Telenovela Despecho Anthems That Raised Me

Growing up in a Latino household, Univision and Telemundo were on the TV at all times. This meant a constant rotation of telenovelas throughout the day, and although my young eyes paid them no mind, my young ears were drawn to the romantic and emblematic songs that lined their intros. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a hopeless romantic, but I could never pinpoint just where this came from, until I started to take a look into my spotify, and realized all of my favorite Latino songs are from Telenovelas. They encapsulate the essence of despecho, taking you and drawing you into the journey before it even begins. 

One of my favorites is the intro used from Mis Tres Hermanas, “A Puro Dolor.” It is the most iconic novela song I can think of. When someone says novela, this is what plays in my head. The song details the sorrows of someone as their ex lover has moved on and the song literally states, “I feel empty, the afternoons are a labyrinth, my nights taste like pure pain.” Somehow, even at nine years old, I felt this pure pain as well. Suddenly, I was playing these songs in my head when my crush ignored me on the playground or when I caught a glimpse of him in the hall. I had my own telenovelas going on in my life, and it made me want to be in love. Well, when I was 16 and had my first, very own despecho, it was no different. All the agony, the longing, the tension, that I used to make fun of on telenovelas, I suddenly found myself living and breathing through these songs. These songs seemed to follow me left and right, however, they became my comfort. Like a warm blanket on a frosty day, the songs wrapped me up and comforted me, and let me know I wasn’t the only one feeling a despecho.

    Another one of my favorites was “El Perdedor,” which was featured on Lo Que La Vida Me Robo. The song in all its incredible melancholy opens with, “What more do you want from me, if I’ve passed this test of your love…How long can I live in the same lie?” This time though, I found not only myself subscribing to these novela despecho anthems, but prescribing them to other love sick patients as well! Any time my friends went through a heartbreak, I would say, “I have just what you need! You have to listen to this novela theme song! It’s exactly what you’re going through!” I found myself sending these songs to my friends who did not even speak Spanish too! And just like clockwork, they were just the medicine everyone needed for their despecho. I quickly came to realize that heartbreak is a universal language, but despecho is what makes Latino heartbreak unique. These intros are carefully calculated and tailored to the Latino despecho, that same agony, longing, and tension that I had felt. I wondered why I felt my heartbreak so deeply, and it’s no wonder when these are the despecho anthems that raised me. 

Thus, I came to notice that any good telenovela is only as good as its agonizing intro. It’s the appetizer before the main course that sets the tone for the customer to return. That’s why, even amongst the new wave of Turkish Novelas in Latin America, Latino despecho songs are still attached to them! The most notable and recent example being from the successful Turkish Novela, Amor Valiente, which features Joan Sebastian in an intro so dramatic and daring, that you can’t help, but be drawn into the story every time you hear it. The song details, “I will cross the mountains, the rivers, and the valleys, just to find you.” 

Novela intros are undeniable earworms, that stick to you like glue, so as the years progressed, I found myself digging back and looking for the original novelas that went with my favorite songs. I figured that if the songs were so good, the novelas ought to be too, and so the telenovela journey began!