Cómo dueles en los labios

The first time I heard Cómo dueles en los labios, I was left with the feeling that it wasn’t just any song: that melancholic air that weaves itself into the rhythm, as if the sea from Sueños Líquidos had entered the melody. The track not only reached number two on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks in March 1998, but it did so with a style that blended the freshness of pop rock with the warmth of Latin rock—something that wasn’t common on radio at the time. Its structure isn’t complicated, but it has that detail that makes it sound different: the acoustic guitar that opens the song and then blends with the keyboards, creating an atmosphere that invites you to close your eyes and let yourself be carried away.

They recorded it in Puerto Vallarta, a place that for Maná isn’t just a setting, but part of their creative essence. The album Sueños Líquidos was born with the idea of capturing the presence of water in every note, and this track is one of the clearest examples: from the title to the sound, everything seems to flow. The single debuted at position 35 on the charts in February 1998, and in just six weeks, it was already among the most listened to. It wasn’t a fleeting success: it stayed in second place for a week, just behind No sé olvidar by Alejandro Fernández, and became one of the band’s first hits in the United States and Spain. Additionally, the album opened doors for them in markets where they hadn’t had much presence before, such as Western Europe and the Middle East, and earned them their first Grammy in the category of Best Latin Rock/Alternative Performance.