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14, not 15 songs, on Thalia CD sold in USSource:
El Norte, July 8, 2003 Virgin Records is selling Thalia 2003 in the United States minus one of the songs which had been advertised as part of the track list everywhere, including at Thalia.com. But although the CD which went on sale in the US on Tuesday contains four songs - "Don't Look Back", "I Want You", "Baby I'm in Love", and "Closer to You" - with their Spanish versions, a 5th song has been deliberately omitted. The version to be sold in the rest of the world will also include "Save the Day" in Spanish. There has been no explanation offered for this decision, which is guaranteed to irritate Thalia’s many fans in the States. It will not be until the end of July when the album is released elsewhere so we can find out what the deleted song sounds like. |
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Source: El
Norte, July 9, 2003
By: Alberto Armendáriz
Photos: MdC-NY / El Norte
TW Correspondent: Tonchi
New York, USA - In the middle of shouts and a tremendous ovation, Thalía was received yesterday in New York, where she presented her first record in English. However, she clarified, she will not stop composing and singing in Spanish.
"I owe everything I am to my latin culture, it is a great pride for me," stated the singer and actress, who emphasized that in her English album five of the 15 songs are in Spanish.
Dressed in a sleeveless top, which was stamped with a black and white photo of the Rolling Stones ("Right now I am going a little bit rocker!", she admitted), Thalía drove the more than 500 fans delirious who had waited since early in the day in the Virgin Megastore in Times Square so that she would sign a copy of the CD for them.
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"She
sings really nice in English. She has a very pretty voice
which makes my heart happy," commented Nancy Molina,
age 30, a New Yorker of Puerto Rican origin who was the
first in the long line. Beside her were the always-present
members of Thalía’s official fan club, who never
got tired of waving Mexican banners and singing the
chorus of one of her latest hits, "Tú y Yo". "The new record is fantastic, and she can be understood very well in English", declared another New Yorker, Andrés Salas, 19 years old, while he jealously guarded his place in the line. Like the majority there, Salas had arrived at 8:00 in the morning, some five hours before the earliest estimate of the star’s arrival. "I’m really thrilled with the reaction of the public, because today is the first day that the material really is in the stores", said Thalía, upon descending on the store escalators. "I have my fans of a lifetime here supporting me and the new people who are joining them fill me with great emotion". |
For this, her first full incursion into the English language market, the young Mexican was accompanied by some of the "greats" of the music industry at this time. On the single promoting the album, "I Want You" -which already is among the 50 most listened-to songs on the US radio stations- Thalía sings a rap duo with the popular Fat Joe. In addition, the record was produced by Cory Rooney (Jennifer Lopez, Destiny's Child), Steve Morales (Enrique Iglesias, Christina Aguilera), and Rick Wake (Celine Dion, Marc Anthony, Anastacia).
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Bestowing
smiles and sexy poses on all sides, Thalía told how she
had some little problems with composing and singing in
English. "It wasn’t difficult, but suddenly as
one is so concentrated on the pronunciation, on the
verbs, on the diction, that suddenly the feelings….arhhh!
How you would like it to be as simple as it comes out of
you in your own language! You have to work a little extra
but in the end the result is sensational", she said. Before marrying impresario Tommy Mottola, she confessed, she spoke English in a phonetic manner. "I only spoke it the way I read it, but now I understand everything that I am saying and now it comes out much more natural", she assured. Despite all the attention that the launching of the record generated, the artist could not avoid having the reporters asking her about the electoral defeat which her sister, Laura Zapata, suffered last Sunday. "It’s my opinion that it is going to push her to continue preparing herself. She is going to prepare to carry off all the votes next year. And she is not just sitting there without any enthusiasm; you should realize that she puts the bullet where she aims. So it’s going to go much better for her", she predicted optimistically. |
After the promotion of Thalia in Miami, New York, New Jersey, and Los Angeles, the singer will take a week of vacation and then on the first days of August she will return to the Big Apple for the launching of her line of clothing, accessories, jewelry, perfumes and creams and articles for the home, which will be realized in association with the K-Mart chain of stores. So this year, at least in the United States, Thalia will be there for a little while.
Source:
billboard.com - July 8, 2003
By: Brian Garrity
TW Correspondent: Luisa
Tommy Mottola and Universal Music Group are teaming on a new label venture that will revive the Casablanca name, Billboard Bulletin has learned. An announcement will be made today (July 8). UMG -- which controls the Casablanca name and catalog -- will apparently fund the joint venture. Mottola, the former chairman/CEO of Sony Music Entertainment, will run the New York-based label. Sources say the agreement between Mottola and UMG is a five-year deal with Universal Motown Records Group providing promotion, marketing, publicity and sales support.
Mottola tells Bulletin that the Casablanca roster will feature all new artists and producers he has been developing over the last four months. The label will not market Casablanca catalog acts, which include Kiss, Donna Summer, the Village People, Parliament and Captain & Tennille. Mottola says there is no link to the previous incarnation of Casablanca -- the infamous disco label founded by Neil Bogart that ran from 1973-84. He says the use of the name was his choice -- a nod to the entrepreneurial spirit of the old label. Signings will be announced in the next three to four weeks with the first singles to be out before September. As many as six albums are expected to be released under the Casablanca name within the next year.
Mottola resigned from Sony at the beginning of January. He most recently served as executive producer of the VH1 series "Born to Diva."
Source:
nytimes.com
By: Jon Pareles -July 12, 2003
TW Correspondent: Luisa
(TW Note: Below is an edited version of the article originally posted in the New York Times website. Parts not pertaining to Thalia have been removed.)
The whir of corporate calculation comes close to drowning out the music on the first album in English by Thalia, a Mexican singer who has been a star in Latin America for a decade. In "What's It Gonna Be Boy" she sings, "I can do this, I can do that," which seems to the strategy.
Plan A is to make her sound like a run-of-the-mill R&B singer with a pinched voice. Apparently because she's a Latina, her first single, a voice-and-rap duo with Fat Joe called "I Want You," has a track akin to Jennifer Lopez's "I'm Real." Plan B is to play to the dance clubs, blipping and filtering her voice in "Don't Look Back" and stretching out a remix of her hit "Dance Dance (The Mexican)" with a house beat and quasi-flamenco guitar. Plan C is to try big Celine Dion buildups, as she does in the cliché collection "Closer to You." Thalia awkwardly dispenses hip-hop slang in "Another Girl" and in "Baby, I'm in Love," which can't decide whether it's hip-hop with pizzicato strings or a power ballad.
To hear what brought her so many fans across Latin America, listeners have to hang in until the second part of "Thalia" (Virgin), when she switches back to singing in Spanish, revealing her old throaty voice. Even "Me Pones Sexy," the bilingual version of "I Want You," has more verve in Spanish. In trying to assimilate, Thalia abandons most of her charm.
Source: amazon.com
- July 7, 2003
By: Joey Guerra
TW Corespondent: Chad
Light R&B
hooks, breathy vocals, guest rappers--it sounds like a recipe for
the latest effort from J-Lo or Ashanti, but those elements make
up the mix on
Mexican diva Thalia's self-titled, English-language debut album.
It's a slickly produced smorgasbord, but there's little of the
personality, energy and growth here that Thalia has exhibited on
her last three Spanish-language studio albums. Instead, the
singer opts for maximum mainstream appeal which, in this case,
includes collaborating with a bevy of hip-pop producers and
songwriters, including Rick Wake (Celine Dion, Anastacia), Cory
Rooney (J-Lo, Destiny's Child) and Cathy Dennis (Kylie Minogue,
Kelly Clarkson).
The first single,
"I Want You," featuring Fat Joe, breezes in and out of
memory almost instantly. The album's six remaining original tunes
are equally anonymous.
Only the yearning ballad "Closer To You" and a remix of
"The Mexican," both repeats from Thalia's 2002 album,
generate any real heat. It's not an
altogether disastrous effort, but that so much of Thalia's own
flavor was lost in the translation is ultimately disappointing.
Source:
Rolling Stone.com - July 7, 2003
By: Barry Walters
TW Correspondent: Luisa
An established superstar in her native Mexico, Thalia -- a singer and soap-opera actress who also happens to be the new wife of Tommy Mottola, the ex-husband of Mariah Carey -- is now setting her sights on gringo America with an album mostly in English. Unfortunately, Thalia's efforts to break the language barrier, make her meek and mute her charms; the four Spanish songs sound more dramatic and nuanced than the English tracks. "Don't Look Back" is a bouncy Kylie Minogue knockoff, but feisty Thalia deserves a better musical translation than this.
Source: New
York Daily News - July 7, 2003
By: Robert Dominguez
Photo: Bedford for News
TW Correspondent: Luisa
Here's a juicy plot Thalia might want to consider if she ever goes back to starring in the Spanish-language soap operas that made her an icon:
Fatherless Mexican girl helps support her family by joining a pop group at 9 and starting a solo singing career at 17. She then becomes an internationally known television actress - who parlays her small-screen fame and sultry beauty into a wildly successful recording career. But her personal life is a shambles - her fiancé dies of cancer (TW Note: Alfredo died of Hepatitis.), her sisters are kidnapped by a crime gang and she suffers a physical breakdown along the way. Of course, there has to be a happy ending. So by the time she's 30, our heroine is happy, healthy, and married to a rich and powerful man.
Except this is no soap opera - it's Thalia's life story.
And now her first English album, "Thalia," hits stores tomorrow - which could make her an even bigger star as the latest Latin crossover sensation. "Everything happens for a reason," says Thalia, who married former Sony Music honcho Tommy Mottola in 2000. "To me, this is an opportunity to start all over again, to be a brand-new artist in this land and just have fun. It's the only thing I want to have - fun. I feel much better now in my personal life. I'm more comfortable, more me," she says. "I know where I want to go, what I want to do, what I want to reach. This was the perfect time [for the album]. It's like, this is me. You like it? Good. You don't? What can I do?"
People seem to be liking it. "I Want You," the first single off "Thalia," was released five weeks ago and has been steadily climbing Billboard's Hot 100 chart. A bouncy duet with Puerto Rican rapper Fat Joe, the song is No. 40 (it was at 52 last week).
"Her crossover will be successful because people love the video and it's attracting fans who probably weren't familiar with her music before," says Sylvia Martinez, editor-in-chief of Latina magazine. "A lot of new people are going to want to know about her."
| There's
not a lot Thalia's old fans don't know about her. She has
been in the public eye since childhood, first as a member
of Din-Din, an all-children pop group, then later as the
star of a Mexico City production of "Grease"
when she was 13. A string of solo pop albums in the early
1990s made her a rising star in Mexico, but it was her
starring roles in several Spanish soap operas, or
telenovelas, beginning with "Maria Mercedes" in
1992, that transformed her into an international
celebrity. Born Ariadne Sodi Miranda in Mexico, Thalia is the youngest of five girls. After her father died when she was 5, her mother warned her, "It is a man's world," which she says explains her drive and ambition. It has also made her want to be "very in control" when it comes to her singing career and other ventures, such as an upcoming apparel and jewelry line for Kmart. "I was born a woman, but I have a man's soul," says Thalia. "You have to be that way when you are a woman in this business." |
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Despite her success, she has had to deal with several highly public crises. Alfredo Diaz Ordaz, Thalia's record producer, mentor and fiancé, died of cancer when she was 22 ( TW Note: Thalia was 20 when Alfredo died while she was filming MariMar) . Five years ago, she collapsed from exhaustion and was laid up for almost a year. "I couldn't move, I couldn't even open my eyes," she says. "I was working, working, working nonstop since I was 9 years old. It was a very serious wakeup call for me that put things in perspective. It made me enjoy life more."
Last year, two older sisters were kidnapped. They were released safely, reportedly after Thalia and Mottola paid $1 million in ransom. "It's difficult to get into that," is all she has to say, other than that the incident made her stronger. "I don't know why, but I have this thing that every time I get depressed or have sad experiences or a frustrating situation, I transform that into something positive," says Thalia. "I have that ability to transform darkness into light. That is how I have been surviving."
Source: Thalia.com
- July 7, 2003
TW Correspondent: Luisa
The time has come...
Thalia makes her debut appearance
on MTV's TRL
@ the Beach House!
Tuesday, July 8th!
1:00-2:00 p.m.
You don't want to
miss this!
so set your timers and mark your calendars...
Source: Thalia.com
- July 7, 2003
TW Correspondent: Luisa
Monday, july 7 (Miami)
visit radio station: Y100
interviews
instore at spec south beach
Tuesday, july 8 (Miami)
visit radio station: power 96 and salsa 98
instore at ritmo latino
Wednesday, july 9
(New York)
visit radio station: wpat and wcaa
instore at virgin megastore, times square
instore at kmart bellville, nj
Thursday, july 10
(Los Angeles)
instore at the wherehouse downey
Friday, july 11 (Los
Angeles)
visit radio station: ktla
instore at tower sunset
Don't miss it!! See you all there!!!
Source: USA
TODAY - July 6, 2003
By Elysa Gardner,
Photo: Eileen Blass
TW Correspondent: Luisa
NEW YORK — Talk about great timing. When Latin music superstar Thalia's self-titled English-language debut arrives Tuesday, it will be less than three weeks since Hispanics were certified the country's largest minority group.
Yeah, and most of them are Mexican!" cheers Thalia, who was born in Mexico City. The petite, exuberant beauty, who is in her early 30s, is accustomed to having fate smile on her. Thalia found fame as a preteen crooner and a soap opera actress before conquering her native country, Puerto Rico, Europe and Asia as a pop star. Three years ago, she married ex-Sony chief Tommy Mottola, who oversaw the ascents of fellow Latinas Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, not to mention former wife Mariah Carey.
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For Thalia,
the current Mrs. Mottola collaborated with noted
tunesmiths on songs that blend rock, R&B and dance
music textures into "the most explosive margarita
you could ever dream of." The bubbly single I
Want You, featuring rapper Fat Joe, already is a
rising hit. "I'm getting comfortable with this
language," says Thalia of her decision to record in
English. "My record company was pushing, too, like,
'You have to do this! We'll support you! Come on!' "
One suspects Thalia didn't need much prodding. A self-confessed
workaholic, she was hospitalized for exhaustion five
years ago. "I took one year off, then started
working like crazy again. But now I have more perspective." Some of that perspective was hard-won. Last September, a Mexican gang seized Thalia's two elder sisters, releasing them unharmed only after a hefty ransom had been paid. Marriage has been a more welcome reality check. Mottola "respects my dreams as an artist," says Thalia. "But when I question him about how I should do this or that, he gives me his precious advice." |
Thalia is now putting her own business savvy to use, with a line of accessories and apparel that Kmart will launch in August. "It will be everything from shoes and hats to jewelry, perfumes, lotions, towels and night tables." The singer designed these items, she says, "to give something to the Latin community in the United States." Of course, Thalia hopes that her collection, like her new CD, will have broader appeal. "I want to be as creative as I can, and cross over to everybody."
Source: thalia.com
- July 3, 2003
TW Correspondent: Luisa & Tonchi
Keeps on climbing spots! This week Thalia's single “I Want You” has climbed from the #26 to the #23 spot on the Billboard Monitor Mainstream Top 40 chart (up over 400 spins!), and from the #18 to the #16 spot on the Billboard Monitor Rhythmic Top 40 chart.
Thanks a lot for your constant support...and remember to keep on calling TRL!!!
Source: Miami
Herald.com / Associated Press - Jul. 02, 2003
By: Nekesa Mumbi Moody
Photo Credit: Jim Cooper
TW Correspondent: Luisa
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NEW YORK
- Thalia, already a star among Latin music and
television fans, is facing one of the biggest challenges
of her career as she tries to transplant her success to
American airwaves. Yet ask the Mexican beauty if she's
nervous about the "crossover" of her English-language
debut, and the 31-year-old singer-actress shrugs with a
smile. "To me, a big crossover was what happened to me years ago, like bringing my music in Spanish in Europe, or Asia. To me, that's a crossover because Spanish is not a language that everybody talks," says Thalia, who first gained fame in her native country at age 9 and is now married to music mogul Tommy Mottola. "It was double or triple the work, so I think that's a crossover," she said. "This is just expanding my music." So far, the expansion plan seems to be working. Thalia, who learned English four years ago, has tapped producers who have crafted hits for Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera and others for her self-titled disc, a mixture of pop, R&B and soft rock. The first song, "I Want You," featuring rapper Fat Joe, is already a growing hit on urban and pop radio. The collaboration, which uses a hook made popular by Fat Joe protege Big Pun on "I'm Not a Player," has drawn comparisons to J. Lo. Even the video is reminiscent of J. Lo's hit "I'm Real." But Thalia is quick to point out that she isn't trying to follow anyone else's career path. "I always focus on myself in what I want, where I want to go, who I want to reach, which message I want to put out, how I want to dress," says Thalia, wearing a casual ensemble of jeans, a black hoodie and a trucker cap. "I don't waste energy thinking, 'What the other girl is doing?'" |
She's had plenty of success following her own instincts. Born Ariadna Thalia Sodi Miranda in Mexico City, she grew up wanting to emulate her older sister, Laura Zapata, who was in Mexican soap operas. But Thalia's first break would come as a singer in an children's pop group, Din-Din. Later, she would reach stardom in her country as part of the teen pop band Timbiriche. But the experience wasn't entirely positive for Thalia.
"They really literally tell us, you have to dress this way, your attitude has to be this one, you have to think that, and you are going to dance this way," she says. "It was like, 'Hold on, what about me, what about what I want to do? So, since then, when I literally said, 'I just want to be me, and I want to just record my first album,' then I had all my control."
In the 1990s, Thalia became a million-selling solo artist with her own discs, and also gained even more fame as a star of several Mexican soap operas. As her star continued to rise, her record company, EMI Latin, began pushing her to make an album in English. But even as other Spanish-language artists became household names in the United States with their English albums - Ricky Martin, Shakira and Enrique Iglesias among them - Thalia felt she wasn't ready, partly because she didn't know English (although she now has a strong accent, it's barely detectable on her album). She also hit a personal milestone: In 2000, she married then-Sony Music Chief Tommy Mottola, who not only was one of music's most powerful executives, but helped launch the English-language careers of several Latin stars, including Martin and Shakira. He was also was once married to his protege, Mariah Carey. When Thalia wed Mottola in a star-studded ceremony, some started comparing Thalia to Carey. But Thalia dismisses the speculation.
"When we met, he was Tommy Mottola, and I was Thalia. He didn't make me, I didn't arrive with a tape in my hand - 'Hey, I'm a singer,'" she said, referring to the well-known story of Carey's discovery by Mottola. "I had eight albums on the market, I had a whole life."
Her album was completed in a little over a year. Thalia was midway through recording the album when her two sisters, Zapata and Ernestina Sodi, were kidnapped in Mexico for $1 million ransom. Both were released, separately, after several weeks. Ransom was paid, although it's not clear who paid or how much. Thalia doesn't like to discuss the kidnapping. "They're dealing with that, and I'm dealing with it," is all she'll say. During the ordeal, she stopped working on the album, unable to focus. "Too much confusion." Yet once the situation was resolved, she was able to come back to the project with a "good vibe" that's reflected in the album's overall mood. "I've always been able to transform happiness and pain and sorrow and tears into positive energy," she says. "And when I went back into the studio, it was like fresh air, and all the songs suddenly became like, positive and nice, and happy and love and life."
With the early success of the album's first single, it seems Thalia may replicate her success among Latin fans. In addition to her album, she will also debut her own line of Kmart clothes, accessories and jewelry in August (she's already had Thalia eyewear and lingerie lines in Latin America). But whether she becomes a breakout star remains to be seen. Latin superstar Paulina Rubio had only a mild response when she made her English-language debut last year.
"You have to appeal to a different group of people with different sensibilities," says Leila Cobo, Latin music editor at Billboard magazine. "Things that can be really appealing for a Latin audience may not be so appealing to a non-Latin audience, but the single is certainly doing well."
Thalia is aware of the challenges - but she's looking forward to them. "I feel like I'm starting all over again, and I'm loving it," she says. "There's nothing more addictive or incredible in life than reinventing yourself, and allow yourself to be different every day."
Source: Quíen
Magazine / Bazaar/ / Kmart print ad - July 3, 2003
TW Correspondents: Luisa & Tonchi
Thalia will receive massive coverage in Hispanic magazines in their June - July issues. Below is just a sampler of what is to come.
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