Thalía
Studio album by Thalía
Released	July 8, 2003
Recorded	2002
Genre	Pop R&B
Length	56:59
Language	English Spanish
Label	Virgin
Producer	Steve Morales Cory Rooney Davy Deluge Martin Harrington Ric Wake Estéfano
Thalía chronology
Hits Remixed (2003) Thalía (2003) Greatest Hits (2004)
Singles from Thalia (English album)
"I Want You/Me Pones Sexy" Released: May 5, 2003 "Baby, I'm in Love/Alguien Real" Released: November 2, 2003

Thalía is the ninth studio album and first English-language album by Mexican singer Thalía. Released on July 8, 2003, by Virgin Records, it represents her first full-length project recorded entirely in English and a significant step in her effort to expand into the global pop market. The album’s production marked her first collaboration with Virgin Records, which also reissued her previous EMI catalog worldwide in support of this new international phase of her career.

The record generated notable attention for its lead single "I Want You", featuring rapper Fat Joe, which achieved commercial success in several countries and became her most successful English-language hit. Despite its strong promotional campaign, Thalía received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its polished production and R&B influences but criticized the album’s reliance on bilingual versions and lack of artistic risk. Commercially, it debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200 and earned Gold certifications in multiple markets.

EMI Music planned a major investment in Thalia's career with her follow-up album Arrasando. In 2000, Jose Behar, president of her record label told to Billboard that Thalia was "completely committed reaching the largest possible audience" and that "an english crossover is part of the ultimate plan for Thalia, but we're not rushing anything, our intention is for things to evolve naturally."^[1]

In 2003 she signed with Virgin Records and released her first album in english. Months later Virgin re-released all of her previous albums produced by EMI Music globally.

Three singles were released: "I Want You" was the first one and also the album's most popular song, peaking at number 21 in the U.S. on Billboard's Hot 100 and number 1 at Brazil's Hot 100. In Australia & Greece the song peaked number 25^[2] and number 29 in Canada. The spanish version of the song peaked number 9 at Hot Latin Songs.^[3]

"Baby, I'm in Love" was the second single, it performed poorly peaking number 20 in Spain, number 45 in Greece.^[4] and number 77 in Romania.^[5] The Boris & Beck Remix peaked number 6 at Billboard's Dance Singles Sales. "Alguien Real" the Spanish version of the song, didn't chart in any country.

"Cerca de Ti" was the third and last single of the album only for Latin America, it peaked at number one on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs.

"Don't Look Back" was remixed on an EP on two variants, the "Norty Cotto" Remixes and the "Jason Nevins" Remixes, later they were fused onto one same album and it did well on Billboard's Dance Music/Club Play Singles peaking at number 9.^[6]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[7]
Entertainment Weekly	C[8]
Rolling Stone	[9]
Vibe	[10]

Thalía received mixed reviews from music critics. Johnny Loftus from AllMusic website wrote that the album "stylization in both sound and sight -- is more marketable than breaking new ground" and that it "is doubly disappointing, since its second half consists mostly of Spanish-language versions of the singles in its first half."^[7] Barry Walters from Rolling Stone magazine gave the album three out of five stars and claimed that "unfortunately, Thalia's efforts to break the language barrier, make her meek and mute her charms".^[9] Neil Drumming from Entertainment Weekly website gave the album a C and called it "unoriginal." He also criticized the fact that half of the songs are in Spanish.^[8] Joey Guerra from Vibe magazine noted that the singer's English-language debut shifts away from her usual vibrant style, offering R&B-influenced tracks like "I Want You" with Fat Joe.^[10] However, according to him the album relies on clichéd songwriting and lacks the confident, fiery energy of her Spanish hits.^[10] Guerra affirmed that the only standout moments come from reworked older material, making it feel like something was lost in translation.^[10]

Thalía achieved a moderate commercial performance. It sold 750,000 copies worldwide in its first three months, according to EMI Brasil.^[11] In Mexico, the album was certified Gold on November 17, 2003, by AMPROFON, denoting sales of over 50,000 units.^[12] As of August 2003, Thalía sold 70,000 copies in the territory.^[13] Elsewhere, the album peaked at number 3 in both Argentina and Greece, and number 27 in Czech Republic.^[14][15][16] The album debuted at the number 11 on the US Billboard 200 chart with 50,000 units sold on its first week,^[17] becoming the highest charting album by any Latin act since Paulina Rubio's Border Girl (2002), which similarly debuted at number 11 with 56,000 copies on July 6, 2002.^[17] Initially, 400,000 units of the album were shipped,^[18] and sold 196,000 copies in the US until July 2005, according to Nielsen Soundscan.^[19] The Japanese release, titled I Want You, was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), denoting shipments of 100,000 units.^[20] After ten weeks at the Oricon charts, in early 2004, actual sales of the album in Japan stand at 200,000 copies.^[21] The album entered at the number 17 at the South Korean international album charts, with over 3,000 copies sold in its first-week.^[22]

Notes

• ^{^[a]} denotes co-producer(s)
• ^{^[b]} denotes additional producer(s)

Sample credits

• "I Want You" contains excperts and elements from the composition "A Little Bit of Love" by Brenda Russell.