Palpitar means 'to palpitate' or 'to throb,' specifically describing a rapid, strong heartbeat. It's the perfect word to unlock the meaning of this classic song.
Selena sings "mi corazĂłn... me empieza a palpitar" (my heart... starts to palpitate) when she sees her crush. This is the feeling that creates the iconic 'Bidi Bidi Bom Bom' sound, which imitates the sound of her heart beating wildly with excitement!
Ever had a crush so big you felt like your heart was going to jump out of your chest? That's exactly what Selena, a beloved star from the US and Mexico, is singing about in "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom". She describes seeing someone she likes and completely losing her cool. Her heart "se enloquece" (goes crazy) and "me empieza a palpitar" (starts to beat fast). It's a feeling she admits she can't control: "Ya no razona / No lo puedo controlar" (It doesn't reason anymore / I can't control it).
The feeling gets even more intense. Just hearing him speak makes her weak in the knees: "Me tiemblan hasta las piernas" (Even my legs tremble). The best part is the title itself. "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" is the sound her heart makes when it gets excited. It's not just beating; it's so happy it "me empieza a cantar" (starts to sing to me). It’s a super fun and relatable song about the giddy, overwhelming feeling of a new crush.
Selena Quintanilla-PĂ©rez grew up in Lake Jackson, Texas, fronting her family's band, Selena y Los Dinos, with her brother A.B. writing the songs and playing bass and her sister Suzette on drums. She was raised speaking English, and her father drilled the Spanish lyrics into her phonetically, line by line, years before she was fluent in the language she sold millions of records in.
Tejano was a men's business when she took it over: she won the Tejano Music Award for Female Vocalist of the Year nine years running from 1987, and Selena Live! took the 1994 Grammy for Best Mexican-American Album. "Como la Flor", from 1992's Entre a Mi Mundo, is the song attached to her name more than any other, and Amor Prohibido (1994) put four singles at number one on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart, among them "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" and "No Me Queda Más". She was shot and killed in Corpus Christi on March 31, 1995, aged 23, by the former president of her fan club. Dreaming of You, the English-language crossover album she had been recording, was released that August and entered the Billboard 200 at number one.