Unwrapped (album)

Unwrapped
Studio album by Gloria Estefan
Released September 22, 2003 (2003-09-22)
(See release history)
Recorded Crescent Moon Studios, Miami
Genre Pop
Length 60:32
Label Epic
Producer Emilio Estefan Jr.
Gloria Estefan chronology
Greatest Hits Vol. II
(2001)		 Unwrapped
(2003)		 Amor y Suerte: Exitos Romanticos
(2004)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]
Celebrity Cafe [2]
MSN Music [3]

Unwrapped is the tenth studio solo album and twenty-fourth album overall by Cuban-American singer Gloria Estefan, released in 2003. It also was the first English language studio album since 1998's gloria!.

Album history

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 the artwork. The picture on the back cover is actually Gloria's back. Next to the title, "Into You," there is a pink line that runs down to the bottom. That is the scar from Gloria's back surgery when she broke her back in 1990. She has never shown the scar publicly before. Since the lyrics were supposed to come from within her, some of the song lyrics are actually written on her body backwards, hence stressing that the lyrics emerged from inside her body. If the viewer puts the picture of the cover up to a mirror he/she can read some of the lyrics to "Wrapped," "Famous" and "I Will Always Need Your Love." 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. The picture of the hand pointing to the lyrics to "You" is Gloria's daughter, Emily, for whom the song was written.

The recording of the album is very different than any other of Gloria's albums. As mentioned in the bonus feature in the Live & Unwrapped DVD, the album was recorded live which means the band played and Gloria sang at the same time. There is less reverb (echo) on Gloria's vocals, done to create an intimate feeling. The album is very acoustic and is designed to feel like an unplugged album. This is also the first Estefan album to not feature a brass section.

To promote the album, Gloria launched the American tour Live & Re-Wrapped Tour which was made after her Live & Unwrapped performances at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Track listing

Worldwide edition

Latin American/Spain edition

Special releases

In addition for promote the album, 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.

Release history

Country Release date
Worldwide September 22, 2003
Canada September 23, 2003
United States
Australia October 6, 2003
Japan October 8, 2003

Charts and certifications

Chart performance

Chart (2003) Peak
position
Belgium Top 20 Albums 45
France Top 200 Albums 126
Germany Top 100 Albums 26
Italian Top 100 Albums 11
Netherlands Top 40 Albums 27
Spain Top 50 Albums 4
Switzerland Top 100 Albums 2
UK Top 100 Albums 76
US Billboard 200[4] 39
Uruguay Albums 2

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[5] Gold 50,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[6] Platinum 40,000x

^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

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"

References

  1. ↑ Unwrapped (album) at AllMusic
  2. ↑ Michael (2003-09-24). "Unwrapped". TheCelebrityCafe.com. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
  3. ↑ "Unwrapped by Gloria Estefan on MSN Music". Music.msn.com. 2003-09-23. Archived from the original on 2007-12-28. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
  4. ↑ "Gloria Estefan – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Gloria Estefan. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  5. ↑ "Spanish album certifications – Gloria Estefan – Unwrapped" (PDF) (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Select the "Chart", enter ' in the field "Year". Select ' in the field "Semana". Click on "Search Charts"
  6. ↑ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Gloria Estefan; 'Unwrapped')". Hung Medien.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, September 23, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.