"Coming Out of the Dark" is a song by Cuban-American singer and songwriter

Gloria Estefan Gloria Estefan (; born Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García; born 1 September 1957) is a Cuban-American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is a seven-time Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has been ...

. It was released on January 10, 1991, worldwide by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

as the leading and first single from her second album, '' Into the Light'' (1991). It was written by Estefan with her husband

Emilio Estefan, Jr. Emilio Estefan Gómez (born March 4, 1953) is a Cuban-born American musician and producer. Estefan has won 19 Grammy Awards. He first came to prominence as a member of the Miami Sound Machine. He is the husband of singer Gloria Estefan, father ...

and

Jon Secada Juan Francisco Secada Ramírez (born October 4, 1961), better known as Jon Secada, is a Cuban-born American singer. He has won two Grammy Awards and sold 15 million records, making him one of the best-selling Latin music artists. His music fus ...

, and produced by Estefan Jr., Jorge Casas and Clay Ostwald. It became the singer's third number one in the United States and second number one in Canada (solo and with

Miami Sound Machine Miami Sound Machine was an American band of Latin-influenced music that had featured the vocals of Cuban-born recording artist Gloria Estefan (née Fajardo). Established in 1975 by Emilio Estefan Jr., the band was originally known as the Miami ...

). The song is a

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

which includes the use of a

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

. Among the voices in the choir are Estefan's colleague, the Cuban singer

, and the R&B singer

Betty Wright Bessie Regina Norris (December 21, 1953 – May 10, 2020), better known by her stage name Betty Wright, was an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter and background vocalist. Beginning her professional career in the late 1960s as a teena ...

(both had participated in backing vocals on her debut solo album, ''

Cuts Both Ways ''Cuts Both Ways'' is the debut solo album by American recording artist Gloria Estefan. Though the release marked the first time Estefan was billed solely as a solo artist, Miami Sound Machine still performed instrumentation for the album. It ...

'' as well as ''Into the Light''). The song's accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

received

heavy rotation In broadcasting, rotation is the repeated airing of a limited playlist of songs on a radio station or satellite radio channel, or music videos on a TV network. They are usually in a different order each time. However, they are not completely sh ...

MTV Europe MTV Global (formerly as MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV, a 24-hour music and entertainment TV channel that began broadcasting on August 1, 1987, as part of the worldwide MTV network. Initially, MTV serve ...

. This is the first single released after Estefan's accident on March 20, 1990—an 18-wheeler rammed her tour bus, nearly causing the singer's death—when her "Get on Your Feet Tour" was in progress. It is also the first song that Estefan performed publicly after recovering, inspired by the near-fatal accident and also is dedicated to her husband. The title was inspired by a phrase her husband had written on a piece of paper as a helicopter transported her for delicate surgery to repair her broken back. She explained to ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'': "My husband had been in one of the helicopters traveling from one hospital to the other. It was really dark and gray, and he was traumatized. He got this ray of light that hit him in the face, and he got the idea for 'Coming Out of the Dark'

Estefan was careful not to turn ''Into the Light'' into a pity party. "I hate pity," she told the ''

Los Angeles Daily News The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado-based Digital First Media. The offices of the ''Dai ...

''. "I'm very self-reliant and independent, and I'm used to that role. I don't like people feeling sorry for me. So I wrote 'Coming Out of the Dark' to let the people around me know how important they are to me. But that was as far as I wanted to go with the accident. I didn't want this to become 'the album on the accident.' What am I going to sing - 'Oh, this bus hit me'?"

Critical reception

Bill Lamb from

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, l ...

described the song as a "gorgeous hit

", adding that it is now considered one of the top inspirational pop hits of all time. Matthew Hocter from Albumism deemed it as "one of her finest".

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 ...

editor Jason Birchmeier highlighted it in his review of '' Into the Light'', calling it a "memorable" ballad. Maryann Scheufele from AXS noted that Estefan "truly has been blessed with an inspirational voice."

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

'' wrote that this "uplifting,

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

-framed ballad" is "bolstered by a striking and inspirational performance." The Daily Vault's Mark Millan picked it as one of three "real hits" of the album, with "

Live for Loving You "Live for Loving You" is a song by Cuban–American singer-songwriter Gloria Estefan. It was released on September 30, 1991 by Epic Records worldwide as the fifth and final single from her second solo album, '' Into the Light'' (1991). The song ...

" and "

Seal Our Fate "Seal Our Fate" is a song by Cuban-American singer and songwriter Gloria Estefan, taken from her second solo album, '' Into the Light'' (1991). The song was written by Estefan, and produced by her husband Emilio Estefan, Jr., Clay Ostwald, and J ...

". Pip Ellwood-Hughes from Entertainment Focus described it as "one of the most poignant songs" from Estefan's career. Bill Wyman from

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

wrote that "Coming Out of the Dark" is a "pretty song about Estefan's recovery. It starts out slow, then brings its point home with a gospel-like chorus reminiscent of

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

's "

Man in the Mirror "Man in the Mirror" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson. It was written by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett and produced by Jackson and Quincy Jones. It was released on February 6, 1988, as the fourth single from Jackson' ...

". It's hard not to be sympathetic — the song is an anthem to hope and indomitability, and someone who's endured Estefan's pain certainly deserves room to talk about it." Another editor, Leah Greenblatt described it as a "poignant gospel-tinged ballad". Mario Tarradell from ''

Knight Ridder Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, it was the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspaper brand ...

'' viewed it as a "gospel-tinged showpiece". Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' noted that with a "comeback in glory after a heavy tourbus accident, Estefan shines in this gospel type of song. Inspired by the strong backing vocals, she climbs her way back to the top. A reviewer from ''

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC (company), IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People ...

'' deemed it as "standard

dance pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

". Caroline Sullivan from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...

'' stated that it "starts off slow, then perks up a touch and cracks along at a lively pace for the rest of the song."

Chart performance

The song was a number one hit on both the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

charts (and her last to date on both charts). The song was also a hit in Canada, Spain and Japan. However, it didn't have as much impact in the rest of Europe, where Estefan had always been popular. In

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, the single only reached the top 20; and in UK reached the top 40, a very low position in comparison to other singles.

Spanish version ("Desde La Oscuridad")

Estefan also recorded the Spanish version of the song, called "Desde la Oscuridad". The song was released to Latin-American radio stations and the considerable airplay it received took the song to the Top Five of 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 ...

chart.

Track listings

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coming Out Of The Dark 1990s ballads 1991 singles 1991 songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Epic Records singles Gloria Estefan songs Gospel songs Pop ballads RPM Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by Emilio Estefan Songs written by Emilio Estefan Songs written by Gloria Estefan Songs written by Jon Secada