Jeanette found out that Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco had sampled her classic “El Muchacho de Los Ojos Tristes” just this morning. The Spanish singer, who rose to prominence in the Seventies and Eighties, received a text from her friend (and new collaborator) Lucas Bun informing her of Gomez and Blanco’s “Ojos Tristes,” which interpolates her classic with an added English lyric and second verse from The Marias. Jeanette loved it.
“I’ll tell you the truth: It’s beautiful,” she tells Rolling Stone over the phone from Spain. “I heard just a snippet this morning, but have now listened to the whole thing just before speaking to you.”
“It’s a classic cover but she has added a modern twist to it while respecting the essence of the original song,” she adds. “I think they’ve done such a gorgeous job. It’s lovely.”
On Jeanette’s 1981 original, she sings to a young man she’s just met “with sad eyes, who lives alone and needs love.” On Gomez and Blanco’s version, Gomez sings a first verse in English before Maria Zardoya of the Marías takes on a cover of Jeanette’s Spanish song. Zardoya also adds “a different perspective” in the second verse to convey the passage of time: “Antes eran tus ojos lloviendo en otoño/Y ahora son los míos.” (In English: “Before, it was your eyes raining in autumn/And now it’s mine.”)
Jeanette says she was “surprised” to hear the lyrical change, which gives a whole new meaning to the original, written by songwriter Manuel Alejandro. “At first, I was like, ‘What is this?’ But once I listened to all of it, I thought it was beautifully done,” she says. “I just sent the song to Manuel Alejandro. And he said he heard it and really enjoyed it.”
Jeanette says she’s heard dozens of covers of her songs — “some good ones, some not-so-great,” she jokes — but enjoyed Gomez and Blanco’s version. She also mentions a cover done by Palestinian-Chilean star Elyanna. “She did a lovely version but with a touch of her Arabic sound,” she says. “We all interpret the songs as we want and I think that’s beautiful.”
While Gomez leaves the singing-in-Spanish to Zardoya on “Ojos Tristes,” she muses in the language on the spoken outro of “How Does It Feel to Be Forgotten” on I Said I Love You First, which dropped Friday.
Jeanette, meanwhile, joined rising artist Lucas Bun — the artist who informed her of Gomez and Blanco’s sample — for “Como Un Cristal” just this week. “I don’t do collaborations with no purpose, but he sent me a song that I loved, and I said ‘Let’s do it,’” she says. “He sings so gorgeous que te cagas. He’s a great vocalist.”
She’s also going to bring her joint tour with “Dama Del Amanacer” singer Juan Bau to Central America later this spring. “Even as time has gone by, I’m still working and receiving applause from so many people,” she says.
Oh, and if Gomez and Zardoya want her to join them on a version of “Ojos Tristes,” she’s in: “I wonder why they didn’t ask me to collaborate!”
