"Que Alguien Me Diga" (Someone Tell Me) is a song by Puerto Rican singer

Gilberto Santa Rosa Gilberto Santa Rosa Cortés (), nicknamed "El Caballero de la Salsa" (The Gentleman of Salsa) (born August 21, 1962), is a Puerto Rican bandleader and singer of salsa and bolero. He is a six-time Grammy Award winner and has sold over three mi ...

from his 12th studio album, ''

Expresión ''Expresión'' is the twelfth studio album recorded by Puerto Rican salsa singer Gilberto Santa Rosa released on July 6, 1999. The album received a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Salsa Album. Track listing This information adapted from All ...

'' (1999). It was written by

Omar Alfanno Omar Enrique Alfanno Velásquez is a Panamanian singer-songwriter of Latin music who is most active in the salsa and merengue genres. ''Reuters'' noted him as "one of Latin music's premiere songwriters and the man behind countless hits". He has ...

with José Lugo and the artist handling its production. It is a salsa track in which the singer is searching for unconditional love. Santa Rosa would later record a

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

version. An accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

features the singer in a dark room surrounded by female musicians. Both versions of the song received airplay on Latin radio stations. Commercially, it topped the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Latin Songs The ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs (formerly Hot Latin Tracks and Hot Latin 50) is a record chart in the United States for Latin music, Latin songs, published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine. Since October 2012, chart ranki ...

and

Tropical Airplay The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

charts in the United States. It was nominated Song of the Year at the 2000 El Premio de la Gente as well as Tropical/Salsa Track of the Year at the 8th Annual Latin ''Billboard'' Music Awards in 2001. It was recognized as Salsa Song of the Year at the

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

(ASCAP) Latin Awards. "Que Alguien Me Diga" has been

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

by Lucero and in English as "Can Someone Tell Me" by Son by Four.

Background and composition

In 1999, Gilberto Santa Rosa released his 12th studio album, ''

'', an album which the artist described as a combination of "classic salsa with a mix of modern sounds". The album was produced by José Lugo and the artist himself. Several composers contributed to the album's songwriting, including

, who penned the track "Que Alguien Me Diga". Lyrically, the song deals with a man "who's searching for unconditional love". Santa Rosa would later record a

version of the song which was included in the reissue of the album.

Promotion and reception

An accompanying

was filmed and features the artist sitting in a dark room with female violinists and celloists playing. An editor for ''Latin Style'' magazine wrote that both "Déjate Querer" and "Que Alguien Me Diga" are "certainly on their way to becoming the favorites from this CD". Jessica Roiz listed "Que Alguien Me Diga" as one of the artist's best salsa songs. At the 8th Annual Latin ''Billboard'' Music Awards in 2001, "Que Alguien Me Diga" was nominated in the categories of Hot Latin Song of the Year and Tropical/Salsa Track of the Year but ultimately lost both to " A Puro Dolor" by Son by Four. It also received a nomination at the 2000 El Premio de la Gente in the category of Song of the Year but again lost to "A Puro Dolor". At the 2001

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

Latin Music Awards, it was recognized as Salsa Song of the Year. Commercially, it became Santa Rosa's first number one on the ''

chart and peaked at number seven on the

Latin Pop Airplay Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area around Rome, Italy. Through the expansion of ...

chart in the US. It also became his fourth number one on the

chart and was the second best-performing Latin song in the country. ''Billboard'' editor John Lannert noted the song benefited from being recorded in both versions on radio stations. The song was covered by Mexican singer Lucero as a

mariachi Mariachi (, , ) is a genre of regional Mexican music dating back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, two ...

tune on her studio album, '' Un Nuevo Amor'' (2002), where it was released as its

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

. It was adapted in English as "Can Someone Tell Me" by Son by Four on their studio album ''Purest of Pain'' (2000). The group's former lead singer Ángel López would then cover "Que Alguien Me Diga" on his studio album ''Historias de Amor'', a collection of songs Alfanno had previously composed. The song, along with the rest of the album, was arranged and produced by Alfanno.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

References

{{Reflist 1999 songs 2002 singles 1990s ballads Gilberto Santa Rosa songs Son by Four songs Lucero (entertainer) songs Songs in Spanish Songs written by Omar Alfanno