En éxtasis (English: In ecstasy) is the fourth studio album by Mexican singer ThalÃÂa, released on 12 September 1995, by EMI Latin. The album became a huge success in Latin America and other countries. It marked her first release under EMI and her first international launch beyond Mexico and the United States.
The album produced five singles. The lead single, "Piel Morena" was a success in Latin America and the US Latin-market and is recognized as one of her signature songs. "MarÃÂa la del Barrio" gained popularity as the theme song of the Mexican telenovela of the same name, which starred ThalÃÂa.
En éxtasis was nominated for Pop Album of the Year at the 1996 Lo Nuestro Awards. It received multiple certifications, is credited with solidifying ThalÃÂa's music career, and sold around two million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling Latin albums of all time.
After signing a multimillion-dollar contract in 1994 with the company EMI, ThalÃÂa joined Emilio Estefan and other producers like Oscar Lopez and Kike Santander to record the material in Miami and New York.
According to Estefan, the first time he saw Thalia was at an edition of the Acapulco Festival in which "he predicted that he would collaborate with her once". Finally, when ThalÃÂa was in Miami in 1994 to promote one of her soap operas Estefan called her by phone to say, "Hey, life brought us together again [...] Gloria and me saw Marimar every night and I have a perfect song for you [come to our studio]". After that, the performer went to the famous Crescent Moon Studios to record some tracks for the album. She confessed that she "felt like the chosen one" since Estefan called her and that after hearing "Piel Morena" she commented that "it was exactly her style".
The album was released on 12 September 1995; it is characterized by including several Latin American genres, such as Latin pop, cumbia and salsa. According to ThalÃÂa, En éxtasis is "an intimate moment in which I wanted to mold my feelings on a sheet. [..] They are extreme emotions and situations that are lived in moments of love [and]" in ecstasy".
The number of songs included in En éxtasis was not the same in all the countries where it was released. This is due to the fact that, at the same time the album was being released, ThalÃÂa's most successful telenovela, MarÃÂa la del Barrio ("Mary from the Block"), was being broadcast in all Latin America. Even though this contributed to expand ThalÃÂa's popularity throughout the Continent, it also made different people enjoy different songs. For example, the Brazilian version of the album features, as bonus tracks, a remixed version of the songs "Amándote" ("Loving you") and "Gracias a Dios" ("Thanks God"), and the soundtrack from "MarÃÂa la del Barrio" ("Mary from the block"). However, this version does not include the song "Juana". On the other hand, the Argentinean version of the album features, as a bonus track, only a remixed version of "Piel Morena".
En éxtasis was produced by the Chilean producer Oscar Lopez, except for the songs "Piel Morena" and "Me Faltas Tú", which were produced by Emilio Estefan and Kike Santander.
The album includes several cover songs:
ThalÃÂa also co-wrote "Lágrimas".
A promotional tour was announced in mid 1995, to start on November that year and finish in February 1996 thorough South America, Spain and the United States. Album's promotion coincided with the promotion of her telenovela, MarÃÂa la del Barrio. Aside her native country, Mexico, ThalÃÂa visited countries such as Brazil to promote the album. She planned to visit Los Angeles' convention "Radio y Música" but the presentation was cancelled.
Promotional singles:
In Argentina, "Gracias a Dios" was the soundtrack of the soap opera "MarÃÂa la del Barrio" ("Mary from the block"), starring ThalÃÂa, instead of the song with which it was originally released in Mexico (and which also became a hit).
The album received mixed to favorable reviews. Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic gave the album three out of five stars and wrote that "En Extasis is the first album where ThalÃÂa gets to sing well-written songs over lively productions" and that "there's some passable material interspersing these standout songs, but for the most part, ThalÃÂa gets first-rate songs to sing here and consequently she'd never sounded as good as she does here", he conclude that the album "doesn't neatly fit into any one category such as banda or Latin pop. It's dynamic music propelled with bits of cumbia, bits of pop, bits of salsa, bits of banda -- a bit of most everything great about Latin music, in fact." In his review for Amazon Joey Guerra said that "there are a few limp moments on En Extasis, but Thalia is clearly coming into her own as a singer" he also praised the songs "Piel Morena", "Amandote" and "Gracias a Dios", being the first one his favorite song of the album. Colombian newspaper El Tiempo said that only two tracks of the album are good, "Piel Morena" and "Me faltas tú" "thanks to their lyrics, and especially their catchy rhythms, much like the style of Colombian Kike Santander, the author of these songs".
En éxtasis gave ThalÃÂa multiple gold and platinum records. She received various of these certifications in an only day in 1997, during the inauguration of EMI's Miami office. The event received coverage of over 15 different TV channels and music directors from various countries. The album sold a half million copies worldwide up to July 1996. According to Billboard, it became a "multimillion seller" record. Worldwide estimated sales stand at 2 million as of 1997.
In the United States, En éxtasis failed to chart on the Billboard 200. However, it reached number 7 on the Billboards Latin Pop Albums and number 13 on the Top Latin Albums. It was certified Double Platinum (Latin) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), recognizing 200,000 shipments within the country. In ThalÃÂa's home country, Mexico, the album sold between 220,000 and 500,000 copies. In Europe, En éxtasis became a top ten in Greece and Hungary.
Across South America, the album achieved commercial success. In Argentina, the record became the second best-selling album of 1996 by EMI Music, with over 100,000 units sold that year. En éxtasis also made ThalÃÂa the first Mexican female artist to have a Double Platinum award in the territory. In Brazil, the record sold 30,000 units in its first 15 days, and was certified Gold by the Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos (ABPD) on 1997, denoting sales of 100,000 units. This led ThalÃÂa to became the first Mexican female solo artist to receive a Gold certification in the country, a feat that would not be matched for 12 years until the release of AnahÃÂ's album Mi Delirio (2009). Actual sales in Brazil stand at between 150,000 and 190,000 units, according to Billboard (1997) and Jornal do Commercio (1998), respectively. ThalÃÂa also became the biggest-selling Mexican female act in Brazil. Elsewhere, the album reached the number one in Paraguay.
A special edition, titled Bailando en éxtasis (Dancing in Ecstasy) was released in 1996 by EMI, which contained only the remixed versions of most popular's album track list, and a karaoke version of "Piel Morena". It was a limited edition, not available in Latin American countries such as Argentina, for instance.
En éxtasis has been noted as the album that launched and boosted ThalÃÂa's international music career. According to Manila Standard, Marimar and En éxtasis "has managed in so short a time to endear herself to the Filipino public". In 1995, publication Vista called ThalÃÂa the most popular hispanic artist by that moment. In 2001, Billboard commented, a string of successful albums, notably En éxtasis, have defined her musically and established her as a force to be reckoned with in the Latin market. Similarly, author of Juglares hispanoamericanos: datos breves de autores (2005), wrote that En éxtasis was the confirmation of her talent.
In 2002, "Piel Morena" won the poll of the best all-time Spanish song in the United States by Univision.