Two years after the smash success of “Despacito,” his Guinness World Record-breaking collaboration with Daddy Yankee, Puerto Rican superstar Luis Fonsi follows through with his ninth full-length (and first since 2014), Vida.
Over the years, Fonsi has advanced the art of the cortavena by suffusing it with elements of rock, dance-pop, R&B, bachata and reggaeton, thus tailoring his own bespoke brand of Latin balladry. With Vida, he taps that superpower to the nth degree.
It’s only fitting that he opens with “Sola,” a lightfooted balada with a reggaeton swing. Fonsi backs up his “Despacito” body talk with the emotional sustenance that some critics were starved for in 2017: “You don’t have to be here alone,” he assures in both English and Spanish versions. “And if you wanna slow down/Then slow down, it’s only los dos.”
On the contrary, Fonsi is far from alone in Vida, and it’s all for the better. Wedged between the sweeping melodrama of his solo tracks are plenty of features, from Ozuna’s honeyed verses in “Imposible” to the multi-lingual dancehall track “Calypso,” co-starring Hackney rap royalty Stefflon Don (and a cameo from Karol G in the remix). Just when Fonsi presents a hard act to follow with his shattering slow jam “Dime Que No Te Iras,” Top 40 pop virtuosa Demi Lovato ramps up the heat (and her own Spanish heritage) with a surprise bilingual performance on the hybrid vallenatón hit, “Échame la Culpa” (“Put the Blame On Me”). She poses a formidable vocal match to Fonsi, whose pipes light up with a firepower unseen in the previous tracks — a King of Hearts in the truest sense, he burns brightest as part of a twosome. And even though he’s hardly one to recede into the background, Fonsi shows that he’s learned that in this business, being a good team player can make for an even greater power player.
| A1 | –Luis Fonsi | Sola | 3:25 |
| A2 | –Luis Fonsi | Apaga La Luz | 3:32 |
| A3 | –Luis Fonsi | Le Pido Al Cielo | 4:08 |
| A4 | –Luis Fonsi Con Ozuna | Imposible | 2:43 |
| B1 | –Luis Fonsi | Poco A Poco | 2:56 |
| B2 | –Luis Fonsi | Dime Que No Te Irás | 4:22 |
| B3 | –Luis Fonsi Con Demi Lovato | Échame La Culpa | 2:53 |
| B4 | –Luis Fonsi | Tanto Para Nada | 3:50 |
| C1 | –Luis Fonsi Con Daddy Yankee | Despacito | 3:48 |
| C2 | –Luis Fonsi | Más Fuerte Que Yo | 3:49 |
| C3 | –Luis Fonsi Con Stefflon Don | Calypso | 3:20 |
| C4 | –Luis Fonsi | Ahà Estas Tú | 3:22 |
| D1 | –Luis Fonsi Con Daddy Yankee Feat. Justin Bieber | Despacito (Remix) | 3:49 |
| D2 | –Luis Fonsi Con Karol G | Calypso (Remix) | 3:03 |
| D3 | –Luis Fonsi | Sola (English Version) | 3:24 |
