So here’s a rare picture of him without a gun or accordion…

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Rebecca A. Gowns: *gritos*
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Josh Langhoff: Never trust a guy who treats his accordion, guns, and faceless women as coequal publicity props. I mean, I don’t doubt that Noel’s obsessed with whoever he’s serenading, but no way is he gonna be a formal and discreet caballero when this affectless banda ballad practically drips with contempt for its own genre. Especially if you hear it in the context of his great album La Estructura, amid absolutely brutal narcocorrido waltzes and scorching accordion licks, “Adivina” sounds like a bleary-eyed sop to romance from a guy who misunderstands it; he’s Travis Bickle about to take her to the Swedish porn movie. Yet he also cut norteña and pop versions of this song; clearly he wants to get laid by someone.
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Alfred Soto: Polka charts and the lyric “I want to conquer you” — an exquisite pas de deux.
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Anthony Easton: I want to read something about the influence of German polkas on Mexican music in places like Texas or Southern California, because every time I hear horns and accordions in concordance, I think of the implications of this. (I also wonder about this in relationship to Mennonites in Bolivia.)
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Brad Shoup: A chunky soup indeed, with some of the gloopiest tuba I can recall. Sadness doesn’t swing well, but this sounds like a classic ballad rigged up by a karaoke outfit.
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Crystal Leww: This song is super cheesy. The combination of the tempo and the brass is hitting you over the head with how it’s a love song, and it’s not helped by the tone in Torres’ voice that sounds like he’s shouting these words from outside your window. Stop crying, pretty girl. Noel Torres is here to fold you paper cranes and stroke your cheek when your boyfriend is too busy on his laptop. 
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