Ya No Vivo por Vivir

Juan Gabriel was the most beloved Mexican popular singer of the twentieth century — a composer of over 1,800 songs, a performer of extraordinary charisma who managed to embody contradictions without resolving them. His death in 2016 prompted national mourning.

Ya No Vivo por Vivir — a duet with Natalia Lafourcade from his 2015 Los Dúos — is a masterclass in romantic resignation: a bolero-influenced melody, both voices trading phrases with an intimacy the studio setting doesn't reduce.

Juan Gabriel's catalog is vast and rewarding — an entry point into the full range of Mexican popular music. Lafourcade has become the defining voice of contemporary Mexican singer-songwriting.