Pero Qué Necesidad

In 1986, Juan Gabriel released his 20th studio album, Pensamientos, and was succeeded by his compilation album, Debo Hacerlo (1988).[3][4] Following the release of both albums, the artist went through a hiatus following legal disputes with his record label Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG).[5] The dispute involved Gabriel demanding rights of over 439 songs he published under the label to be ceded to the artist.[6] Juan Gabriel would not record any new material for nearly eight years until BMG yielded to his demands.[6][7]

On 21 October 1993, Ramiro Burr reported for the Austin American-Statesman that Juan Gabriel had finished wrapping up his next studio album, but would not be released until the dispute between the artist and BMG had finished.[8] Both parties came to an agreement on 27 May 1994 and Gabriel renewed his contract with the label.[9] Further details about the record were not revealed until a week later when the artist confirmed both the name of the album (Gracias por Esperar) and its release date.[10] Recording took place at the Soundabout Studio in Los Angeles, California.[11]

Juan Gabriel penned all the songs in the album with Gustavo Farias handling its production including "Pero Qué Necesidad".[11][12] It is an up-tempo number with a Latin and pop beat in which lyrics describes "loving people all over the world".[2] It features a gospel-like choir in the background.[12] He re-recorded the track on his 2001 compilation album Por Los Siglos and again in 2015 with fellow Mexican singer Emmanuel on Juan Gabriel's vocal duet album Los Dúo as a soft rock cumbia.[13][14]

"Pero Qué Necesidad" was released as the album's lead single on 3 June 1994 by BMG.[15] An accompanying music video was directed by Pedro Torres and filmed in Miami and is a "call to brotherhood". It features children and people of various races with the singer.[16] The song was met with mixed reactions from music critics. The Newsday editor Ira Robbins called it an "engagingly ABBA-esque" song.[17] Ramiro Burr wrote for the San Antonio Express-News, unfavorably compared it to ABBA although he stated it has a "nice, melodic tune".[18] Billboard's Paul Verna noted that the "gospel-accented backing vocals buttress" the "peppy" song.[12] Mario Tarradell of the Miami Herald felt both the song and "Vienes o Voy" "fail miserably" as "dance-oriented, drum machine-happy numbers".[19] In the review of Juan Gabriel's performance at the Special Events Center, Maria Cortés Gonzalez of El Paso Times found it to be an "interesting, but ineffective opening".[20] The duet version of the song was lauded by AllMusic's Thom Jurek as "another golden moment here".[14]

Retrospective reviews of the song have been positive. Darren Jamison of the SingersRoom ranked it number ten on Juan Gabriel's best-songs of all-time and noted despite its "serious theme", he found it "catchy and upbeat, with a lively rhythm and a joyful melody".[21] In a similar list, Classic Rock reviewer ranked it number three and stated that it "has a 90s pop sound, but the catchy beat can still be appreciated today".[2] At the 7th Annual Lo Nuestro Awards in 1995, "Pero Qué Necesidad" won Pop Song of the Year.[22] In the same year, Gabriel earned the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers award for Pop/Contemporary Song of the Year.[23] Commercially, it topped the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart in the United States, becoming his third number one single on the chart.[24] It ended 1994 as the fourth best-performing Latin song of the year.[25]

Puerto Rican singer Manny Manuel covered "Pero Qué Necesidad" on his debut studio album, El Rey de Corazónes (1994), as a merengue track.[26][27] It was released as the album's lead single in 1994 by RMM Records.[27] Manuel's version peaked at number five on the Billboard Tropical Airplay chart.[28]

• List of number-one hits of 1994 (Mexico)
• List of number-one Billboard Hot Latin Tracks of 1994