"Cómo Me Duele Perderte" () is a song by Cuban American singer Gloria Estefan from her ninth studio, Alma Caribeña (2000). The song was written by Marco Flores with her husband Emilio Estefan and Roberto Blades handling its production. It was released as the album's second single on July 10, 2000, by Epic Records. "Cómo Me Duele Perderte" is a salsa and bachata track that narrates the singer in pain of losing someone. The song was met with unfavorable reactions from two music critics although one reviewer enjoyed the remixes. Commercially, the song topped the Billboard Hot Latin Songs and Tropical Airplay charts in the United States, while also peaking at number 12 on the Dance Club Songs chart in the same country and number eight in Spain. The accompanying music video was directed by Emilio, filmed in Miami, Florida, and features dramatic scenes.

Background and composition
In 1998, Gloria Estefan released Gloria!, an album of pop music with disco-influence. Although the album was met with favorable reviews by music critics, it was commercially unsuccessful. A year later, she would star in the 1999 American biographical musical drama film Music of the Heart and recorded "Music of My Heart" with NSYNC. At the New Year's Eve concert in the same year, her husband Emilio Estefan hinted that her next studio album would be "great" during a rehearsal. Further details about the project were not revealed until February 2000 when the name of album was announced, Alma Caribeña. 

Recording for the album took place at the Crescent Moon Studios in Miami, Florida with Emilio and Roberto Blades handling its production. Alma Caribeña is Estefan's third Spanish-language album after Mi Tierra (1993) and Abriendo Puertras 1995. In the album, she draws from a variety of music from the Caribbean. Mexican composer Marco Flores penned two tracks for the album, one of which is "Cómo Me Duele Perderte".  Musically, "Cómo Me Duele Perderte" is a mid-tempo salsa and bachata that features a Dominican Republic melody and Cuban percussions. It also includes a charanga violin section. In the lyrics, the singer narrates the pain of losing someone; Estefan dedicated the song to Tito Puente who died a month prior to the single's release.

Promotion and reception
"Cómo Me Duele Perderte" was released as the album's second single on July 10, 2000, by Epic Records. The accompanying music video was directed by Emilio, filmed in Miami, Florida and is according Lorena Corpus of El Norte "characterized by the transformation achieved by the Cuban singer, as well as scenes loaded with drama". Maddy Costa of the The Guardian, who stated that the ballads are "oozing lachrymose strings and laughable sentiment" found Estefan's chants of "Ay, ay, ay" to be "hilarious". In a negative review of Alma Caribeña, Deborah Davis of El Norte opined that the artist "seriously puts her soul" on both of Flores' compositions "but the effort is not enough". Billboard critic Michael Paoletta wrote a favorable review of the remixes the artist is in "ultra-fine form as she gets rhythmically worked over by some of  club-lands's finest".  Commercially, it reached number eight in Spain and topped the Billboard Hot Latin Songs and Tropical Airplay charts in the United States. It also reached number 12 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs.

Formats and track listings
Remixes
 Cómo Me Duele Perderte (album version)4:28
 Cómo Me Duele Perderte (tropical version)4:31
 Cómo Me Duele Perderte (Davidson Ospina Club Mix)7:08
 Cómo Me Duele Perderte (Davidson Ospina Radio Edit)3:49
 Cómo Me Duele Perderte (Davidson Ospina Radio Instrumental)3:45
 Cómo Me Duele Perderte (Davidson Ospina Dub Mix)5:18
 Cómo Me Duele Perderte (Pablo Flores Club Mix)9:47
 Cómo Me Duele Perderte (Pablo Flores Club Mix Radio Edit)4:43
 Cómo Me Duele Perderte (Pablo Flores Dub Mix)8:15

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

See also
 List of number-one Billboard Hot Latin Tracks of 2000
 List of Billboard Tropical Airplay number ones of 2000

References

2000 singles
2000 songs
Gloria Estefan songs
Spanish-language songs
Epic Records singles
Song recordings produced by Emilio Estefan
Salsa songs
Bachata songs
Songs written by Marco Flores (songwriter)