Thank you ALL for your LOVE towards Selena's memory!Last week I had given a review on Chris Perez's book,
"To Selena, With Love" as I myself along with 70,000 people in counting have been touched by his amazing experience of LOVE and marriage to Selena herself! YES, I said 70,000!!! Chris has sold 70,000 copies of his book in only 2 weeks, if you ask me, that is some LOVE!!
If you haven't gotten your copy yet, I urge you to!
Chris, once again and over again I applaud your amazing efforts!!
As we continue on our March Selena-Fest here on "Busy Little Queen Says...", today will be about a particular song that I'm sure ALL of us have heard and related to ever since it's release in 1991...
More Than Words
Ring a bell anyone? Oh YES, I thought so! It's quite the 90's power ballad!
As much of a tearjerker this song can ALWAYS be, it's such a beautiful and skillfully written piece of music art!
As much of a tearjerker this song can ALWAYS be, it's such a beautiful and skillfully written piece of music art!
So, how does Selena fit into this 90's power ballad exactly?
Well, throughout the years after Selena's passing, it was and still is being commented by Selena's loved ones, that when on the group's tour bus, Big Bertha, Selena's favorite song to jam to was "More than Words" by Extreme. Her husband, Chris Perez, would play it on the guitar, while Selena would sing it right beside him. This is especially one of Chris' and her sister Suzette's cherished memory of her downtime when she actually had one. One can only imagine how now listening to the song now really brings back memories for those who knew her best.
"More than Words" by Extreme is a song that reminds me of TWO events in my LIFE:
-->My childhood in the early 90's
-->The first time I knew LOVE 11 years ago
My childhood musical influences were ALL over the place, I loved Spanish music because of Mommy Dearest, I loved K-EARTH 101FM Oldies because of my Dad, I loved Heavy Metal and Rock artists because of my Sister, and I loved the Urban Rap/Hip Hop because of my older brother. My little brother Christian introduced me to the Disney Pop Artists of the early 2000's. So I would say, that's quite diverse! Thanks to my Sister though, she introduced me to Extreme in the early 90's. Boy was that song amazing when I first heard it! Whoa!
In my senior year of high school, 2000-2001, as I was in choir for 3 years, every year there was an "End of the Year" concert where Seniors can audition for a solo spot in the last concert of the school year. Earlier in the months leading to that concert, I went to "The Warehouse", which was a music store back in the day that had new and used Music and Movies. In the used music section, I stumbled upon Extreme's 90's album Pornograffiti, and it was on sale for $6.99 USED. I asked Mommy Dearest if I could get it, and because of it's extremely low price (no pun intended), she gladly said, "YES!" When we got home, I had "More Than Words" on full blast and heavy rotation ALL NIGHT LONG! That week that I went back to school, I had told my "first love"( we'll call him F.L.) that I had gotten the CD, and I remember him saying, "Dude, isn't that the best album because of that song?!" Automatically I knew which song he meant, and BOOM, I had a song that described my exact feelings for him!
When the time came for the "End of the Year" auditions, I had asked "F.L." if he would like to accompany me on his guitar while I sang "More than Words" for an audition, being that we both loved it, he gladly said yes, but didn't have the music. Well, my Sister came to our rescue and had ordered us the sheet music to the song, and when that fateful day came for us to audition in front of our piers, "F.L." strummed those chords, and I began to sing. Afterwards, our teacher was amazed by our talent to reproduce a power ballad acoustically, we were given a spot in the show!
No joke, the only time we rehearsed that song was an hour prior to us going onstage! I personally was nervous because my upper register voice, meaning my high voice, was giving out due to my stress levels in school, and how sad I was because I was actually living the song in my real life..."F.L." had fallen for another person, his now wife, and without him knowing that my pain, my tears, the times he had seen me cry were because my heart belonged to him, and his was devoted to someone else. When we were backstage ready to go on, I held myself together, and went in front of that spotlight. Now when I think about that exact moment, it's a complete blur! I don't remember anything, all I do remember are people coming up to us after the show congratulating us on our performance.
It was bittersweet.
For years after, as I have explained before, our relationship as a whole faded and went out the door. I couldn't listen to "More than Words" at all!! I put the CD in my "Never Again" pile in my music collection, until the day came, years later, when I heard Chris Perez say in an interview on Television that "More Than Words" was Selena's favorite song to sing and it was a special song to him. Hurt came to his mind for years with that song, until he was able to listen to it and learned to love it again because he loved Selena that much. When I heard this, I really had to re-evaluate the song I once loved and learn to live with my heart and without the person that made it so special to me. If Chris was able to do it, why couldn't I, and all the while, the love of HIS life wasn't here on this earth anymore, and mine was.
In retrospect, "More than Words" became just that in a personal sense. Although because I along with the world now know how much Selena loved the song, and she's still an artist and person I look up to, it's because of her and Chris that I was able to love the song once again and NEVER forget why I loved it so much in the first place. Thank you Chris and Selena!
Well, throughout the years after Selena's passing, it was and still is being commented by Selena's loved ones, that when on the group's tour bus, Big Bertha, Selena's favorite song to jam to was "More than Words" by Extreme. Her husband, Chris Perez, would play it on the guitar, while Selena would sing it right beside him. This is especially one of Chris' and her sister Suzette's cherished memory of her downtime when she actually had one. One can only imagine how now listening to the song now really brings back memories for those who knew her best."More than Words" by Extreme is a song that reminds me of TWO events in my LIFE:
-->My childhood in the early 90's
-->The first time I knew LOVE 11 years ago
My childhood musical influences were ALL over the place, I loved Spanish music because of Mommy Dearest, I loved K-EARTH 101FM Oldies because of my Dad, I loved Heavy Metal and Rock artists because of my Sister, and I loved the Urban Rap/Hip Hop because of my older brother. My little brother Christian introduced me to the Disney Pop Artists of the early 2000's. So I would say, that's quite diverse! Thanks to my Sister though, she introduced me to Extreme in the early 90's. Boy was that song amazing when I first heard it! Whoa!
In my senior year of high school, 2000-2001, as I was in choir for 3 years, every year there was an "End of the Year" concert where Seniors can audition for a solo spot in the last concert of the school year. Earlier in the months leading to that concert, I went to "The Warehouse", which was a music store back in the day that had new and used Music and Movies. In the used music section, I stumbled upon Extreme's 90's album Pornograffiti, and it was on sale for $6.99 USED. I asked Mommy Dearest if I could get it, and because of it's extremely low price (no pun intended), she gladly said, "YES!" When we got home, I had "More Than Words" on full blast and heavy rotation ALL NIGHT LONG! That week that I went back to school, I had told my "first love"( we'll call him F.L.) that I had gotten the CD, and I remember him saying, "Dude, isn't that the best album because of that song?!" Automatically I knew which song he meant, and BOOM, I had a song that described my exact feelings for him!When the time came for the "End of the Year" auditions, I had asked "F.L." if he would like to accompany me on his guitar while I sang "More than Words" for an audition, being that we both loved it, he gladly said yes, but didn't have the music. Well, my Sister came to our rescue and had ordered us the sheet music to the song, and when that fateful day came for us to audition in front of our piers, "F.L." strummed those chords, and I began to sing. Afterwards, our teacher was amazed by our talent to reproduce a power ballad acoustically, we were given a spot in the show!
No joke, the only time we rehearsed that song was an hour prior to us going onstage! I personally was nervous because my upper register voice, meaning my high voice, was giving out due to my stress levels in school, and how sad I was because I was actually living the song in my real life..."F.L." had fallen for another person, his now wife, and without him knowing that my pain, my tears, the times he had seen me cry were because my heart belonged to him, and his was devoted to someone else. When we were backstage ready to go on, I held myself together, and went in front of that spotlight. Now when I think about that exact moment, it's a complete blur! I don't remember anything, all I do remember are people coming up to us after the show congratulating us on our performance.It was bittersweet.
For years after, as I have explained before, our relationship as a whole faded and went out the door. I couldn't listen to "More than Words" at all!! I put the CD in my "Never Again" pile in my music collection, until the day came, years later, when I heard Chris Perez say in an interview on Television that "More Than Words" was Selena's favorite song to sing and it was a special song to him. Hurt came to his mind for years with that song, until he was able to listen to it and learned to love it again because he loved Selena that much. When I heard this, I really had to re-evaluate the song I once loved and learn to live with my heart and without the person that made it so special to me. If Chris was able to do it, why couldn't I, and all the while, the love of HIS life wasn't here on this earth anymore, and mine was.
In retrospect, "More than Words" became just that in a personal sense. Although because I along with the world now know how much Selena loved the song, and she's still an artist and person I look up to, it's because of her and Chris that I was able to love the song once again and NEVER forget why I loved it so much in the first place. Thank you Chris and Selena!
To my "F.L."....I hope you still love the song for the greater good and kept it in high respects, if not, it's cool. Hope all is going great in your marriage and in LIFE as a whole <3
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