Maps of Music

Gloria! (1998)

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

Its biggest commercial success came in Spanish-speaking markets, not the US: the album topped the Spanish Albums chart, while it peaked at only number 23 on the US Billboard 200.

Key places

Recorded at Crescent Moon Studios, Miami (1998)

Recording site The Hit Factory Criteria — The album's recording location is listed as Crescent Moon Studios in Miami. The point shows the city center, not the exact studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Gloria! is the eighth studio album by Cuban-American singer-songwriter Gloria Estefan, released on June 2, 1998, by Epic Records.
• The album was composed entirely of upbeat tracks, making it Estefan's first release to dispense completely with ballads.
• It is a dance and house album and a clear departure from her previous works.

Background

• Dance elements had appeared in earlier recordings, but this was her first album made entirely of upbeat club music.
• Estefan's album is positioned as more heavily influenced by house and club music than her earlier releases.
• The project began as a remix album before being expanded into an entirely new record.
• The album spawned four singles and one promotional single.

Recording

• The record was first conceived as a remix project, then evolved into a full studio album.
• Its track list was built entirely from upbeat material, with no ballads included.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ko.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• 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.

Career

• 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.

Members

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

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Entertainment Weekly: Chuck Eddy called it Estefan's most 'unrelenting' fusion of disco with salsa since 1987, praising its laudable lack of ballads.
• Eddy wrote that the album never quite matches the catchiness of Miami Sound Machine's bubbliest old hits, but he praised tracks such as Lucky Girl and Cuba Libre.
• AllMusic: Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album infectious, marked by percolating disco beats and sunny melodies.
• Erlewine said the record recalls her glory days of the late 1980s with a stronger Latin rhythmic underpinning, and that most songs rank among her best uptempo songs and ballads.
• Los Angeles Times: Elysa Gardner described the album as virtually a nonstop dance party driven by percolating Latin rhythms.
• Gardner highlighted upbeat tracks such as Don't Stop and I Just Wanna Be Happy.
• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote that the album successfully merges Estefan's high-energy urges with today's top dance mix masters.

Records

• US Billboard 200: number 23
• European Albums chart: number 15, inside the top 20
• Top 20 in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Hungary; top 40 in Germany, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands
• Spanish Albums chart: number 1
• Spanish-speaking markets: five-times Platinum certification for shipments of 500,000 units
• Gold in the United States, Canada, and Japan; Platinum in Argentina and Uruguay
• Roughly 50,000 copies sold in Brazil
• Japan Oricon weekly album chart: peak number 17
• Singles: Heaven's What I Feel reached number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording
• Oye reached number 1 on Hot Dance Music/Club Play and Hot Latin Tracks
• Don't Let This Moment End reached number 76 on the Billboard Hot 100

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The physical single of Oye was canceled in the United States, although the song still reached number 1 on several Billboard charts.
• The extended plays Bailando! and Partytime! were released only at Target stores to promote the album, and they contained no tracks from Gloria!.
• The supplementary DVD Don't Stop! earned Estefan a Grammy nomination for Best Video, Long Form.
• Cuba Libre was released as a fourth single in Spain only, while Don't Stop was promoted there.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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