Being an outspoken, male-bashing female singer in the male-dominated regional Mexican field isn't easy, even if your last name is Rivera.

"The public is not aware of the many obstacles a woman faces, especially in this genre," said banda singer Jenni Rivera, adding that promoters rarely book artists without airplay, and radio stations have become increasingly stingy when it comes to new artists.

Rivera's brother Lupillo is a famous corrido singer, and brothers Juan and Gustavo also have had some success.

But the Rivera name didn't result in automatic access for her.

"There were a lot of closed doors for me in the beginning," she said. "People think that because of my brothers, there would be more opened doors, yet that was the biggest reason why they were closed to me."

In fact, her decade-long career has been hit and miss, but the ability to express herself — and the female perspective — through music keeps her going.

"The purpose of music is to entertain and inspire, and for me it's just a way to express myself," she said. "The fact that I know I'm a different artist makes me want to stay and represent my public. I love them, and that's why I enjoy representing them."

Rivera, who also writes some of her material, is touring behind her latest CD, "Simplemente ... Lo Mejor," an 18-track hits collection. It traces a career that began in the mid-'90s — though it wasn't until 2001's "Se Las Voy a Dar a Otro" that Rivera began to get consistent radio play.

"Simplemente ... Lo Mejor" includes that song plus the hits "Querida Socia," "Amiga, Si La Ves" and "Reina de las Reinas." It also features three new tracks, including the Rivera-penned "Las Mismas Costumbres" ("Familiar Habits"), a bittersweet tune about looking back on what could have been.

In typical fashion, Rivera is angry and blunt in telling her ex-lover that he was alone, broke, a lout and a loser when she met him. She helped him get on his feet and sang his name to the heavens. But predictably, he went back to his wayward ways.

"It is a very important song to me because not only do I sing it but I have lived it," she said. "The song is about a woman who gave herself to a man and helped him and did everything for him. But she ended up separating, then divorcing him and then having to fight for support. This song is close to my heart and my life."

"Amiga Si Lo Ves" is a brooding ballad in which a woman admits she made a mistake in letting a lover go.

"That song is about a person, a female in this case, expressing the need for seeing someone," Rivera said. "You've broken up with someone and you're telling a friend, 'If you see him, let him know I'm not doing well'"

But not all is loss and regret.

Rivera, who has covered Diana Ross' "Where Did Our Love Go?" and Barbara Lynn's "You'll Lose a Good Thing' on previous albums takes on the doo-wop classic "Angel Baby."

Reworked with a banda rhythm, the essence of the song shines through with Rivera's emotive vocals. Her English is flawless; it's her first language.

"This album is a step forward because it contains 'Angel Baby,' a song that I've been able to perform and record in the banda, norteño and pop styles," she said. "Also with this song, I am trying to reach further to other bigger markets."

Breaking into other markets with English-language material remains an elusive goal.

"The hardest aspect for me was being able to prove that I could do a pop song," she said. "That is the same to me as a pop artist trying to record a regional Mexican song and not being at times accepted. It was a challenge to me to prove as a regional Mexican artist that I can record and perform a pop song and take it to our public."

Her father, Pedro, was a longtime promoter and record label owner who's biggest claim to fame was signing a then-unheard of Chalino Sanchez — who went on to become a legend of the narcocorrido movement. But the music bug never struck her like her brothers.

Her father wanted her to sing, she said, but she chose to go after a business degree. She still helped out in the family business, answering phones in the office.

She occasionally sang at family events and recorded a demo album as a birthday gift for her father. She was working as a real estate agent when radio stations in Los Angeles began playing a track from that demo, "Reina de Reinas." That made her start taking music seriously as a career.

The stations quickly gave her a nickname, "La Diva de la Banda," and she joined the growing Rivera dynasty. She has no regrets.

"Music has always been very important," she said. "My parents' first thing was to put music in my crib when I was born. That's the way that music runs through my blood. It was also the way my family purchased our first home in the state of California because we would sell music in swaps and meets. We would sell it out of the trunk of our vehicles.

"It's rewarding because this is what we do and this is how we live and support our families."