Though the name on the cover art says "Ricky Martin," it is his supporting team that really calls the shots: the writing and production duo of Desmond Child and Robi Rosa (Rosa, like Martin, is a Menudo alum), along with Miami Sound Machine's Emilio Estefan and Jon Secada. That acknowledged, these industry veterans have found a worthy Pied Piper of Salsa in dimpled-chin Martin. Along with more of the high-energy dance-floor numbers that heralded his arrival, he proves here that he has vocal agility to effectively pull off ballads, too.
The disc is a mix of fast and slow numbers, with the infectious dance tunes faring best. The album kicks off with the lively first single "Livin' la Vida Loca," a melting pot of influences that includes surf guitar and ska horns alongside the Latin undercurrents. The sprightly "The Cup of Life," the theme song to the World Cup France '98, is a rallying cry, a celebratory mood lifter. And when Ricky demands "Let me undress your soul" in the rakish "Love You for a Day," the only response is a glazed-eyed "si."
Taking things down a notch, a couple of the ballads are quite satisfying. "She's All I Ever Had" incorporates sitar and bazooki into a refreshing — by modern pop standards — new sound. Then there's the unusual "I Am Made of You," reportedly Martin's favorite track. Swimming with violas, violins, and violoncellos, and grounded by a bittersweet guitar, his singing is impassioned and the song a sleeping giant.
"I Count the Minutes," written by the Grammy-friendly Diane Warren, marks one of the unsavory side effects of becoming successful — collaborating with big names, regardless of the quality of the material. On this lush yet bland power ballad, Martin is reduced to delivering a cliched greeting card: "I count the minutes/ I count the hours/ I count the seconds/ Till you're here by my side again/ And every minute/ Goes on for hours …." Nothing can save the song from its high school journal lyrics, which recall all the worst elements of bland balladeer extraordinaire Richard Marx. At least, with Martin's earnest delivery, the album's one clunker goes down fighting.
Ricky's sure-to-be-scrutinized duet with Madonna, "Be Careful (Cuidado Con Mi Corazon)," is surprising. Expanding her "La Isla Bonita" repertoire, Madonna turns in a warm and subdued performance, deftly moving between Spanish and English. Martin himself seems purposely restrained, thereby demonstrating his sensitive side. Producer William Orbit includes little of the electronica that is his calling card, just a subtle, watery spray of notes at the beginning, then intermittently throughout the song, trickling beneath an inspired Flamenco flourish. It is quietly beautiful.
Overall, Ricky Martin delivers on the implicit promise he made at the Grammys. His pop has a bite, and his ballads — save for the saccharine "I Count the Minutes" — are atypical fare. He's aligned himself with the leaders of the Latin sound, and they've obviously forged a seamless working relationship. His English (or, in the vernacular of the movement, "Spanglish") debut is caliente indeed.
— Kathy Mar (Wall Of Sound)
s any of the billion viewers of this year's Grammy Awards can attest, Ricky Martin's electrifying performance of "The Cup of Life" ("La Copa de la Vida") was the otherwise staid show's lone highlight. With that appearance, the singer effectively broke the Latin music vidrio ("glass") ceiling with a thrust of his pelvis, and captured the attention of the industry's movers and shakers — including the talent-spotting Madonna, who duets with the Latin sensation on this, billed as his English-language debut.