áFelicidades! (Congratulations) is the fourth studio album and the first Christmas-themed album by the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, released in 1979 by the record label Padosa. It features the Meléndez brothersâÂÂCarlos, ÃÂscar, and RickyâÂÂalong with Fernando Sallaberry and René Farrait. This was the last album to feature Carlos Meléndez, as he reached the group's age limit of 15 in early 1980 and was replaced by Johnny Lozada.
According to author Damarisse MartÃÂnez Ruiz, albums like áFelicidades! served as a vehicle to expand the group into international markets, as evidenced by their appearance on the Spanish television show 300 millones, in 1979.
Among the tracks on the album áFelicidades!, four compositions by Herminio de Jesús stand out. A renowned Puerto Rican songwriter with a deep connection to his country's traditional music, he contributed the following songs: "El chiji navideño", "Naqui quiñaqui", "Arre, caballito", and "Eso es lo mÃÂo". Four of the songs are credited as "D. R.", an abbreviation of Derechos Reservados, which typically indicates that the works are traditional or of public domain origin, with no specific composer officially credited. These songs are: "Ensillando mi caballo", "Noche de paz", "A la banda de allá", and "Plena borinqueña". "Noche de paz" is the Spanish-language version of the well-known Christmas carol "Silent Night", originally written in German as "Stille Nacht" in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber (music) and Joseph Mohr (lyrics). "Plena borinqueña", as the title suggests, draws from the plena genreâÂÂan Afro-Puerto Rican musical tradition used historically for storytelling and social commentaryâÂÂhighlighting the album's cultural roots.
To promote the album, the group performed on television programs. On 31 December 1979, they performed four songs from the album on the Spanish show 300 millones, broadcast on TVE1 in Spain, and transmitted via satellite to all member stations of the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) in Hispanic America and the United States, which aired it in their countries.
The album was not released in its entirety in the United States, but in 1983, the record label Profono included six of its ten tracks on a compilation titled Feliz Navidad â Con 14 ÃÂxitos Navideños that also featured the group's second Christmas album, Es Navidad (1980), in full. This compilation was commercially successful, appearing on the Latin albums chart in Billboard magazine. The remaining four tracks from áFelicidades! were not included in any other Menudo releases.
In her book Menudo: El Reencuentro con la Verdad, author Damarisse MartÃÂnez Ruiz provides a critical analysis of the album áFelicidades! and Menudo's other early works. She argues that these productions were not distinguished by their musical quality, instead featuring simplistic and underdeveloped content. Ruiz reveals that to compensate for the group's vocal limitations, the choruses were often enhanced by professional backup singers and vocal coach Marilyn PagánâÂÂa practice that underscored the prioritization of image over artistic authenticity. However, Ruiz acknowledges the strategic role these albums played in Menudo's trajectory. Though the songs were considered saccharine and repetitive, they were deliberately crafted with catchy choruses and youthful themes, targeting a teenage audience that had been largely overlooked by the music industry at the time.
Credits adapted from the liner notes of áFelicidades!.