"Cuts Both Ways" is a song by Cuban-American singer

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 ...

, released in 1990 worldwide as the fifth and final single from 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 ...

'' (1989). It had moderate success in the US, becoming a number one hit on the ''

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 ...

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 ...

chart, while reaching number 44 on the ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

. The single, even with its success, was not included on the US release of the ''

Gloria Estefan Greatest Hits ''Greatest Hits'' is a compilation album by Cuban-American singer-songwriter Gloria Estefan, released on October 30, 1992, by Epic Records. The album includes songs with soft rock influenced sounds as well as more upbeat Latin pop works inspired ...

'' album, but was included in ''

The Essential Gloria Estefan ''The Essential Gloria Estefan'' is the seventh compilation album released by American singer Gloria Estefan, but is the twenty-eighth album overall, released in 2006. It is part of Sony BMG's ''The Essential'' series. The album included a spe ...

'' and ''iTunes Originals: Gloria Estefan''. A rerecorded version was also included on Estefan's 2020 album, ''

Brazil305 ''Brazil305'' is the fourteenth studio album by Cuban-American singer Gloria Estefan, released by Sony Masterworks on August 13, 2020. It is her twenty-ninth album overall, and consists of re-recorded versions of her greatest hits with Brazili ...

''.

Critical reception

Matthew Hocter from Albumism described "Cuts Both Ways" as a "heartbreakingly beautiful song of love lost", and picked it as one of the "highlights" of the album of same name. Bill Coleman from ''

'' viewed it as a "trademark-styled

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 ...

, highlighted by lovely acoustic guitars and affecting vocals." David Giles from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' deemed it a "big ballad". He added, "Cliched lyrics aside; its acoustic guitar is undeniably pleasant and her voice is left attractively uncluttered,

Carpenters Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters tra ...

style." A reviewer from ''The Network Forty'' noted that "shifting gears from

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

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, this single has a deeper message, both musically and lyrically, than you might expect." Pop Rescue wrote that "this is really quite a nice track as it twists and turns", and "a nice plodder". Mike Soutar 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 ...

'' called it a "latin-tinged sappy smoocher".

Music video

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 ...

was produced to promote the single, featuring Estefan performing alone in a beach house. Sometimes she is seen standing by a large window, glancing out at the sea. Other times she sits by a table. In between there are also small clips of billowing water or a guitar that is being strummed. The video was later published on Estefan's official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel in March 2011. It has amassed more than 2,7 million views as of October 2021.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

Track listings

References

{{authority control 1989 songs 1990 singles Gloria Estefan songs Pop ballads Songs written by Gloria Estefan Epic Records singles