''Ahora'' () is the second studio album released by Mexican singer-songwriter

Christian Nodal Christian Jesus González Nodal (born January 11, 1999) is a Mexican musician, singer, and songwriter born and raised in Sonora, Mexico. His debut studio album, '' Me Dejé Llevar'' (2017), was met with critical acclaim and success. Nodal has w ...

. It was released on May 10, 2019 via

Fonovisa Records Fonovisa Records is an American Spanish language record label founded in 1984 by Guillermo Santiso as a subsidiary of Televisa. Its former name before being acquired by Televisa in 1984 was Profono Internacional, which was founded in 1978. Fonov ...

and

Universal Music Latin Universal Music Latin Entertainment, a division of Universal Music Group, is a record company specialized in producing and distributing Latin music in Mexico, the United States, and Puerto Rico. UMLE includes famous Latin music labels such as Uni ...

. Produced by Jaime González, it follows Nodal's success with

regional Mexican music Regional styles of Mexican music vary greatly from state to state. Norteño, banda, duranguense, Son mexicano and other Mexican country music genres are often known as regional Mexican music because each state produces different musical sounds ...

in his debut studio album, ''

Me Dejé Llevar ''Me Dejé Llevar'' () is the debut studio album by Mexican singer-songwriter Christian Nodal, released on August 25, 2017. The album was produced by Jaime Gonzalez. ''Me Dejé Llevar'' reached number two on the Top Latin Albums, ''Billboard'' To ...

'' (2017). Nodal served as the primary co-writer for the album, having co-written eight of the 14 songs. The album spawned three singles, "

No Te Contaron Mal "No Te Contaron Mal" (English: "They Did Not Tell You Wrong") is a song by Mexican singer-songwriter Christian Nodal released on September 7, 2018 as a single. "No Te Contaron Mal" was written by Nodal, Gussy Lau, and American songwriter and produ ...

", " Nada Nuevo" and " De Los Besos Que Te Di", all of which charted in the top ten on Mexican charts. The album received mainly positive reception from critics. ''Ahora'' peaked at number 19 on the

Top 100 Mexico Top 100 México is a record chart which accounts for sixty percent of the albums sold in Mexico. The chart has the support of major record distributors in Mexico and is issued by the Mexican Association of Producers of Phonograms and Videograms, A. ...

chart, and debuted at number seven on the ''Billboard'' Top Latin Albums chart in the United States. The album won Favorite Regional Mexican Album at the 2022

Latin American Music Awards The Latin American Music Awards (Latin AMAs) is an annual American music awards show produced by the MRC Live and Alternative. It is the Spanish-language counterpart of the American Music Awards (AMAs). As with AMAs, the Latin AMAs are determine ...

and Best Ranchero/Mariachi Album at the

20th Annual Latin Grammy Awards The 20th Annual Latin Grammy Awards was held on Thursday, November 14, 2019, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and was broadcast on Univision. The telecast marked the 20th anniversary of the Latin Grammy Awards and honored outsta ...

. The album was certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

Background

Christian Nodal had signed with

in 2016 in pursuit of a music career, and released his debut single "

Adiós Amor Adiós (Spanish: 'goodbye') or Adios may refer to: Music Albums * ''Adios'' (Böhse Onkelz album), 2004 * ''Adiós'' (Flans album), 1990 * ''Adiós'' (Glen Campbell album), the final album by Glen Campbell, 2017 * ''Adios'' (KMFDM album), 1999 * ...

" in April of that year. During this period of Nodal's career, songwriter and producer

Edgar Barrera Édgar Barrera aka Edge is a Mexican songwriter, Record producer, producer, and musician based in Miami, Florida. He has won a total of 20 Latin Grammys and 1 Grammy Award including "Producer of The Year" in 2021. He has written and produced son ...

contacted Nodal on social media and, in the summer of 2018, the two met in person in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

Jalisco Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal En ...

; that same day, Barrera and Nodal wrote the song "

" without any internet connection in thirty minutes. Nodal would co-write eight of the fourteen tracks on ''Ahora'', seven of which being with Barrera. Recording for the album took place at the Estudio Alamos and the Estudio Jordan de los Mochis, with Jaime Gonzalez, who had previously worked with Ariel Camacho, producing the album.

Promotion and singles

Three singles were released from ''Ahora''. The first single, "No Te Contaron Mal", was released on September 7, 2018. It peaked at number two on the

Monitor Latino Monitor Latino (stylised monitorLATINO) is a singles chart founded in 2003 which ranks songs on chart based on airplay across radio stations in Latin American countries and Hispanic radio stations in the United States using the Radio Tracking Data ...

Top 20 General Mexican Songs chart and at number 10 on the

Hot Latin Songs The ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs (formerly Hot Latin Tracks and Hot Latin 50) is a record chart in the United States for Latin songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Since October 2012, chart rankings are based on digital sales, rad ...

in the United States. The song was certified eight times

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA) in May of 2019. The second single, " Nada Nuevo", was released on February 14, 2019. Peaking at number eight in Mexico and at number 19 on the Hot Latin Songs, it was certified platinum by the RIAA. The third and final single, " De Los Besos Que Te Di", peaked at number three in Mexico and at number 12 on the Hot Latin Songs. The song was nominated for Best Regional Song at the

and for Regional Song of the Year at the 27th ''Billboard'' Music Awards, and was certified gold by the RIAA. To promote the album, Nodal embarked on the Ahora Tour from 2019 to 2020.

Reception

The album received mainly positive reviews from critics. Diario Occidente of ''El Mañana'' described the album as a "journey with stories of love and heartbreak, profound lyrics and lots of emotion". Sami Drasin of ''Billboard'' praised the album, stating "the Regional Mexican artist pours his heart out once again in 14 new tracks... despite having similar

ranchera Ranchera () or canción ranchera is a genre of traditional music of Mexico. It dates to before the years of the Mexican Revolution. Rancheras today are played in virtually all regional Mexican music styles. Drawing on rural traditional folk music ...

melodies and mariachi tunes throughout the production, each track tells its own heartfelt story and demonstrates Nodal’s mature sound". The album was ranked number 25 by

Remezcla Remezcla is an American media company focusing on the Latin American cultural sphere. It serves the millennial market. History The brand was founded by Claire Frisbie, Andrew Herrera and Nuria Net in 2006, had no outside funding; it first recei ...

staff on their Best Spanish-Language & Latin Music Albums of the Decade list, stating, "with the timeless timbre in his big voice, he’s able to connect with different generations of fans while conveying a wide range of emotions". Gisela Orozco of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' gave positive thoughts on the album, stating, "composed of 14 songs, ''Ahora'' has a duet with the Colombian

Sebastián Yatra Sebastián Obando Giraldo (born 15 October 1994), known professionally as Sebastián Yatra, is a Colombian singer, songwriter and actor. He began as a Latin pop artist and has recorded many ballads, but has released several successful reggaeton ...

in "Esta Noche", and has songs of love, heartbreak,

nes The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

with a

mariachi Mariachi (, , ) is a genre of regional Mexican music that dates back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, t ...

rhythm, norteño and danceable". ''Ahora'' was nominated for four total awards. It won the award for Favorite Regional Mexican Album at the 2022

and Best Ranchero/Mariachi Album at the

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Latin Grammy Awards The Latin Grammy Awards are an award by The Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from anywhere around the world that has been r ...

. It was also nominated the Regional Mexican Album of the Year award at the 2020 ''Billboard'' Latin Music Awards and for Album of the Year at the

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Lo Nuestro Awards The Lo Nuestro Awards or Premios Lo Nuestro (Spanish for "Our Thing") is a Spanish-language awards show honoring the best of Latin music, presented by Univision, a Spanish-language television network based in the United States. The awards began in ...

Commercial performance

The album peaked at number 19 on the AMPROFON

record chart, and was ranked at number 92 on the chart's year-end listing. It also debuted at number seven on the ''Billboard'' Top Latin Albums chart in the united states, becoming Nodal's second top-ten entry after ''

'' (2017). On May 23, 2019, ''Ahora'' was certified platinum by the

, with about 60,000 certified units.

Accolades

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Performance credits

Technical credits

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2019 albums Christian Nodal albums Spanish-language albums Universal Music Latino albums Latin Grammy Award for Best Ranchero/Mariachi Album Albums produced by Edgar Barrera