexican cumbia, cumbia pop, Latin dance
Length	3:29
Label	EMI Latin
Writer	Abraham Quintanilla III Ricky Vela
Producer	Abraham Quintanilla III
Selena singles chronology
Fotos y Recuerdos (1995)	El Chico del Apartamento 512 (1995)	I Could Fall in Love (1995)

"El Chico del Apartamento 512" (English: "The Boy in Apartment 512") is a song by Mexican-American Tejano pop singer Selena. El Chico del Apartamento 512 was the sixth single released from her album Amor Prohibido (1994). The song was written and produced by A.B. Quintanilla III, Ricky Vela, Joshua Munoz, Bebu Silvetti, Steven Torres and James Moore. It was released in the United States for Tejano and Contemporary Latin radio stations and was released as a promotional single a day before Selena was murdered on March 30, 1995. Selena promoted the song during her Amor Prohibido Tour, the song was included in every venue. Her final performance was on March 19, 1995 during her concert Calle Ocho Festival in Miami, Florida, which attracted over 100,000 fans.

While being interviewed with La Nación, Selena told them that she recorded the song because she believed her fans would appreciate her choice in Latin-pop dance and wanted to gain fans, who weren't equated with her music. El Chico del Apartamento 512 was given mixed to positive reviews. Carlos Meléndez, of El Nuevo Día commented on A.B. Quintanilla III's choice for selecting the song saying that "Selena already had great songs on her Amor Prohibido album, but if A.B. had picked another song similar to "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom", the album would have been way better." Meléndez's comments towards the song were upsetting to some Puerto Rican fans, who wrote to the newspaper, many of them stating that Meléndez "does not know what music is". Julio Ramírez of MTV Latin America gave the song positive feedback saying "Just amazing! well thought out and well produced. A.B. Quintanilla and Ricky Vela, helped Selena shine through [El Chico del Apartamento 512], her vocals in the song are incredible. I can diffidently see crossover potential" during a special screening of Playlist.

Because the single was released a day prior to Selena going into a coma for eighteen years, the event jeopardize any further developments for a music video, to further promote the song. El Chico del Apartamento 512 had never shared a position on Billboard and failed to impact any music chart globally. Selena's brother, who is the producer of her music, A.B. Quintanilla III stated that "El Chico del Apartamento 512" was a "Colombian Cumbia" song, while being interviewed for Selena's collection, "20 Years of Music". The song has been covered by many artists, with the most notable example being by Graciela Beltrán, who both recorded and sang in homage to Selena during the Selena ¡VIVE! tribute concert, which was held on April 9, 2005.

Background and production

El Chico del Apartamento 512 one of the first songs composed for Selena's fifth studio album Amor Prohibido (1994), incorporates Cumbia pop, Latin pop and Latin dance. Selena recorded half of the song at Q-Productions in Corpus Christi, Texas, which is her father's Abraham Quintanilla Jr's record studio. She later finished recording at Brain "Red" Moore's recording studio in San Antonio, Texas.

Moore helped audio mix the song for inclusion in Amor Prohibido. Selena told La Nación that she wanted to record the song because she believed her fans would appreciate her choice in Latin pop dance. She also wanted to gain other Hispanics who enjoyed that genre into her music. The song was written by Ricky Vela with collaborative writing credits given to A.B. Quintanilla III, brother and song producer of Selena. While it was produced by Joshua Munoz, Bebu Silvetti, Steven Torres and James Moore. The single was released the day before Selena was comatose, which jeopardize any further development of a music video.

Selena expressed why she wanted to record El Chico del Apartamento 512:

"I really wanted to record this song when I first heard it. I was sitting down eating breakfast with my husband, Chris Perez, when A.B. and Ricky came rushing in. I had thought that one of my dogs had died! But thank god that I was wrong. I asked him "what's wrong?" and he replied telling me that I have to hear one of the songs that he and Ricky had just wrote. So I walked over to A.B.'s house, keep in mind we are neighbors (laughs). When A.B., had given me the song to look at. I was already in love with it. I was glad that my brother and Ricky had written the song, because, I wanted to get more fans who aren't fans of Tejano music. I wanted to show other Hispanics of this different type of sound. Like, there's salsa, merengue and bachata, but there's also "Tejano". So I instantly wanted to record El Chico del Apartamento 512. I hope all my fans and the new ones. Cross my fingers (laughs), that they will enjoy this song. I literally recorded two takes on the song, and A.B., like always, wanted me to keep going. I was like, I am not going to record it ten times! (laughs) Seriously, he always ask me to do that. (laughs)"

Composition and lyric content

El Chico del Apartamento 512 is a fast up-tempo song, drawing influence from pop and dance music genres. With 102 beats per minute, the song is set in common time and is set in C minor. It incorporates music from several musical instruments, including the French horn, violin and piano. During the beginning of the song, hymn tunes are accompanied by Selena's singing of being depressed.

The song's lyrics describes a girl who lives in an apartment complex, who always get hit on by random guys she is not interested in. All of a sudden, a whistle blows from a handsome young man in the elevator and she is stuck with curiosity on who he is, which makes her heart jump. she discovers its her new neighbor from the apartment number 512. This triggers her to think about him, write him love letters and when she bumps into him in the apartment corridor she gets shy and acts like she is not interested in him. One day she gets the courage to knock on his door to confess her love for him. Her heart is broken when she knocks on the door and a blond haired woman opens the door. She wants to run away, but as she is about to, the blond girl asks her: "Were you looking for my brother?", and the song ends.

Live performances

"El Chico del Apartamento 512" was the fifth song sung live during the Denver, Colorado concert on January 10, 1994. The next day, Selena gave fans in Stockton, California an extended version of "El Chico del Apartamento 512", which mainly had an extension in the ending, with Suzette Quintanilla's drum solos. In the San Juan, Puerto Rico concert, fans sang periodically with Selena, since the song had just been released several weeks ago on radios. On February 26, 1995, Selena was booked to perform at the Houston Astrodome in Houston, Texas. She wore a purple bodysuit, which she was buried in. Selena sang "El Chico del Apartamento 512" that night.

During the "Noche De Carnaval" concert in Miami, Florida, Selena wore a black see-through blouse with bustier, black mini-skirt with black knee-high boots. She had sang most of the songs in Amor Prohibido with the exception of "Ya No".

During Selena's half-hour spot on the Johnny Canales Show in mid-1994, Selena wore one of her original deigns from Selena Etc. Similar to the "Noche De Carnaval" concert, Selena didn't sing "Ya No", while also not including "Fotos y Recuerdos" in the set list. Her final performance was on March 19, 1995 during her concert Calle Ocho Festival in Miami, which attracted over 100,000 fans.

Critical reception and chart performance

Selena's brother, who is the producer of her music, A.B. Quintanilla III stated that "El Chico del Apartamento 512" was a "Colombian Cumbia" song, while being interviewed for Selena's collection: "20 Years of Music". Ricky Vela, lead-keyboardist for the group "Selena y Los Dinos", stated in his interview that the song was the "lead Tejano song" because they had used more South American rhythm, in order to get a "different sound". Allmusic named El Chico del Apartamento 512 one, out of three songs from the album "Amor Prohibido", of their "AMG Songs Picks".

Raúl Manuel Rodríguez of El Dictamen, believed "El Chico Del Aparamento 512" was "a wonderful piece from Ricky Vela, who had never let [us] down with his great works" and ended with their review with "[...] and Selena's legacy was only growing before she was murdered by the president of her fan club. The song was released a day before she was killed. If she had lived, "El Chico del Apartamento 512" would have been a much better success[...]" Victoria Díaz of Grupo Reforma, commented on Selena's loss and the song, stating that "We [all] know if Selena had lived to further promote her fifth studio album, that her singles "El Chico del Apartamento 512" and "Techno Cumbia" would have, without a doubt, appear on Billboard's Top Latin Songs at number-one". Similar to her other four-number-one singles. She also stated that "El Chico del Apartamento 512 and Techno Cumbia, have been very popular in Mexico, but they have not impacted any music chart yet. Although her other successful singles like "Amor Prohibido" and "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom", continue to rise in popularity, her singles continue to be liked by many Mexicans-alike".

Carlos Meléndez, of El Nuevo Día commented on A.B. Quintanilla III's choice for selecting the song saying that "Selena already had great songs on her Amor Prohibido album, but if A.B. had picked another song similar to "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom", the album would have been way better." Meléndez's comments towards the song were upsetting to some Puerto Rican fans, who wrote to the newspaper, many of them stated that Meléndez "does not know what music is". Meléndez also complained about the song, stating that "El Chico del Apartamento 512" is somewhat tiring after Selena had sung the chorus some multiple times. I think A.B., was trying to hard to show off Selena's musical abilities when he and Ricky Vela wrote this song". Meléndez then stated "[...] but I really like the song, though, its catchy. Just not right for Selena."

Julio Ramírez of MTV Latin America said the song was "Just amazing! Well thought out and well produced. A.B. Quintanilla and Ricky Vela, helped Selena shine through [El Chico del Apartamento 512], her vocals in the song are incredible. I can diffidently see crossover potential", during a special screening of Playlist. On La Jornada, editor Gabriela Herrera wrote that "El Chico del Apartamento 512" is one of my favorite songs from Selena. It really shows off her talents".

Track-listing

U.S. Promo Single (1995) "El Chico del Apartamento 512" - 3:28 U.S. Promo Single (1996) "Si Una Vez" - 2:50 "El Chico del Apartamento 512" - 3:28

Mexico Promo Single (1995) "El Chico del Apartamento 512" - 3:28 Mexico Promo Single (1996) "El Chico del Apartamento 512" - 3:28 "Fotos Y Recuerdos - 2:45

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Amor Prohibido liner notes.

Selena – vocals Joe Ojeda – keyboards Ricky Vela – keyboards Chris Pérez – guitar Suzette Quintanilla – drums

Los Dinos – bajo sexto A.B. Quintanilla III – writer Pete Astudillo – writer Lisette Lorenzo – art direction A.B. Quintanilla III, Joshua Munoz, Bebu Silvetti, Steven Torres, James Moore - producers

Covers

Artist	Album	Year
Rossi and La Orquesta Gran Caribe	Sueños Compartidos	1998
Grupo Tijuana	Canta Como: Selena	2002
Banda El Grullo	Lo Mejor De Selena Con Banda	2005
Graciela Beltrán	Selena ¡VIVE!	2005
Antony Santos	Ay! Ven	2006
Nuevas Voces	Latinas Exitos	2008
The Latin Salsa Boys	Latinos Con Sabor Vol.1	2011
Reyes De Cancion	Remembering Selena: Un Homenaje	2011

Release history

Country	Date	Format
United States	March 30, 1995	Latin Pop, Tejano and rhythmic radios
Mexico		CD single
	September 24, 2002	Digital download
France
United Kingdom
Germany
Japan	November 4, 2000

See also

• List of Selena songs
• Selena singles discography

External links

• Official Selena Website