Album Review: Enrique Iglesias – Euphoria (2010)
Enrique doesn’t disappoint with this album. Its just what his fans were looking forward and probably helps to add new fans to his base too. What was a pleasant surprise were the Spanish tracks. Normally I don’t listen to these too much, but this time around, I found them actually better than many of the english track. its a separate subject that I couldn’t understand a word, but Hey – given the feel you get as you listen to it, I’m sure the message must’ve been nice:)
Anyhow…Euphoria is the ninth studio album and his first proper bilingual album. It worked!It brought the latest Dance-Pop perfectly blended with the Julio Iglesias era crooning making it an album that will reach across ages.
The album features guest appearances by Akon, Usher, Juan Luis Guerra, Pitbull, Nicole Scherzinger and Puerto Rican reggaeton duo Wisin and Yandel. The album’s first single Cuando Me Enamoro reached number-one on the Hot Latin Songs, while the album’s second single I Like It, reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 – both great tracks.
Although personally not a die-hard fan of Enrique Iglesias, I do give him a fair listen with each album. This time around I have seen a clear evolving of his artistry. No longer was he simply doing translations of popular tracks just to appease different genres and listeners. He had something for all. Add to that the packaging of the look, the beats, the connotations, the feel, the music…and he has got himself another great release.
The Dancetrack, “I Like It’ the opening single is so Enrique and with Pitbull it gets an altogether brand new groove. It has surprise guest vocals by Lionel Richie too, who I heard actually turned up and re-recorded the famous lines specially for this album. The slightly Reggae tinged track, ‘One Day At a Time’ (featuring Akon) is OK. I would’ve thought the combination would have been mind blowing, but it didn’t seem to work for me here. As also ‘Dirty Dancer’ (featuring Usher), the latter I heard being his next video single release shortly.
But ‘Heartbeat’ is great. Its sultry and the combination of Enrique with Nicole Scherziner is bang-on. After a couple of listen, you can get ‘addicted’!!
The Spanish track “Cuando Me Enamor” feat Juan Luis Guerra is awesome. Its gentle and blend of these two artists makes a winner all the way. Other spanish tracks,’Tu y Yo’ and ‘No me Digas Que No’ both clearly show why he is an amazing crossover act. Other Spanish tracks like Ayer, Dile Que each have its own place and fitted well into the album.