Dreaming of You (album) - Pre-production

Pre-production

Selena performed at the 1989 Tejano Music Awards, which was attended by Jose Behar, the former head of Sony Music Latin who had recently launched EMI Latin Records, and the new head of Sony Music Latin. Behar was searching for new Latin acts, and wanted to sign Selena to EMI's Capitol Records, while Sony Music Latin was offering double of Capitol's amount to Selena's father and manager, Abraham Quintanilla Jr. Behar thought that he had discovered the next Gloria Estefan, but on coming to know about this, his superior replied that Behar was crazy as he had been in South Texas less than a week. Quintanilla Jr. chose EMI Latin's offer because of the potential for a crossover, and he wanted his children to be the first artists to sign with the company.

Before Selena signed her contract with EMI Latin in 1989, her first major contract, Behar and Stephen Finfer requested Selena for a crossover album and she recorded "Only Love", "Is It the Beat?", and "Where Did the Feeling Go?" for the heads of EMI Records' pop division. Behar's request for a major crossover album was denied and Selena was told that she needed a bigger fan base to sell a major album. Behar thought that EMI Records, and people in general, did not believe that a Mexican American woman could be of "crossover potential". By 1993 Selena had won a Grammy Award for Selena Live! (1993), won several accolades, signed a sponsorship tour with Coca-Cola, dominated the Latin music charts, and expanded the "Tejano Music Movement" across the United States. The movement in Texas helped spread further awareness of Tejano music and it became a popular trend.

It was then that EMI Latin thought Selena should release a crossover album. They believed she had reached her peak in the Spanish language market and wanted to launch her career as an American solo pop artist. Selena was signed to EMI's SBK Records in November 1993 after less than twenty-four hours in Los Angeles. The news of Selena's new deal was front-page news on Billboard. Selena said in interviews that the album would be released during 1994, though following the release of Amor prohibido in March 1994, she said that the crossover album was still being developed. During a dinner in a Thai restaurant in 1994, Selena was very upset about the pressure she was under from the press about the album. She said that she had told numerous news crews that the album was about to be released, but she had yet recorded one song for the album. Behar subsequently told the chairman of EMI Records, Charles Koppelman, that Selena and her band Los Dinos would leave EMI and find a record company willing to record an English-language album for Selena. Behar had lied to the chairman to force the crossover album to begin. EMI relented and the recording sessions began. Selena said she felt intimidated by the recording deal because the situation was new to her and that only a few people had believed she would achieve success in the pop world.