''Estrella Guía'' (English: ''Guiding Star''), also released as ''Estrela Guia'' for its Brazilian edition, is the third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Brazilian singer

Alexandre Pires Alexandre Pires do Nascimento (born January 8, 1976) is a Brazilian singer-songwriter. Pires was previously the singer of group Só Pra Contrariar which he joined in the late 1980s. Career Pires began his career playing a new and more appellat ...

, released on 18 March 2003 though

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

and BGM. The album was produced by Juan Vicente Zambrano, Danilo Ballo, Emanuele Ruffinengo,

Julio Reyes Georgel Julio Arevalo Reyes-Rosas (born January 18, 1985), known professionally as Julio Reyes, is a Mexican singer, songwriter, musician, actor, voice coach and vocal producer. A graduate of Berklee College with a degree in vocal performance and ...

, Rey Nerio, Alexandre Pires, Pedro Ferreira,

Rudy Pérez Rudy Amado Pérez (born May 14, 1958) is a Cuban-born American musician, songwriter, composer, producer, arranger, sound engineer, musical director and singer, as well as entertainment entrepreneur, and philanthropist. His area of specialty is b ...

, Antonio Carmona and Fernando Illan and features collaborations with Spanish singers

Alejandro Sanz Alejandro Sánchez Pizarro, better known as Alejandro Sanz (; born 18 December 1968), is a Spanish musician, singer and composer. Sanz has won 22 Latin Grammy Awards and four Grammy Awards. He has received the Latin Grammy for Latin Grammy Awar ...

and

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...

. It is the second album by Pires to be released in Spanish, the first one being ''

'' (2001), also released as ''É Por Amor''. At the 4th Annual Latin Grammy Awards, the album received nominations for Album of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Album, at the ceremony Pires performed a Spanish-English version of the song "Amame" alongside American singer

Kelly Clarkson Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the first season of ''American Idol'' in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA. Her debu ...

. The album was also nominated for Pop Album of the Year at the

Premio Lo Nuestro 2004 ''Premio Lo Nuestro 2004'' was the 16th anniversary of a popular Latin Music Award show in U.S. The award show took place In Miami, Florida, and aired live on the Univision Network on Thursday, February 26, from 8-11 pm ET / PT (7-10 pm Central a ...

. The album appeared on the ''Billboard'' Top Latin Albums and ''Billboard'' Latin Pop Albums charts, peaking at positions twelve and six respectively.

Background

The album was recorded during eleven months in different studios in Europe, United States and Brazil. It features collaborations with two Spanish singers,

in the song "Sólo Que Me Falta" and

in "Inseguridad", about the songs Pires said that "the album is not a Spanish flavored one, those are only two different moments, every song of the album has a different flavour and color, I think we achieved it", he also said that the songs from the album dwell on the "daily life of people". The album also includes a version of

Gino Vanelli Gino Vanelli (26 March 1896, in Bergamo – 9 April 1969, in Monza) was an Italian operatic baritone who had an active international career from 1917 until his retirement in 1955. He made several recordings for HMV and Columbia Records, incl ...

's 1978 song "

I Just Wanna Stop "I Just Wanna Stop" is a song by Canadian singer/songwriter Gino Vannelli. Released as a single in August 1978, it remains his biggest hit single to date, reaching No. 1 in his native Canada and No. 4 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It appea ...

", released under the title "Es Mejor Parar" in the Spanish edition and "É Melhor Parar" in the Brazilian one.

Singles

The album spawned three singles, "Amame", released on 11 January 2003, "Quietémonos la Ropa", released on 3 May 2003, and "En el Silencio Negro de la Noche", released on 13 September 2003, all three songs charted 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 ...

and

Latin Pop Songs Latin Pop Airplay (also referred to as Latin Pop Songs) is a record chart published on ''Billboard'' magazine and a subchart of the Latin Airplay chart. The chart focuses on Latin pop music, namely Spanish-language pop music. It was established ...

charts, both by ''

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 ...

'', "Amame" at number 2 in both, "Quietemonos la Ropa" at 3 and 8, and "En el Silencio Negro de la Noche" at 24 and 14, respectively. Additionally, though "Amame" did not enter 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 ...

, it peaked at number 14 on the

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

, being Pires' only appearance at the chart.

Critical reception

Thom Jurek 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 ...

gave the album two and a half stars out of five writing that the album was "beautifully executed but generic nonetheless" commenting that while Pires was a great vocalist, when he sung in Spanish "the depth of his emotional expression is somewhat stilted", however, Jurek highlighted the two duets in the project as the album's "two most successful moments".

Background

Singles

Critical reception

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

References