ENRIQUE IGLESIAS ~ King of Latin Pop ~

Attention!!!

All Sri Lankan Latin Pop fans are waiting excitedly for the reigning king to take the stage this December. So it is high time that I do a review of his songs before his arrival. Enrique Iglesias is the most popular best selling artist to perform in Sri Lanka. Although artists such as Bryan Adams, UB40, Sean Paul and Olivia Newton-John have all performed here, none of them trump Iglesias in terms of success. Iglesias has been in the music scene for almost two decades and still going strong. To get down to the nitty-gritty details, Iglesias has released ten studio albums, five compilation albums, forty-six singles, and forty-one music videos. He is one of the best live performers and also one of the most influential artists at present in the world. 

Enrique

Iglesias began his career in Spanish and released three Spanish studio albums - Enrique Iglesias, Vivir and Cosas Del Amor - with immense success in the Latin countries. However, it was Enrique his debut English studio album which launched his international career. It produced the global smash hits Bailamos and Be With You as well as hits such as Rhythm Divine and Could I Have This Kiss Forever a collaboration with Whitney Houston. This album was more or less heavily Latin Pop based with the beat, style and rhythm all corresponding to the genre. 

Escape

Then we have his second English studio album Escape which charted within the top five in most countries, peaking in UK, Canada and Australia while reaching No.2 on the US Billboard 200. Through this Iglesias managed to appeal to a wider audience by inculcating more pop elements. It produced the mega hits Hero and Escape as well as minor hits such as Don't Turn Off The Lights and Love To See You Cry.

Mixing it up, Iglesias next released another Spanish album - Quizás, which won him a Latin Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Album. It produced the Latin hits Mentiroso, Quizás and Para Qué La Vida all of which topped the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks Chart.

7

Insomniac

Then we see Iglesias' descent in terms of appealing to the mainstream as he failed to produce extremely successful hits from his next two albums - 7 and Insomniac. These were a mishmash of genres with Iglesias attempting to keep up with the changing times and the mainstream music taste by incorporating R&B and Synthpop into his music and failing monumentally. From 7 he released Addicted and Not In Love featuring Kelis and from Insomniac he released Do You Know? (The Ping Pong Song) and Tired Of Being Sorry featuring Nadiya and although not commercially successful still fan favourites - Push featuring Lil Wayne and Somebody's Me. Then we have his compilation album - Greatest Hits, which included the new single Takin' Back My Love featuring Ciara which became a minor hit worldwide.

Greatest Hits

Euphoria

Then in 2010, Iglesias finally made his much anticipated comeback with his first bilingual album - Euphoria. For this he collaborated with RedOne, the producer who was behind the success of Lady Gaga, Kat Deluna and so many other artists who produced hit singles in the latter part of the 2000s. I Like It featuring Pitbull was the lead single off the album which was a major hit across the Americas, Europe and Asia. This was followed by Heartbeat featuring Nicole Scherzinger, Dirty Dancer featuring Usher and Lil Wayne and the dance anthem Tonight (I'm Fuckin' You) featuring Ludacris & DJ Frank E. The album was heavily based in Electropop and Dancepop incorporating elements of House. The contrast between the English and Latin singles are quite clear and we see that Iglesias has finally found his niche.

Sex and Love

With his next album Sex and Love which is also bilingual, Iglesias proved that he is quite capable of evolving as well as maintaining his Latin roots. The first single off the album released in 2012, Finally Found You featuring Sammy Adams was a minor hit and this was followed by Turn The Night Up, Heart Attack and I'm A Freak featuring Pitbull which were all minor hits. In this album it was evident that Iglesias had stressed more quality on his Latin tracks and with his next single Bailando featuring Sean Paul, Descemer Bueno and Gente de Zona he proved that he is in fact the King of Latin Pop. Bailando reigned for a record breaking 41 weeks atop the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks Chart. It's video went viral and became one of the most watched videos of the year. More recently Iglesias collaborated with Nicky Jam on the hit El Perdon which was also a major Latin Hit.

Some of his other good songs in no particular order include:

• Ring my bells
• You're my #1 
• Dev - Naked (featured)
• No me degas que no (ft.Wisin & Yandel)
• Pitbull - Come n' go (featured)
• I like how it feels (ft.Pitbull & The WAV.s)
• Beautiful (ft. Kylie Minogue)
• I have always loved you
• El Perdedor (ft.Marco Antonio Solis)

Iglesias has sold over 137 million records worldwide, making him one of the best selling Latin artists ever. Iglesias has scored over 150 number-one hits across all of the Billboard charts and he has had five Billboard Hot 100 top five singles, including two number-ones, and holds the record for producing 26 number-one Spanish-language singles on the Billboard '​s Hot Latin Tracks. He also holds the record for most number-one hits and the longest running number-one hit on that chart. Iglesias also has 13 number-ones on Billboard's Dance charts, more than any other male artist. He is also the best selling Latin artist in the UK and the best selling international artist in India. He has won about 200 awards from various ceremony including 23 Billboard Music Awards (with 9 times nomination) and 36 Billboard Latin Music Awards (with 45 times nomination), as well as 7 American Music Awards (with 6 times nomination), 1 Grammys (with 3 times nomination), 5 Latin Grammys (with 4 times nomination), 10 World Music Awards (with 2 times nomination) and 6 MTV awards.

And so now we wait for Iglesias to return to the studio and perform his magic and deliver that perfect mix of Latin Pop modernized with EDM, Electropop and Hip-Hop to suit our dance floors. All hail the king!!!

Till the next review...

At Ease!!!