Ricky Martin

It's kind of hard to believe it's been over six years since Ricky Martin scored huge with "Livin' La Vida Loca." But it's also easy to forget that the song, the smash hit of his first English language LP, was merely one winning track on his fifth solo album, which was merely the next stage following a string of hit albums as the leader of Menudo. Ricky Martin has been around and has experimented with a variety of musical styles. The stings and effects-laden guitar that open up this album reintroduce us to an expansive, rock-focused vocalist who feels perfectly at home in a stadium rock environment. "Going to change in a new direction/Make a move with a new intention," goes the first track's chorus -- a message, perhaps, to listeners who had pegged his music as dance-pop dreck.

Of course, track two turns the beat around, and Martin dives headfirst into straight pop territory for the remainder of the album. But not without several highlights, including a stellar (if too brief) appearance by Amerie in "I Don't Care," a track that also includes a cameo by Fat Joe. Overall, the album is a calculated mixture of smooth dance tracks ("This Is Good"), straight-ahead quasi-rockers ("Till I Get To You"), hip-hop-ish sub-bangers ("I Am"), and sultry ballads ("Stop Time Tonight"), with two Spanish-language tracks thrown in for good measure -- nothing too dangerous, all of it at least decent. For strict pop music, this album is exceptional for the simple fact that there isn't a throwaway track here. The broad variety on this album keeps it continually interesting, and it's designed to offer at least a little appeal to nearly everyone out there. - Cory O'Malley

Ricky Martin fell from grace hard with Sound Loaded, the 2000 sequel to his eponymous 1999 mainstream pop breakthrough and its hit single "Livin' la Vida Loca." Sound Loaded photocopied many of the sounds and styles of Ricky Martin, but it wasn't an exact duplicate: it was dingy, murky, and smudged, lacking the style and flair of the original, as evidenced by "She Bangs," the album's spin on "Livin' la Vida Loca." Following its commercial disappointment, Martin retreated from the spotlight for a brief period, releasing a Spanish album called Almas del Silencio in 2003, returning two years later with Life, his first English-language pop album in five years. On its album cover, Martin tries to strike a harder, tougher pose -- he has stubble on his chin and prominently displays a tattoo on his shoulder -- and that's just one of many different attitudes he tries out on the record. He starts the album with "Til I Get to You," one of the best (and maybe only) Robbie Williams knockoffs to date, segueing quickly into "I Won't Desert You," which is reminiscent of the best of early-'90s Jon Secada, before he hooks up with Scott Storch, producer of Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake, for a bass-heavy dance track, complete with cameos from Fat Joe and Amerie. Martin doesn't stop sampling styles there -- he does a by-the-numbers Diane Warren power ballad, dabbles in reggaeton, brings in most of the Black Eyed Peas for a track. In short, he tries to be a little bit of everything to everybody, which isn't a surprising reaction for a global superstar trying to both recover from a flop and to reintroduce himself after half a decade. Not surprisingly, not all of the styles work -- for instance, on the producer-driven dance songs, he sounds like a bit player on his own album, at once tamed and overwhelmed by the thudding bass and hip-hop beats. But there are as many moments that work here as those that don't and, tellingly, they're all tunes Martin had a hand in writing, including the aforementioned "Til I Get to You" and "I Won't Desert You" and the title track, which suggests that if Martin relaxed and wrote all of his own material, he might have a more consistent record on his hands. But that's not what he did here: he made a big-budget album, filled with cameos and collaborators. It fits his status as an international superstar and it's a livelier, better record than Sound Loaded, but he never once sounds as assured as he did on his 1999 breakthrough -- the difference between that album and this is that everything seemed to come easy for Ricky Martin six years ago. On Life, you can hear him struggle with what he should do and who he should be. Sometimes he struggles and succeeds, which is enough to make it worth a listen -- and it might even score him a hit or two -- but that palpable sense of exertion means this isn't quite the comeback or makeover it was clearly meant to be. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide