‘Desvelado’ songwriter confirms Bobby Pulido song is not about Selena

“Desvelado” is a signature song for Bobby Pulido and the title track for the singer’s debut album released in 1995. Many fans believed because of the timing of the song’s release and death of Selena the same year, that the song is about the late Latin music icon.

“It was not about Selena,” said songwriter George Avena Jr., who penned the iconic song, in an interview with writer Eduardo Martinez last December.

The composer said Selena’s father, Abraham Quintanilla, even asked him about the song’s subject at the Pura Vida Music Awards in 1996.

“He thought I wrote it about her too,” said Avena. “I love Selena and met her in 1994. I wrote the song in 1993 because of Sleepless In Seattle. I showed him my copyright to prove it and he was embarrassed but explained why he had asked.”

Pulido recorded the song in January 1995, months before Selena was murdered by her fan club manager on March 31, 1995, in Corpus Christi, Texas.

“I’m tired of people thinking it was about Selena, no matter how much I loved her and her music it was not about her,” added Avena. “I didn’t and would not write a song for any artist I love and admire, it’s not my thing (laughs).”

According to Avena, “Desvelado” and the 1993 film starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are very much in sync. “If you ever get a chance to watch the movie Sleepless In Seattle you will see how closely related the story of that movie is to my song,” he said. “A voice of an angel on the radio saying all the right things that the listener was relating to and was falling in love with, and searching for her in Seattle.”

Many believed the voice of an angel on the radio was Selena.

“I know a lot people think it was written about her but it wasn’t,” said Avena.

Pulido commented on the debate in an interview with the My PVT Network, “A lot of people feel it was written for Selena,” he said. “I’ll just say this, I’m a believer in divine intervention. We grew up in the same circuit and I really liked her…She was wonderful. She was beautiful, you’d see her and I’d just melt like putty.”

Pete Astudillo wrote a song about Selena in 1995, “Como Te Extraño,” and it was the title track for the second solo album from the former Los Dinos member.

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