The merengue of Puerto Rican origin Elvis Crespo presented on Wednesday the music video of his most recent single, “Abracadabra”, which he explained to Efe shows “the same sound” and “the same color” of his worldwide hit “Suavemente”, and that , also, will be included in his next album, “Multitudes”.
The same formula will be expressed in “Abracadabra” in which Crespo wants to include the same pianist and grand piano that was used for “Suavemente” (1997), homonymous song from his first solo album.
“In that sense we wanted to recover that sound and formula”, highlighted Crespo to Efe after the presentation today of the video, recorded in Miami, Florida, and directed by Bobby Viera.
The merengue theme of “Abracadabra” was previously included as a “bonus track” from the digital version of their most recent album, “Suavemente, 20 Aniversario”, which features ten songs, nine of them in rhythm Puerto Rican autochthonous of the full.
Crespo, however, told that several radio programmers were so interested in “Abracadabra”, that this led him to make an album of merengue songs that had the same sound as “Suavemente” and thus not change “the formula” that It led to world stardom.
According to Crespo once told Efe, he went to the recording studio AQ30 at dawn to prepare his first album, which was originally called “Your smile”.
But, everything changed one day in October of 1997, when he took a bath, he began to sing “Softly, kiss me, I want to feel your lips, kissing me again”.
Crespo’s son heard him sing, and while playing video games, he imitated him. At that moment, Crespo knew that the issue would be a success.
On the song that was a worldwide hit, he added that it is “my Mona Lisa”. It was also the only song in Spanish that was heard on the shuttle Discovery in 1999.
A month later that day, Crespo was called to a meeting with Sony managers to prepare the production, but the artist had a surprise: he brought a cassette with the rhythms of two songs, including “Suavemente”, which came out to the market on April 14, 1998.
In the same way, Crespo made history by becoming the first artist of the tropical genre to sell more than one million copies in the United States and more than 4 million worldwide.
Crespo also said that the album “Suavemente”, “has transcended movements and fashions”.
“There are people who do not know that this song is a merengue, and even on May 5 it goes up in sales because they believe it is Mexican and they link it to the Battle of Puebla,” he said.
On the album “Suavemente” there are also other hits, such as “Luna llena” and “Tu sonrisa”.
“That formula had always been there, but I was not using it, the formulas are not changed,” he said.
“The full album will have these colors, it is very current and as a composer, because I am in another stage, living and traveling a lot, on the album my maturity is heard and the essence of success is maintained”, he emphasized.
Thus, “Multitudes” include the themes “Tiburona”, “Imaginarme sin ti”, “El muñecón”, “Remember that”, which he dedicates to his wife, Maribel Vega, and the bachata “Aroma de SofÃa” , in which the Bachata Heightz group collaborates.
For his new album Crespo he will also have a collaboration with his compatriot and Merengue Manny Manuel.
It will be the first time that these two merengueros recorded a song together.
“Manny is the best interpreter of tropical music that this country has, it makes me happy that today we are working together and adding to our legacy,” said Crespo, already with 32 years of career, including several in the early 90’s when he joined the Grupo ManÃa orchestra, with which he recorded three albums: “ExploÃdo el bombazo”, “Dance ManÃa” and “Está de moda”.
Being with Grupo ManÃa, Crespo distinguished himself as a composer of some songs, such as “Linda eh” and “Tu sonrisa”, and for using catchy phrases like “¡Eh la cosa!” and “Pequeño, echa pa ‘acá”, as a way to captivate more his followers, who were the ones who recommended him to take his solo career.
