Dyland y Lenny: My World 2

So, I've had a bit of an off day - my husband woke me up at one o'clock this morning and I thought it was time to get up, so I chugged a glass of water and was about to hop in the shower before I realized that the REAL reason he woke me up was to marvel at the five fully-lit fire trucks, two ambulances, and three cop cars parked in front of our house.  Then, as we watched, dudes with crowbars and oxygen tanks circled our neighbor's house a bunch of times, chatted, and left.  I debated bringing that neighbor a plate of cookies this morning, just to get the story (it's the one neighbor we don't know), but then I discovered that I was far too lazy.  Also, speculation is vastly more fun.  Garage meth lab?  Basement prisoner?  Bondage gone horribly, horribly wrong?  See, all of these things sound better than long-burning candle.

And you know what ELSE sounds better than a long-burning candle?  This album (see what I did there?  ha HA!)!!!  As usual, I don't know these guys from Adam, but they're from Puerto Rico, according to Wikipedia.  And that is virtually all Wikipedia knows about the pair, although Allmusic adds the tidbit that they both planned to play b-ball before they got into music (which my three-year old calls "basekball").  Oh, and YOU'RE NEVER GOING TO BELIEVE THIS, but their first album was called My World (but no "1").

But what about the beats?  One of the best tracks on the album is lead single "Pégate Más", which has a Caribbean party vibe and features tight rhythms and tinny horns accented by touches of EDM, along with a majority of lyrics delivered in a thin-edged sung tone (although a rap breakdown does finally show up towards the end of the tune).  And I'll be the first to admit that "Sin Ti (I Don't Want To Miss A Thing)" featuring Pitbull and Beatriz Luengo made me feel weird inside: not only does it cop the chorus from Aerosmith's Armageddon classic "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" over a synth-driven handclap, but it also uses personal favorite Beatriz Luengo to deliver it (on the off-chance you don't know of her, she's in the Spanish TV show Un Paso Adelante, which I've only seen dubbed in French under the title Un Dos Tres, and which is ALSO one of the best ridiculous dance shows ever made).  Oh, and then there's that Pitbull guy, the shameless EDM build-ups, and the best line on the record - "And I don't want to miss a thing/So come over here little miss thing".  Seriously, that is Wipeout-quality punning.  They should give Pitbull a job.

From my basement collection.  Beatriz is the one pointing at us with a saucy smile.

In general, the beats are slick (you will hear the Luny Tunes shout-outs), the tempos are up, there's a blend of singsong, chorus-friendly vocals and rapping, and the Auto-tuning is subtle enough that it doesn't detract.  And while this album veers waaaaay towards the poppy side of reggaeton, it's also an instant party.  I don't know that it would win over the purists, but for the rest of us, it's one of the most consistently fun reggaeton albums I've listened to.  Also.  Dude.  Beatriz Luengo!!!