After releasing his succesful debut album Fijate Bien (which was nominated for several categories in the last year’s Latin Grammys), Juanes is back with Un Día Normal, a sophomore effort that just tries too hard to sound different from the previous album, and fails in the intent.

The artist

First of all, Juanes is not band, its a soloist. Many people think Juanes is a band, because in Spanish, Juanes is the plural for Juan (John). The truth is, that his artistic name is Juanes because its an abbreviation for Juan Esteban (as the abbreviation for Juan José is Juanjo, and so on).

After this useless bit of information, let me tell you more about the artist:

Juanes appeared out of nowhere in 2000 just to become a hit in all of Latin America with the previously mentioned Fijate Bien, a “Latin Alternative” album that spawned radio hits like Fijate Bien (duh), Podemos Hacernos Daño and Nada. This songs sounded very sincere and reflected an apathetic, pessimistic way of seeing life (Fijate Bien’s lyrics keep on telling someone that [crummy translation]”they’ll come after you, and no one else will care”), something rarely seen in the Latin mainstream.

The album

I liked a lot the previous album’s singles, so I rushed to my favorite music store to buy this cd the day it was released (that is... about 2 weeks ago). When I got home and cranked it into my discman (I prefer it over the stereo), I was very dissappointed. The brutal apathy of the other cd was replaced with naive optimism, reflected in both the lyrics and the music. Don’t get me wrong – I am not the kind of person that only wants to listen to dark or angry lyrics, but Un Día Normal’s mellowness sounded too false and forced to be at least bearable.

The songs

The album kicks off with A Dios le Pido, a nice rhytmic piece that sounds quite reminiscent of the previous album. It is the first single of Un Dia Normal, and its having its fair share of radio airplay, so I had listened to it before I bought the cd. Its a very good song, but if you ever get to listen to it, don’t think it is very representative of this cd.

Then comes the worst song of the cd, Es Por Ti. The lyrics and the music are too damn cheesy to even be listenable, and contrast highly with the first song. I don’t want to sound extrremist, but everything in this sugary love song is just wrong. Juanes had to throw in some cheap rhymes, and the lyrics of the chorus are terrible. Too bad this will probably be the second single.

Un Dia Normal, the track that gives the album its name, its slower than Es Por Ti, but its still much better. The lyrics talk about his ideal rutine, and stuff like that. This one also has a great probability of becoming a single (haven’t you heard that when all the singles come at the beginning the rest of the cd will be filler?).

The folk element that had been absent in this album, makes its first appearance in La Paga. Juane’s voice sounds strange, as it was probably distorted to sound higher. This song its not that bad, but I didn’t really like it nonetheless. Maybe its because I still don’t know if its intended to be funny or serious.

Now comes another super-mellow song, La Unica. In short: its one of those songs that keep on saying how perfect the girl of his dreams is. The lyrics are almost 100% made up of adjectives, which is a big no-no, especially in love songs. The music is not bad, but in my very humble opinion, it was overproduced for being such a short song.

Another folky song: La Luna. Sorry Juanes, but the Moon as a subject for a folk rock song is overused. Again, the lyrics are almost totally made up of adjectives. The song sounds very corny, too... this is another of the weaker points of this song.

Un Día Lejano lifts the album a bit. It is like the sequel of Nada from the debut album, with a slight turn in the tone of the lyrics. Now, instead of saying “all is lost”, Juanes says “maybe... one day everything will be back to normal”. The vocals, and the music are great. This surely will be a single.

Now comes a rehash of A Dios le Pido called Mala Gente. “Mala gente” its a common expression in Latin America to describe people that are subtly evil. The song keeps on telling the girl she is bad, and that she will pay for everything she’s done. The lyrics are very funny, but I don’t want to listen to the same song twice, and it is almost the same as the first one.

Fotografía is not only the most interesting song in this album (mainly because Nelly Furtado sings in it) but is is also the best one. Juanes and Nelly make awesome vocal harmonies. The lyrics are pretty forgettable, but the music is Juanes at his best. The synthethizer reminds me of Nada, but this is song is much jollier and upbeat. I didn’t think Nelly Furtado would sing so well in Spanish, but it may be due to her knowing of Portuguese, which is quite similar.

The three last tracks are little more than weak filler. Desde Que Despierto has a beachy (BEACHY, not BIT... you know) feeling, but it doesn’t have the necessary strenght to be really remarkable. La Historia de Juan (he says) is autobiographical, but not to take literally. The story is quite sad, and flows quite well through the song, but sonically, it doesn’t work... it’s too dull (including the chorus). The music is well, thought.

La Noche is a weak attempt at a Caribbean folk song. Don’t know very well if it merges Samba with Rock, or if any other rhythm is also in the mix. Its quality its not very good, and at this point you’ll probably be tired of that weird distorsion that Juanes’ voice has in the folk songs.

Well, that’s how Un Dia Normal in a song-by-song synopsis.

Just Adding...

Not everything is lost. Juanes is just starting, and has a well established fanbase that will probably like this album. The quality of the production is superb (Gustavo Santaolalla is probably the best producer of Latin rock), and the studio musicians did a good job, but there are two things lacking here: the inspiration, and the energy of Juanes’ previous work.

I won’t recommend this album. If you like A Dios le Pido, download it or something, and then go and buy Fijate Bien. That way you’ll have Juanes at his best.


Recommended: No

Great Music to Play While: Going to Sleep