Indispensable

Indispensable is the nineteenth studio album by Mexican singer Lucero. The album was released on September 21, 2010 in the United States and Mexico.^[1] It debuted at number 1 on iTunes the same date of its release, it became Lucero's first number 1 album on that list.^[2] The first single from the album, "Dueña de tu Amor" (Eng: Owner of your love), is part of the soundtrack of the #1 telenovela in Univision Soy tu dueña.^[3] This album is considered her comeback after 4 years since her last studio album Quiéreme Tal Como Soy.

History

After 4 years of absence from the music world, Lucero returned with "Indispensable", under record label Siente Music and Universal Music on September 21, 2010.^[4]

In this production, Lucero takes risks and gets a CD in which we find the privacy of their ballads and rhythmic themes very strong, surprising even more in her new facet as a composer and producer.Lucero, who was in the middle of the recordings of the internationally telenovela Soy tu dueña, helped in the composition of the songs included in this long-awaited production, which also co-produced with Cesar Lemos and Ric Wake. The latter is highly sought because of his works with Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and Whitney Houston, and also collaborated in her 2000 studio album Mi Destino.^[5]

Sales and impact

At the time of its sex bomb, Indispensable has received generally mixed reviews from critics; for example critic John Witzgall from Allmusic.com states that "the tracks start off with an intro of highly processed sounds, which are actually sort of appealing. The mixing is also pretty stellar", however he felt that her "production style is simply boring, rather than outright laughable". The songs Esta Vez la Primera Soy Yo, Eres Todo and Ahora Estoy Sin Tí were labeled an "AMG Track Pick". Michael Quaid, En El Show from Mexico, compares her to Dulce María, and he thinks the album is very synthesized and robotic for her voice, and "dangerously juvenile" for a consolidated singer like her, where "she must put her vocal talents in the hands of great composers and leave this kind of rhythms to disposable bushleague artists". The critic Manuel Diaz from El Nuevo Herald stated that "Indispensable is a dizzying musical album with gripping lyrics", where he highlighted that the album is "too young, too disco" for her audience.

At the day of its release, this album was placed on the top of the charts of the best sellers, after the success in sales, Siente Music decided to release a Special Edition of the album on January 25, 2011. Top Ten:

• iTunes (U.S.A. & Mexico)
• Amazon^[9]
• Wal-Mart^[10]
• CD Universe^[11]

The album received favorable reviews, according to People en Español the song "Dueña de tu amor" was chosen between the 3 best comebacks of the year, an honor that shared with Shakira's Loba and Chayanne's Me enamoré de ti;^[12] this song was also considered the third best theme of the year in this magazine, giving a big surprise because of her very young competitors like Anahí and Dulce María.^[13] Yahoo! en Español in its Top Ten of "Famous", "Entertaiment" and "Music" ranked Lucero as the #1 in each category.^[14]

Tracklisting

The album comprises 10 new songs, plus an English version of the song "Indispensable" and the version of "Dueña de tu Amor" for the telenovela.^[15]

Charts

Lucero had not been in any Billboard charts since 12 years ago when she entered with her album Cerca de ti in 1998^[16] (She also charted again in the same year as a featured artist with the song Privilegio de amar^[17]). Lucero made a big entrance debuting in #4 in Billboard Top Latin Albums and #3 in Billboard Latin Pop Albums being these debuts her highest entrances to Billboard ever; also Indispensable is her first album to enter to Billboard 200.