''Planeta Paulina'' (''Planet Paulina'') is the fourth

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 Mexican singer

Paulina Rubio Paulina Susana Rubio Dosamantes (; born 17 June 1971) is a Mexican singer. Referred to as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Golden Girl" and "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Latin Pop", she first achieved recognition as ...

. It was first released by

EMI Mexico 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 ...

on 22 August 1996 in Mexico and 3 September in United States, and distributed in 22 countries around the world months later. The singer asserted partial creative control over the project, taking the role of co-producer and composer of the material assisted by various musicians and producers, namely K.C. Porter, Rodolfo Castillo, Cesar Lemos, Cesar Valle,

Per Magnusson Per Magnusson (born 30 May 1969) is a Swedish music producer and songwriter. His musical career took off in 1994 as one of the original team members of the now-legendary Cheiron Productions, meeting great international success working with Boyzo ...

and

David Kreuger David Kreuger is a Swedish people, Swedish songwriter and music producer. Career David Kreuger began at Cheiron Studios in the spring of 1993. During the period 1993-1997, he worked with Per Magnusson on several projects. Together, they produce ...

. Influenced by the

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 ...

music, sonically ''Planeta Paulina'' is a departure from Rubio's previous work. The record encompasses a variety of styles from the dance genre, including

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

and

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

. Lyrically, the album's focus is on Rubio's self-discovery as composer, and delves into social issues such as

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

, the

economic crisis An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the p ...

, relationships and emotions. Upon its release, critical and public reception of ''Planeta Paulina'' was positive, but commercially, the album did not meet expected expectations. Four singles were released from the album: "

Siempre Tuya Desde La Raíz "Siempre Tuya Desde La Raíz" (English: ''Open Up Your Heart'') is a song recorded by Mexican singer Paulina Rubio, taken from her forth studio album ''Planeta Paulina'' (1996). It was released as the album's lead single in July 1996, by EMI Latin ...

", "

Solo Por Ti Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...

", "Miedo" (in North America only), and " Enamorada", all of which experienced moderate success.

Background and development

After the great commercial success of her first two hit albums and an attempt to enter the international market with '' El Tiempo Es Oro'', Rubio returned to acting at the end of 1995 in her film debut '' Bésame En La Boca'' and recorded her third Mexican soap opera, ''

Pobre Niña Rica ''Pobre niña rica'' (English title: ''Poor Little Rich Girl'') is a Mexican telenovela produced by Enrique Segoviano for Televisa. The series stars Victoria Ruffo as Consuelo, Ariel López Padilla as Julio and Paulina Rubio as Alma. Plot L ...

'', consolidating her status in the acting world. In May 1996,

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

José Behar José Behar is a Cuban-American music executive. Behar has headed EMI Latin and Univision Music Group. He is known to have signed Selena. José Behar was appointed to run the new Latin division in EMI Records. Univision Music Group in 2001. Hist ...

, then president of

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 ...

, announced that the most important Spanish-speaking artists would gather to sing around the

Atlanta Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. Among them, Rubio would resume her musical career with the song "Será Entre Tú Y Yo", part of the album ''

Voces Unidas ''Voces Unidas'' is a studio album recorded by several famous Latin artists for the 1996 Summer Olympics, Olympic Games "Atlanta 1996", released on May 14, 1996 through EMI Latin. The album was a success, reaching the fifth place in the Billboar ...

'' written and directed by Estefan. That same month, Rubio took the opportunity to talk about the creative process of her fourth studio album and, in turn, unveiled its name, ''Planeta Paulina''. She said: "I want to show that I am not only a pretty face, but I have intelligence, I have prepared myself and now I am studying Art History." On 6 July 1996, ''

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 ...

'' magazine reported that EMI would release the singer's fourth studio album in the coming months, following a contract in which the label would be responsible for regaining her status in Latin America after two "hit albums" and another moderate success. The album would be the first of a contract that provided for the release of three albums with EMI over the course of four years. The album marks Paulina's control in the creative process and was produced by Marco Flores. The first single released was written by Rodolfo Castillo and a single with English versions and remixes of the song "Solo por ti" was planned before the launch of Planeta Paulina.

Composition

Musically, ''Planeta Paulina'' is a departure from Rubio's previous output, being influenced by the techno and Europop dance revolution of the mid-to-late 1990s. Conceived as an ''avant-garde'' pop record, the material encompasses a variety of versatile styles from the dance genre, including

, drum and bass and

. This album represent the transition of Rubio as a "dance diva" complete with a slick collection of electro-tinged club thumpers produced by the singer and Marco Flores. Additionally, selected recordings experiment with futuristic and spatial

sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...

s. Lyrically, the album's central focus is Rubio's passion, love, relationships and emotions. But when venturing as a songwriter, she touches on important social issues in that decade such as

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

and the

Mexican peso crisis The Mexican peso crisis was a currency crisis sparked by the Mexican government's sudden devaluation of the peso against the U.S. dollar in December 1994, which became one of the first international financial crises ignited by capital flight. ...

Singles

*Siempre tuya desde la Raíz: First single of the album, an album of remixes of the song was released, it includes the song in its album version and more 10 remixes, they are: Album Version (04:44); Planet Club Mix (06:48); Planet ·Radio Mix (04:11); Planet ·Dub Mix (06:48); House Club Mix (06:44); House ·Radio Mix (04:10); House ·Dub Mix (06:44); Spanglish Planet Mix (06:47); English Planet Mix (04:16); Spanglish Club Mix (06:42); English ·Club Edit (04:08). A music video of the song was directed by the Mexican director Fernando de Garay in a studio of the United States, most part of the video was made behind a

green screen Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fields to r ...

and it shows cybernetic and universal images. *

: The second single of the album, released in August 1996. A CD single was released and includes the tracks: Version Album (4:14); Mix (7:47); 70's Edit (4:02); Dance Extended Mix (6:39); Mix Edit (3:55); English Version (4:14). A music video directed by Fernando de Garay was released, and also included in the "Planeta Paulina"

Televisa Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April 2021, Televisa and Univision Communications announce ...

special. * Enamorada: Third single of the album. A maxi single of the song was released in Mexico. It includes the track versions: Album Version (3:37); I'm So In Love (Enamorada english version) (3:24); I'm So In Love - Mijangos Classic Mix (7:06); I'm So In Love - Mijangos Classic Edit (4:13). A music video was made, it was filmed in Mexico and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and was directed by Fernando de Garay. The video has a gay theme, in it Paulina discovers that her boyfriend cheats with another man.

Critical reception

While the website

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 ...

rated ''Planeta Paulina'' with two out of five stars, the Mexican press praised the album as "a sensational album, full of feelings and enthusiasm," although with "a more acute voice (from Paulina)." Likewise, the publication highlighted "Solo Por Ti", "Enamorada", "Siempre Tuya desde La Raíz" and "Una Historia Más" as the best songs on the album. Music critic Joey Guerra from

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

highlighted the songs "Miel Y Sal", "Miedo" and "Siempre Tuya desde La Raíz" and he said they are "irresistible for the dance floor". He also mentioned that Rubio "fills the album" with in-depth moments with "Enamorada" and "Una Historia Más". In General he said that 'Planeta Paulina' has "contagious energy that listeners should send to heaven."

Track listing

Personnel

– lead vocals, producer, concept, background vocals *Marco Flores – producer, arranger, director, sequencing, producer *César Sogre — engineer, mixing *

Vladimir Meller Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukr ...

— mastering *Rodolfo Castillo — arranger, sequencing * Ralf Stemman — arranger, sequencing *Wendy Pedersen — mixing *Marcelo Azevedo — arranger, sequencing *Brian Duncan — arranger, sequencing *César Lemos — arranger, sequencing *Luis Montes — arranger, sequencing *Bilta Quintero — mixing *Diego Robledo – photography

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1996 albums EMI Latin albums Paulina Rubio albums