Unwrapped (album)
2003 studio album by Gloria Estefan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Unwrapped is the tenth studio solo album and twenty-fourth album overall by Cuban-American singer Gloria Estefan, released in 2003. It was also her first English language studio album since 1998's gloria!.
| Unwrapped | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 22, 2003 | |||
| Studios | Crescent Moon Studios, Miami | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 60:32 | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Producers | Gloria Estefan Emilio Estefan Sebastian Krys | |||
| Gloria Estefan chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Unwrapped | ||||
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Content
The album is a departure in sound from Estefan's previous works. The album was recorded live, unlike any of her other studio albums. There is less reverb on Estefan's vocals, to create an intimate feeling. The album is acoustic and is designed to feel like an unplugged album. This is the first Estefan album to not feature a brass section.
Estefan worked with notable artists on the album; Stevie Wonder played harmonica and sang on "Into You," while Chrissie Hynde appeared on "One Name". "Hoy," which became one of Estefan's most successful singles, was written by Peruvian singer-composer Gian Marco and contains several Peruvian folk music elements.
The album uses the theme of unwrapping herself to the world in the lyrics, recording, and artwork. The picture on the back cover is actually Estefan's back. Next to the title, "Into You," there is a pink line that runs down to the bottom, which is the scar from her back surgery when she broke her back in 1990. The picture above the "I Will Always Need Your Love" lyrics is Gloria holding hands with her husband Emilio, for whom the song was written, likewise, the picture of the hand pointing to the lyrics to "You" is Gloria's daughter, Emily.
Promotion
To promote the album, Estefan launched the American tour Live & Re-Wrapped Tour which was made after her Live & Unwrapped performances at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
In addition, Estefan released a remix EP under the name of Unwrapped: Remixes; the EP was a Bonus Promo CD that was available with purchase of the Live & Unwrapped DVD during pay-per-view broadcasts and purchases of the DVD at shows during the Live & Re-Wrapped Tour.[1]
Critical reception
Writing for USA Today, Elysa Gardner found that Unwrapped "reaffirms [Estefan's] status as one of pop's most resourceful survivors. Though she lacks the vocal color, range and attitude required of a true diva, Estefan retains an affinity for mixing Latin, folk, adult-contemporary and world music textures into a robust but digestible stew."[6] AllMusic editor David Jeffries felt that Unwrapped "stumbles over itself trying to put Estefan's emotional lyrics up front [...] Without even a hint of levity, sitting through the whole album feels like an exhausting open-mic night at the coffee shop [...] Covering up the underdeveloped writing with sonic overkill, it is as least interesting and a good setup for the expected "return-to-form" album."[2]
Awards
| Year | Award Show | Award |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Billboard Latin Music Awards | Top Latin Pop Airplay Track-Female of the Year, "Hoy" |
| 2005 | Top Latin Tropical Track of the Year, "Tu Fotografía" |
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "A Little Push" |
| 3:56 |
| 2. | "Te Amaré" |
| 3:02 |
| 3. | "Your Picture" |
| 3:50 |
| 4. | "Wrapped" |
| 3:27 |
| 5. | "Time Waits" |
| 4:25 |
| 6. | "In the Meantime" |
| 3:36 |
| 7. | "Dangerous Game" |
| 3:17 |
| 8. | "Into You" (Duet with Stevie Wonder) |
| 3:20 |
| 9. | "One Name" (Duet with Chrissie Hynde) |
| 3:04 |
| 10. | "I Will Always Need Your Love" |
| 3:05 |
| 11. | "Say Goodbye" |
| 3:53 |
| 12. | "I Wish You" |
| 3:52 |
| 13. | "You" |
| 3:09 |
| 14. | "Famous" |
| 3:20 |
| 15. | "Te Amaré" (Spanish Version) |
| 3:03 |
| 16. | "Tu Fotografía" ("Your Picture" – Spanish Version) |
| 3:48 |
| 17. | "Hoy" ("Wrapped" – Spanish Version) |
| 3:27 |
| 18. | "Mientras Tanto" ("In the Meantime" – Spanish Version) |
| 3:38 |
| No. | Title | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Famous: The Documentary" | Nayib Estefan |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Tu Fotografía" ("Your Picture" – Spanish Version) |
| 3:48 |
| 2. | "Te Amaré" (Spanish Version) |
| 3:03 |
| 3. | "Mientras Tanto" ("In the Meantime" – Spanish Version) |
| 3:38 |
| 4. | "Hoy" ("Wrapped" – Spanish Version) |
| 3:27 |
| 5. | "Time Waits" |
| 4:25 |
| 6. | "A Little Push" |
| 3:56 |
| 7. | "Dangerous Game" |
| 3:17 |
| 8. | "Into You" (Duet with Stevie Wonder) |
| 3:20 |
| 9. | "One Name" (Duet with Chrissie Hynde) |
| 3:04 |
| 10. | "I Will Always Need Your Love" |
| 3:05 |
| 11. | "Say Goodbye" |
| 3:53 |
| 12. | "I Wish You" |
| 3:52 |
| 13. | "You" |
| 3:09 |
| 14. | "Famous" |
| 3:20 |
| 15. | "Te Amaré" |
| 3:02 |
| 16. | "Your Picture" |
| 3:50 |
| 17. | "Wrapped" |
| 3:27 |
| 18. | "In the Meantime" |
| 3:36 |
| No. | Title | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Famous: The Documentary" | N. Estefan |
Personnel
Adapted from AllMusic.[8]
- Pedro Alfonso - violin
- Meredith Mora Arriaga - accordion
- Christopher Austopchuk - design direction
- Eric Barnard - hair stylist
- Tim Barnes - viola
- Kurt Berge - technical support
- Carlos "El Bola" Betancourt - cover art
- Edwin Bonilla - drums, percussion
- Susanne Cerha - art direction, design
- Vadim Chislov - assistant engineer
- Michael C. Collins - assistant engineer
- Mike Couzzi - engineer
- Kevin Dillon - project coordinator
- Luis Enrique - drums, guest artist, percussion
- Emilio Estefan Jr. - producer
- Gloria Estefan - primary artist, producer
- John Falcone - arranger, bass, string arrangements
- Jorge Felix - assistant engineer
- Trevor Fletcher - studio manager
- Richard Flieschman - viola
- Orlando J. Forte - violin
- Julie Gardner - engineer
- Chris Glansdorp - cello
- Arthur Hanlon - piano
- Ross Harbaugh - cello
- Kent Hertz - assistant engineer
- Chrissie Hynde - guest artist, vocals
- Claudio Jaffe - cello
- Sidney Jamila - make-up
- Femi Jiya - engineer
- Steve Jones - digital editing
- Manu Katché - drums
- Sebastián Krys - arranger, cavaquinho, charango, cuatro, engineer, lakota flute, mixing, producer, programming, quena, string arrangements, zampona
- Leyla Leeming - project coordinator
- Bob Ludwig - mastering
- Mei Mei Luo - violin
- Patrick Magee - assistant engineer
- José Juan Maldonado - project coordinator
- Tony Mardini - arranger
- Tom McWilliams - arranger, drums
- Steve Menezes - studio manager
- Susan Moyer - cello
- Scott ODonnell - viola
- Alfredo Oliva - concert master, violin
- Laszio Pap - violin
- Ruben Parra - studio manager
- Luis Pastor - bass
- Andy Pechenik - technical support
- Billie Pechenik - project coordinator
- Archie Pena - arranger, drums, percussion
- Marco Peña - hair stylist
- Daniel Ponce - assistant engineer
- Juan Rosario - assistant engineer
- Juan Antonio Salazar - conductor, orchestration, string arrangements
- Eric Schilling - engineer
- Jon Secada - guest artist, background vocals
- Rafael Solano - drums, percussion
- Simon Soong - technical support
- Debra Spring - viola
- Ron Taylor - engineer, fender rhodes, mellotron, organ (hammond), piano, wurlitzer
- Ken Theis - assistant engineer, mixing assistant
- Alberto Tolot - cover portrait
- Peter Vargo - assistant
- Jose "Pepe" Velazquez - drums, drum technician
- Mario Vergel - stylist, typography
- Dan Warner - guitar, mandolin, tres
- Ryan Wolff - assistant engineer
- Stevie Wonder - guest artist, harmonica, vocal ad-libs
Singles
| # | Title | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Wrapped/Hoy" | August 2003 |
| 2. | "I Wish You" | February 2004 (Europe) March 2004 (U.S.) |
| 3. | "Te Amaré" | February 2004 (Spain) |
| 4. | "Tu Fotografía" | April 2004 (U.S., Argentina) |
Chart positions
Weekly charts
|
Year-end Charts
|
Certifications and sales
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Spain (Promusicae)[21] | Gold | 80,000[22] |
| Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[23] | Platinum | 40,000^ |
| United States | — | 162,000[24] |
|
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Release history
| Region | Date |
|---|---|
| Worldwide | September 22, 2003 |
| Canada | September 23, 2003 |
| United States | |
| Australia | October 6, 2003 |
| Japan | October 8, 2003 |