Maps of Music

Brazil305 (2020)

Where the lyrics of Brazil305 take you, and where it was really made.

Gloria Estefan re-recorded her own hits with Brazilian rhythms, and only four of the album's 18 tracks are new songs.

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Brazil305: fourteenth studio album by Gloria Estefan, the Cuban-American singer
Twenty-ninth album of her career overall
Released 13 August 2020 by Sony Masterworks
Re-recorded versions of her greatest hits with Brazilian rhythms, especially samba
Lyrics sung in three languages
18 tracks in total: 14 re-recorded hits and four new songs
Lead single 'Cuando Hay Amor'

Produced by Gloria Estefan, Emilio Estefan and Afo Verde
Mastered by Bob Ludwig, a multiple Grammy winner
Samba instrumentation performed by musicians from Bahia, Brazil
Brazilian version of Gonzaguinha's 'O Homem Falou' adapted as 'Un Nuevo Mundo' in Spanish
English version of the same song is 'Only Together'
Carlinhos Brown features on 'Get on Your Feet' and 'Magalenha'
Alexandre Pires took part in the production, playing cavaquinho and banjo

Recorded at Estúdios Quem E Sabe in Bahia, Brazil
Also recorded at Crescent Moon Studios in Miami, the Estefans' own studio
Other credited studios include Ilha Dos Sapos Studios, Stagg Street Studio, Fame's Recording Stage and L & M Music Studio
Mixing took place at Crescent Moon Studios
Track 1 is a newly recorded adaptation of 'Conga'

1	Samba	3:41
2	Un Nuevo Mundo (Spanish adaptation of “O Homem Falou”)	3:50
3	Cuts Both Ways	3:37
4	Cuando Hay Amor	4:01
5	Con los Años Que Me Quedan	4:14
6	Tú y Yo (Here We Are)	4:39
7	Hoy	3:34
8	Ayer	4:47
9	Rhythm Is Gonna Get You	3:46
10	Mi Tierra	4:37
11	Don’t Wanna Lose You	4:16
12	Hasta Siempre	3:55
13	Más Allá	5:07
14	Abriendo Puertas	3:30
15	Get on Your Feet	3:26
16	Here We Are	4:40
17	Only Together (English adaptation of “O Homem Falou”)	3:50
18	Magalenha	3:41

Born Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García in Havana, Cuba, on September 1, 1957; her family fled to Miami in 1959 after the Cuban Revolution.
Began as lead singer of the Miami Latin Boys in 1975, renamed Miami Sound Machine when she and her cousin Mercedes Navarro joined.
Studied psychology at the University of Miami, graduating in 1979.

Miami Sound Machine's 1985 single "Conga" became her signature song; the 1987 album Let It Loose included the Hot 100 No. 1 "Anything for You".
Went solo in 1989 with Cuts Both Ways, which produced the Hot 100 No. 1 "Don't Wanna Lose You".
Suffered a spinal fracture in a tour bus crash near Scranton, Pennsylvania, in March 1990, then recovered fully and returned with Into the Light (1991), whose "Coming Out of the Dark" reached No. 1 on the Hot 100.
Mi Tierra (1993), her first Spanish-language album, won the Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Album; she later won it again for Abriendo Puertas (1995) and won Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album for Alma Caribeña (2000).
Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 and a Kennedy Center Honors in 2017.
Her Broadway jukebox musical On Your Feet! (2015) is based on her life with husband Emilio Estefan.

Emilio Estefan, her husband and longtime producer, co-created much of her catalog.

AllMusic gave the album a positive review
The review said Estefan outdid herself with Brazil305
The review said re-recording her hits let her show the Brazil, Cuba and Africa connection
Quentin Harrison of Albumism rated the album four out of five stars
Harrison noted that covers projects are often not linked to progress, and that Estefan is an exception
He said she used this practice to show her interpretive strengths
He said that on Brazil305 she turned to her own staples and paired them with new investigative ideas, rather than other artists' songs

In the United States, Brazil305 debuted at number 8 on the Billboard Tropical Albums chart
First-week sales were a little over 1,000 album-equivalent units
The album won Best Contemporary Tropical Album at the 22nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards

The Cuando Hay Amor music video was filmed in Salvador, Bahia.
Track 1 is listed as Samba (Conga) and is a newly recorded version of Conga.
'Here We Are' appears twice on the track listing, once at 4:39 and once at 4:40.
'Only Together' is the English adaptation of 'O Homem Falou'.
The album won a Latin Grammy at the 22nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards, though the Portuguese page gives the award year as 2021.