Ricky Martin - Música + Alma + Sexo Album Reviews & Song Lyrics

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Ricky Martin "Música + Alma + Sexo" album

- Release date : January 2011 -

Musica + Alma + Sexo (English: Music + Soul + Sex) is the ninth studio album by Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Ricky Martin. It was released on January 31, 2011 in Europe by Columbia Records and on February 1, 2011 in North America by Sony Music Latin. The album features guest appearances by Joss Stone, Claudia Leitte, Natalia Jiménez and Puerto Rican reggaeton duo Wisin & Yandel. The album consists of songs both in Spanish and English.

The Deluxe Edition of Ricky Martin's new album was released at Target. It contains 7 exclusive tracks, including two dance mixes, two english versions ("Liar", english version of "No Te Miento", and "Too Late Now", english version of "Será Será") an unreleased song and solo versions of the singles "The Best Thing About Me Is You" and "Lo Mejor De Mi Vida Eres Tú".

The album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, selling 32,000 copies.

"Música + Alma + Sexo" album tracks and lyrics

"Música + Alma + Sexo" album reviews

Ricky Martin’s ninth studio album, Musica + Alma + Sexo, introduces listeners to a “new liberated Ricky,” as one fan writes in an iTunes’ customer review.

This is the 39-year-old Boricua’s first production since declaring his homosexuality to the world last March and becoming a dad in 2008, and it’s clear that he’s embracing life.

Produced by longtime collaborator Desmond Child, who penned “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” the songs range from the inspirational to the passionate with lots of corazón in between.

He opens with “Mas,” a feel-good dance track about taking advantage of everything life has to offer without caring about what others say. It aims to jolt us like the “The Cup of Life” did in 1999. “Será Será” is dedicated to those who feel “unequal, condemned, marginalized without mercy” and spurs them to seize the future.

The reggaeton-tinged “Frio” slows things down with lyrics about a beautiful woman imagined by Martin and collaborators Wisin y Yandel. The remix of the song makes for a sexy dance floor number. “Te Vas” (and it’s English-language version, “Shine”) is about breaking up and staying friends, hence the optimistic dance beat.

The first single from the album, “Lo Mejor de Mi Vida Eres Tu,” features Spanish siren Natalia Jimenez—Joss Stone duets in the English-language track—and is the definition of happiness. There’s even some laughing and giggling at the end of the song in case you’re not already smiling.

There are plenty of soaring ballads dedicated to past and present lovers, as well. “Tu y Yo” has big flourishes and sultry lyrics about sweating in between the sheets, while “Te Busco y Te Alcanzo” is about unrequited love. The very personal power ballad “Basta Ya” has Martin professing “enough of condemning the voice within and faking sincerity/ I’m not afraid of fear anymore.” The rocking “No te Miento” continues the conversation. He tells his audience, “I want to be an open book with you.”

“Cántame Tu Vida” is a nod to Martin’s humanitarian work. In the tropical ballad, he sings about street kids and asks them to tell him about the dreams they’ve yet to dream, while a flute whistles in the background.

Overall, the pop album feels like a dream come true for Martin, who has been in the spotlight since he joined Menudo as a 12-year-old, and can finally be himself. He brims with pride throughout—and it’s definitely infectious.

*** by Grace Bastidas, Latina ***

The last time Ricky Martin released a record -- way back in 2005, a good six years before Musica + Alma + Sexo -- the Puerto Rican singer was half a decade removed from his last blast of crossover success and still closeted. In 2011, he’s one year removed from coming out and even further removed from the place he used to occupy in pop culture, that of a handsome, dexterous crossover artist with a flair for frivolous club/dance cuts and adult contemporary crossovers. Theoretically, this loosening of expectations would give him some freedom to roam on Musica + Alma + Sexo, and it does to the extent that he does not feel compelled to devote the record to the English language. His two English cuts, the Joss Stone duet “The Best Thing About Me Is You” and “Shine,” are buried at the end of the record, the rest of the album sung in Spanish -- but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Musica has a distinctly Latin lilt in its rhythms. This is clean, gleaming dance and lite-pop, all shepherded by Desmond Child, the old studio pro responsible from for co-writing hits for Kiss, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, and Cher, not to mention Ricky’s own “Livin’ la Vida Loca.” Child helps steer Musica + Alma + Sexo toward a high thread-count upscale pop that knows no borders. It’s all pleasant enough and Martin has enough effortless charm to keep things light and sometimes even engaging, but it has no hook, no single, no signature style to lead a listener in, either for a first listen or second spin.

*** by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide ***