How Music Sets the Mood in La Reina Del Sur

After discussing the music in telenovelas in class today, I began to notice all of the different types of music and songs that are used frequently in La Reina Del Sur. In class, we discussed the song that plays during the title sequence of the telenovela, which is known as a “theme” song. The song is known as a Mexican genre of music called “el corrido” and in La Reina Del Sur, the song tells the epic story of Teresa Mendoza’s life. In addition, La Reina Del Sur also incorporates incidental music during other parts of the episodes. For instance, although I watch the telenovela on Netflix, I can always identify when there was a commercial break in the episode when it aired on live television. This is because there is always a dramatic ending where intense or serious music is played and the scene seems as if it is almost pauses for a second. Then, the telenovela plays a short musical clip with the same band that sings the corrido during the title sequence as it transitions to commercial break. When the episode returns from the commercial break, the bit of the song plays again and the scene resumes.

Beyond this, I have also observed the incidental music that gets played frequently during the romantic scenes of the telenovela. For example, everytime Teresa and Santiago have a very romantic, intimate scene, the song “Quedate” by Paolo Vargas plays in the background. Similarly, whenever there were romantic scenes with Teresa’s other love interest, Teo, “Nada Igual” by Clara Sanabras plays. Both of these songs can be classified as love songs and have romantic lyrics, such as “quedate junto a mi que no puedo vivir sin tu amor (stay with me for I cannot live without your love).” The songs playing in the background help to set the mood for the audience as well as build the sexual tension and romance between Teresa and her love interests. Also, the romantic music evokes more ethos in the audience as the song playing makes them feel more in the moment and brings them into the fantasy more. However, in my opinion, I feel as if the song “Quedate” is much more of an intense song whereas “Nada Igual” is slower and softer. The song choice reflects the differences in the chemistry between Teresa and the love interests. “Quedate” is much more hard-hitting, intense, and passionate just as Teresa and Santiago’s love was. In fact, Teresa and Santiago are known as an epic love story because they were such a hot couple with great chemistry. In contrast, while Teresa does have chemistry with Teo, I feel as if their relationship is more serious and not nearly as passionate as the love between Santiago and Teresa. As a result, the song played during their romantic scenes is slower and quieter. Furthermore, I also noticed that whenever Teresa has flashbacks to all of her times with Guero, usually no music would play and the scenes between the two of them would be more dialogue. If music did play, it would be a soft instrumental in the background, like an accordion playing. This is very different from the songs that played during the romantic scenes between Teresa and Santiago or Teresa and Teo as their songs had lyrics. In my opinion, the producers purposely played either no music or very subtle and minimal music to show that the love between Teresa and Guero is dead since Guero is no longer alive. I also think they did this so that the audience would feel that Teresa’s current love is more intense and real than what she had with Guero. It helps the audience buy into the telenovela’s current love story.