"Fruta Fresca" (English: "Fresh Fruit") is a
vallenato
Vallenato () or "Szlager" in Wayuu language (from the German "Schlager"), is a popular folk music genre from Colombia. It primarily comes from its Caribbean region. ''Vallenato'' literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing th ...
song written and performed by Colombian recording artist
Carlos Vives
Carlos Alberto Vives Restrepo (born 7 August 1961) is a Colombian singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his interpretation of traditional music styles of Colombia such as vallenato, cumbia, champeta, bambuco and porro as well as genres ...
and produced by
Emilio Estefan
Emilio Estefan Gómez (born March 4, 1953) is a Cuban Americans, 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 ...
and Juan Vicente Zambrano as the lead single from his studio album ''
El Amor de Mi Tierra
''El Amor de Mi Tierra'' is the ninth album by Colombian singer/composer Carlos Vives released on October 19, 1999.
Track listing
# "El Amor de Mi Tierra" (''M. Madera'') – 3:24
# "Fruta Fresca" (''M. Madera'') – 3:53
# " 19 de Noviembre" ( ...
'' (1999). The song incorporates the sound of Latin pop and Colombian vallenato music. In the song, he compares his lover's kisses to fresh fruit. The track was well received by critics who praised the production of the record. "Fruta Fresca" became Vives' first number-one hit on the
''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs chart.
It received three
Latin Grammy
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 ...
nominations for
Record of the Year
The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...
,
Song of the Year and
Best Tropical Song and a
Lo Nuestro
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 ...
nomination for
Tropical Song of the Year. Vives received an
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...
award for Pop/Contemporary Song in 2001 for his composition of the song. In 2003, Brazilian boy band
Br'oZ covered the song in the
Portuguese language
Portuguese ( or, in full, ) is a western Romance language of the Indo-European language family, originating in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It is an official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and ...
under the title "Prometida" for their album ''Popstars'' which peaked at number two on the Brazilian Airplay Chart.
Background and music
''El Amor de Mi Tierra'' is Carlos Vives's ninth
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 ...
released by
EMI Latin
Capitol Latin (formerly EMI Latin) is a brand of Universal Music Latin Entertainment, a division of Universal Music Group. Previously, it was a subsidiary of EMI.
History
In 1989, José Behar, the former head of CBS Discos, signed Selena to E ...
on 21 September 1999. The album was produced by Juan Vicente Zambrano and
Emilio Estefan
Emilio Estefan Gómez (born March 4, 1953) is a Cuban Americans, 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 ...
.
It contains twelve tracks, ten of which were composed by Vives including "Fruta Fresca".
"Fruta Fresca" fuses the sounds of
Latin pop
Latin pop (in Spanish and in Portuguese: Pop latino) is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. Originating in Spanish-speaking musicians, Latin po ...
and Colombian
vallenato
Vallenato () or "Szlager" in Wayuu language (from the German "Schlager"), is a popular folk music genre from Colombia. It primarily comes from its Caribbean region. ''Vallenato'' literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing th ...
music.
In the song, he compares his lover's kisses to fresh fruit "which escaped from your mouth and went up to my head".
Promotion
An accompanying music video for the song was released in 1999 which features Vives and a band performing song with various background montages. Vives performed the song at the
12th Lo Nuestro Awards which Magaly Morales of the ''
Sun-Sentinel
The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as surrounding Br ...
'' noted that his performance "sent everybody up on their feet, swinging their hips". The song was included on his El Amor de Mi Tour track listing. He also performed the song at the
1st Latin Grammy Awards ceremony where Joan Anderman of ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' said that Vives "brought the performances to an upbeat close". He was originally not going to perform at the Latin Grammy Awards due to his illness with
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
, but decided to go as he wanted to show "something that was mine and that was my country's".
Commercial performance
"Fruta Fresca" was originally scheduled to be released to radio stations on 17 August 1999, but it was released later in the month because the music video was not finished.
The song debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Tracks chart at number 21 for the week of 21 November 1999, climbing to the top ten two weeks later. "Fruta Fresca" peaked at number-one on 8 January 2000, replacing "
Ritmo Total" by Spanish performer
Enrique Iglesias
Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; (born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican indie label Fonovisa and became the bestselling Spanish-language act of the decade. By the ...
and being succeeded by "
Te Quiero Mucho" by Mexican band
Los Rieleros del Norte Los Rieleros Del Norte ("The Railers of the North") are a Mexican three-time Grammy-nominated Regional Mexican band from Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico. They are based in El Paso, Texas. They specialize in the Norteño-Sax genre.
History
They forme ...
, the following week. The song returned to the top of the chart on 22 January 2000 for another two weeks, before being succeeded by Guatemalan singer-songwriter
Ricardo Arjona
Edgar Ricardo Arjona Algadeoro (born 19 January 1964), known as Ricardo Arjona (), is a Guatemalan singer-songwriter. Arjona is one of the most successful and best-selling Latin American artists of all time, with more than 80 million records so ...
with "
Desnuda
A desnuda is a seminude, topless female performer covered in body paint who poses for photos in exchange for tips in the pedestrian plaza of New York City's Times Square. The desnudas typically wear thong underwear and high heels, and use red, whi ...
". By 11 March 2000, "Fruta Fresca" was replaced at the number-one position by "
Que Alguien Me Diga
"Que Alguien Me Diga" (Someone Tell Me) is a song by Puerto Rican singer Gilberto Santa Rosa from his 12th studio album, ''Expresión'' (1999). It was written by Omar Alfanno with José Lugo and the artist handling its production. It is a sals ...
" by
Gilberto Santa Rosa
Gilberto Santa Rosa Cortés, nicknamed "El Caballero de la Salsa" (The Gentleman of Salsa) (born August 21, 1962), is a Puerto Rican bandleader and singer of salsa and bolero. He is a six time Grammy Award winner and has sold over three million ...
. "Fruta Fresca" also peaked at number-one on the
''Billboard'' Latin Tropical Airplay chart. The song ended 2000 as the
third best performing Latin single of the year in the United States.
In Spain, the song peaked at number two on the
PROMUSICAE singles chart.
Reception and accolades
"Fruta Fresca" was named a "highlight" by Steve Huey of
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 ...
on the review of the parent album, and was also described as a "bridge" between
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
and
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...
, by Leila Cobo of
''Billboard'' magazine, while reviewing the nominees for the Latin Grammy Awards.
[
] While reviewing songs that were nominated for
Record of the Year
The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...
at the
first Latin Grammy Awards, an editor for the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' declared that "Vives demonstrated to the world that it was possible, after all, to make commercial music without sacrificing the roots of Latin America".
On the review of the
compilation album
A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...
''The Rhythm'', Rosa Yi of the ''
Orlando Sentinel
The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company.
The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune P ...
'' declares that "If there's any rhythm in your body, you will get up and bust a move."
At the 1st Latin Grammy Awards it received nominations for Record of the Year,
Song of the Year and
Best Tropical Song, while Vives was a candidate for
Male Pop Vocal Performance.
The song was also nominated for "
Tropical Song of the Year" at the
13th Lo Nuestro Awards. Vives earned the
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...
award for Pop/Contemporary Song in 2001 for "Fruta Fresca".
In 2003, Brazilian boy band
Br'oZ recorded a cover version of the song in the
Portuguese language
Portuguese ( or, in full, ) is a western Romance language of the Indo-European language family, originating in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It is an official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and ...
under the title "Prometida" for their album ''Popstars''.
The track peaked at number 2 on the Brazilian Airplay Chart.
Track listing
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
See also
*
List of number-one Billboard Hot Latin Tracks of 2000
This is a list containing the ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Tracks
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. Si ...
*
List of number-one Billboard Latin Tropical Airplay of 2000
Tropical Airplay (formerly designated as Hot Tropical/Salsa Tracks) is a record chart, chart published by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine that ranks the top-performing songs (regardless of genre or language) on tropical music, tro ...
*
Billboard Top Latin Songs Year-End Chart
The year-end charts for the Hot Latin Songs chart are published in the last issue of ''Billboard'' magazine every year. Initially, the chart was based on information provided by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, which collected airplay information ...
References
{{authority control
1999 singles
2004 singles
Carlos Vives songs
Spanish-language songs
Song recordings produced by Emilio Estefan
Songs written by Carlos Vives
1999 songs
EMI Latin singles
Song recordings produced by Sebastian Arocha Morton