By Luis Reyes

A newly discovered recording of an original song by the late Jenni Rivera, Aparentemente Bien (Apparently Well) has climbed up the music charts hitting number one on Billboards’ Regional Mexican Latin Charts (July 13th) since its release on July 2, 2019, which would have been the late singers 50th birthday.  

As recently reported in Variety, a major motion picture on the life of Long Beach California native, Rivera, is in development by Jenni Rivera Enterprises and producers Javier Chapa and Simon Wise of Mucho Mas Media and Donald De Line of De Line pictures.  De Line’s producing credits include Ready Player One, Pain and Gain and The Green Lantern. The screenplay will be written by Katie Lanier, who wrote the 1993 Tina Turner Biopic What’s Love Got To Do With It, which earned Angela Bassett an Oscar nomination as Best Actress and a Golden Globe award. 

No word on casting, however, Jennifer Lopez would be an ideal choice to play the late Regional Mexican pop diva.

Rivera won over 22 Billboard Latin Music Awards, 18 Lo Nuestro Awards, and Four Latin GRAMMYs and sold over 20 million albums.   

The beloved singer’s strong personality and life struggles reflected in her music found her a strong fan base especially among Latina women who identified with her and empowering image through her songs. 

At the time of her death, Rivera was on the verge of entering mainstream popular music success much like the late singer Selena Quintanilla.

Jenni recorded the song Aparentamente Bien before her tragic death at age 43 in a plane crash in Mexico in 2012 and the never before heard recording, which among others, was discovered in a recording studio by her brother Juan Rivera.  

Despacito co-writer Erica Ender and Argentinian singer-songwriter Alejandro Lerner wrote Aparentamente Bien, a powerful and heartfelt ballad in which Rivera sings at the start of the song, “I am here in front of the mirror, who knows my truth”.

Despacito, sung by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber; spent a record 56 weeks at No. 1 on Billboards’ Hot Latin Songs and a record-tying 16 weeks atop the all-genre Billboard Hot 100.

The Jenni Rivera estate and Sony Music Latin released Banda, Mariachi and Pop versions of the single and Rivera’s image was part of a billboard campaign in New York’s Time Square.   

 The single is available on music streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music.  A music video of the song was also released simultaneously on YouTube that has been trending since its debut with more than 4 million hits followed by an additional five million hits.