Review Summary: The second album by Christina Aguilera contains her biggest hits translated to Spanish--yet it is all lost in translation.
It's hard to imagine that after the success of Aguilera's debut album, she would render fans with a quick conglomeration of Aguilera's previous hits in Spanish and a few new tracks that sound too rushed to be deemed "well-made."
The album opens with Aguilera's tranlsation of her first hit, "Genie In A Bottle," only now called "Genio Atrapado." I believed that Aguilera, being of Hispanic heritage, would dominate Spanish to perfection--but how wrong I was. Her Spanish is anything but fluent, and her speech sounds slightly slurred. By the end of the song, I was hoping that it would get better than "Genio Atrapado."
So I was somewhat relieved to hear "Falzas Esperanzas." The track contains a much more Latin feel to it, and her bad speech is overshadowed by some amazing vocal projections. In fact, it would not be a stretch to call this song "good."
"El Beso Del Final" is not a bad continuation to "Falzas Esperanzas." Though the lyrics sound robotic, and the music sounds like a couple of her older songs, the song in its whole is rather fun and easy to enjoy in the first listening.
Soon comes "Pero Me Acuerdo De Ti," a song that sounds a bit too melodramatic and--well, fake. Once again her Spanish gets in the way from truly giving listeners goosebumps when she approaches the climax... if they reach it. "Pero Me Acuerdo De Ti" drags through, repeating the same line "...pero me acuerdo de ti..." Fine, it is the name of the song, but it gets so annoying hearing the same phrase so many times!
Unfortunately, "Ven Conmigo (Solamente Tu)," the translation of "Come On Over (All I Want Is You)" has to appear. Her voice seems to float above the "music" giving the feeling of a highly studio-glossed song--much worse than the original.
The only duet of the album occurs when Luis Fonsi makes an appearance on "Si No Te Hubiera Conocido" with a series of "ooh"s and whatnots. Her first verse sounds as if the sheet was just put in front of her to read, with no idea what the words meant. To give the song some credit, Luis Fonsi does seem to know what he is doing, and when they sing together the overall outcome is more favorable than not.
Happily, there is a song that can be labeled as one of the best Aguilera has sung: "Contigo En la Distancia." The song has few flaws if any, and the climax this time around works. The song just flows smoothly, and her voice works perfectly with it.
The downfall of the album occurs in the last four tracks however. Most obviously is the rough translation of "What A Girl Wants," named here "Una Mujer" (literally meaning "A Woman"). The intro in the English version sounds fake, yes, but in the Spanish version she doesn't even try to improve this mistake! And the rest of the song is mainly all Aguilera: the background music can barely be heard over her screams (that are unnecessary)! "Por Siempre Tu" is the English translation of "I Turn To You," the first ballad originally released by Aguilera from her debut album. This version is not so terrible, yet if you have heard her English version, you can't help wishing that she would stick to her best language. "Mi Reflejo" is worst than the original; a simply tedious task if you decide to listen to this. There is much more dragging here than in "Reflection," and even worse... it closes the album.
Download: Falzas Esperanzas, Contigo En La Distancia
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