Baladas en Español (transl.Ballads in Spanish) is a Spanish languagecompilation album by Swedish pop duoRoxette, released on 21 October 1996 by EMI. The compilation was only issued in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking territories. It was a commercial success upon release, peaking in the top ten of several national record charts, and was certified gold or platinum in numerous territories, namely Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Spain. As of 2001, the record sold in excess of 1.2 million copies worldwide.
"Un Día Sin Ti" and "No Sé Si Es Amor" were released as commercial singles, though most songs on the album would go on to receive substantial amounts of airplay on Latin American and Spanish radio. In 2022, a complete collection of the record was released, consisting of all the Spanish language songs recorded by Roxette.[citation needed]
Composition and style
The album consists of twelve of Roxette's ballads and downtempo tracks, translated into Spanish by songwriter Luis Gomez Escolar, of whom very little is known.[1] Escolar's translations have been criticised by both fans and media for being poorly representative of the original English lyrics, as well as for being overly-simplistic and juvenile.[2]
Commercial performance
Baladas en Español was released on 21 October 1996,[3] exclusively in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking territories. However, it was also released in the US by EMI Latin, making it the final Roxette album to be officially issued in the country.[4] The record was preceded by the release of "Un Día Sin Ti" as its lead single, which reached the top ten of Billboard's Latin Pop Songs.[5] The song also charted on the national airplay chart of Spain.[6] Its music video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund.[7] "No Sé Si Es Amor" was released as the album's second and final single in January 1997,[4] peaking at number six in Spain.[6] "Soy una Mujer" was released as a promotional single exclusively in Mexico in July 1997.[4]
The album was a commercial success upon release, and has been certified double platinum in Spain (indicating shipments of over 200,000 units), platinum in Argentina and Brazil (for 60,000 and 250,000 copies, respectively), and gold (100,000 copies) in Mexico. As of 2001, Baladas en Español has sold over 1.2 million copies worldwide,[8] and just over 13,000 copies in the US.[9]
Track listing
All lyrics are written by Per Gessle; lyrics adapted to Spanish by Luis G. Escolar; all music is composed by Gessle, except tracks 1, 7, 11 and 12 by Gessle and Mats MP Persson; track 8 by Marie Fredriksson
^"Digital booklet". Baladas en español (liner notes). Roxette. Stockholm, Sweden: EMI Records. 1996. 7243 8 544142 4.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
