Thalía reunited with superproducer Emilio Estefan, Jr., for
Lunada, a beach-themed album that was released a year after she took some time off to have her first child.
Thalía had worked with Estefan from the mid-'90s through the early 2000s, and the collaboration proved consistently fruitful, resulting in the best albums of her career. While
Lunada unfortunately isn't a return to the glory days of
Amor a la Mexicana (1997), it's an entertaining album with a few great songs.
Lunada is entertaining from a stylistic standpoint above all. Every song but one (the mid-album ballad "Desolvidándote") is upbeat, driven by hard-hitting beats, tropical rhythms, and an energized performance by
Thalía, who sounds happy to be back in the studio after her sabbatical. The lead single, "Ten Paciencia," gets the album off a great start, propelled by a jumpy cumbia rhythm tailor-made for the dancefloor. The next two songs, "Sangre Caliente" and "Será Porque Te Amo," are also highlights, but the remainder of the album is less impressive. Among the more noteworthy remaining songs are "Bendita," a reggae song with motherly lyrics written by
Thalía; "Insensible," a song by
Juan Gabriel; and "Aventurero," a reggaeton-lite collaboration with reggae-pop star
Sean Paul. Some of these latter songs work well, others not so well for one reason or another, but either way, they're entertaining from a stylistic standpoint. In the end,
Lunada is helped by the frontloaded highlights and the short running time (less than 40 minutes). Longtime fans of
Thalía who expect
Lunada to rival her late-'90s output are sure to be disappointed. A closer comparison would be to
Thalía's last album with Estefan (
Thalía, 2002) or her 2005 album with songwriter/producer
Estéfano,
El Sexto Sentido. Like
Lunada, both of these albums were highly produced sessions that yielded a few great songs amid overall mixed results. ~ Jason Birchmeier