7 is the third English-language and seventh oberall studio album by Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias. It was released on 25 November 2003 in the United States. Following the massive success of his 2001 release Escape, which cemented his status as one of the most prominent and best-selling Latin artists in the global music industry, Iglesias took his sound further into the rock-pop direction he had established with 7. He co-wrote and co-produced every track on the project.
The album received mixed reviews, with critics comparing it negatively with his 2001 album saying it did not live up to the expectations that Escape had created. Commercially, the album failed to match the success of its predecessors. None of its singles cracked the Billboard Hot 100, though lead single "Addicted" peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and second and final single "Not in Love" was a moderated hit in Europe. After this album, Enrique took a three-year break from music business.
In 2001, Iglesias released Escape, his fifth studio and second English-language album, with Interscope Records. Commercially, the album proved to be even more successful than its predecessor, Enrique (1999), selling over 8 million copies worldwide,[2] whil spawning a series of hit singles, including the number-one hit "Hero."[2] For his next English-language project with the label, Iglesias aimed to further develop and expand upon the rock-pop sound established on Escape. The singer co-produced and co-wrote each track on the set.[3] with Jimmy Iovine serving as the album's executive producer alongside Iglesias. Iglesias told the Toronto Sun that he took special care with the songwriting on the album. "I concentrated a lot on the lyrical content of this album and just tried to be as honest as possible. I wanted to write songs that I won't feel silly singing 10 years from now."
"Addicted" was released as the album's lead single on 14 October 2003. Iglesias claimed he wrote the song while on tour in East Germany, on a dismal day, when he was inspired by the gothic Architecture. It was a modest hit on the UK Singles Chart, where it charted within the top twenty, though it failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The Spanish version, titled "Adicto", peaked inside the top ten on the Hot Latin Tracks Chart.
"Not in Love" was released as the album's second and last single on 7 February 2004. The song was written by Iglesias, Paul Barry, Mark Taylor and Fernando Garibay. The album version features Iglesias's vocals only, however, the radio and single mix features an extra verse and chorus performed by Kelis. It peaked at number five on the UK Singles Chart, however, again failed to make the Billboard Hot 100.
AllMusic editor John Bush rated the album four out of five stars and called 7 a "solid pop album from an artist with someone to seduce, if not something to say [...] Given arrangements with teeth, Iglesias responds with a set of solid performances, ones that suit his audience but also offer something to listeners who aren't immediately captivated by the faraway look in his eyes on the cover."[1]Billboard felt that with 7 "Iglesias again delivers catchy hooks and radio-friendly ballads. The question is, will airwaves still embrace him? What would have been an album filled with top 10 hits a few years ago may, unfortunately, fall flat these days. Such tunes as "California Calling," "Break Me Shake Me" and "Free" are reminiscent of previous singles. So, perhaps his lucky streak will continue."[10]
Caroline Sullivan from The Guardian described the album as a "drudgesome old mix of arena rock and Our Tune weepies." She called 7 an "insipid record. If you buy into the idea of sonny-boy as sex god, you'll be in a lather over the innuendo-laden ballad "Addicted," which appears in four different versions. If not, don't bother, unless you've got a soft spot for the drive-time "rock" that fills in the gaps around the ballads."[5] Similarly, Entertainment Weekly's Michael Endelman wrote: "On his third English-language album, Iglesias abandons frothy Latin pop for glossy arena rock, and it proves to be disastrous. There's nothing here that's as undeniably anthemic as the prom-night favorite "Hero," from 2001's Escape. And his breathy, overly emotive vocals are better suited to disco fluff and ballads than to crunchy rockers, leaving listeners with an awkward disc stocked with cliched lyrics and generic melodies."[4]Los Angeles Times critic felt that "unfortunately, this derivative pastiche of that era's rock, new wave and folk-pop, spiced with modern electronic-dance flavors, is about as imaginative as the album title,"[6] while Now's Elizabeth Bromstein found that 7 was "just flat, overproduced pop with dim lyrics like "It's the way you touch me baybay." It's just got no punch."[8]
Although still a commercial success, 7 was considerably less successful than Iglesias' previous English-language albums Enrique (1999) and Escape (2001). In the United States, the album opened and peaked number 31 on the US Billboard 200.[11] By April 2007, it has sold 394,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[12] Elsewhere, 7 reached the top 20 in Australia, Portugal, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.[13] It was eventually certified Platinum in Australia and Canada,[14][15] and reached Gold status in Russia,[16] Switzerland,[17] and the United Kingdom.[18]
[1]
