Amor Prohibido (song) - Music, Theme and Lyrics

Music, Theme and Lyrics

"Amor prohibido" is a mid-tempo corrido song with dance-pop influences. Written in the key of E major, the beat is set in common time and moves at a moderate 90 beats per minute. Selena's vocal range in the song spans two octaves. "Amor prohibido" uses an uptempo keyboard synthesizer and an electronic keyboard, and uses percussion and the hi-hat cymbal as its musical foundation. The Daily Democrat wrote that the song was ":... mixing the modern cumbia sounds of guitars, accordions, bass guitar, flutes, drums and other percussions ..." Ellie D. Hernández wrote in her book Postnationalism in chicana/o literature and culture that "By challenging the precept of social desire and self-production, Selena's music speaks of a social and cultural desire that transcends the boundaries of romantic love in one of her songs, appropriately titled "Amor prohibido" ... " Hernández stated that Selena sings in Spanish the central theme of " ... social divisions, class and race, that divides from her beloved ... " Hernández also stated that, "The ethos of the song suggests a hegemonic crisis informing Selena's lamentations. The 'forbidden love' is built in a cultural prohibition where 'the lovers' are formed. The figurative societal pressures to live in accordance with a class construct are implicated along racial and linguistic boundaries that code a new subject relation. Much of Selena's music forms similar tensions, in which the dominant precepts are fashioned as a murmuring, a catty whispering that achieves a certain primacy as a hegemonic disclosure. The love Selena claims in the lyrics is paradigmatic because it also is capable of leading her to an emotional banishment from her family and culture. Risking everything for this love is not at all an innocent choice but a decision abundant with agency and consciousness that begins as a consequence of the forbidden ... "

The song's lyrics are constructed in the verse-pre-chorus-chorus form. It begins with keyboard synthesizer strumming, and Selena sings the intro: Con unas ansias locas quiero verte hoy (With this crazy longing I want to see you today). She then sings the first verse, telling her boyfriend that they should not care what their parents tell them, and that their love is the sole important thing in their lives. The pre-chorus and chorus follow: Amor prohibido murmuran por las calles porque somos de distintas sociedades/ Amor prohibido nos dice todo el mundo el dinero no importa en ti y en mí/ ni en el corazón/ Oh, oh baby. (Forbidden love has died in the streets because we come from two different societies/ They tell us that our love is forbidden, but money does not matter in our hearts/ oh, oh baby). Selena sings the bridge, where she tells her lover that she is poor, that she can only supply him with love, and that they should not care what society thinks because the most important thing is that they love each other. Selena sings the chorus twice before the song concludes.

In Drum magazine, the editor wrote the "Amor prohibido" is a gently rocking song. S.C Gwynne of Time magazine wrote that "Amor prihibido" was a form of dance pop that combines Top 40 melodies with the rhythms of Colombian cumbia. Elizabeth Rodriguez Kessler and Anne Perrin wrote in their book Chican@s in the Conversations that "Amor prohibido" was a "soap-operaish" song. Greg Kot of Chicago Tribune wrote that "Amor prohibido" had " ... a bit more contemporary snap to it ... " In the Denver Post, the editor stated that "Amor prohibido" is a cumbia song. Mario Tarradell of The Dallas Morning News wrote that "Amor prohibido" is a " ... synthesizer-heavy cumbia piece that's so catchy it's sinful ... " Tarradell also called the song "Tejano-like", and a "pop-styled opus". Mary Talbot of The New York Daily News wrote that "As if in requiem to Selena's career, the album's producers included two straight-up Tejano hits, "Amor prohibido," and "Como la flor ... " Ramiro Burr of San Antonio Express-News wrote that "She balanced torchy ballads full of hurt and pain such as "Amor prohibido" with fun dance cumbias with a sense of humor ..."