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Contra la Corriente (song)

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"Contra la Corriente"
CD single of "Contra la Corriente"
CD single
Single by Marc Anthony
from the album Contra la Corriente
Released1998
Studio
  • Altamar Music (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
  • Unique Recording (New York City)
GenreSalsa
Length5:13
LabelRMM
Songwriter(s)Omar Alfanno
Producer(s)
Marc Anthony singles chronology
"No Me Conoces"
(1998) 		"Contra la Corriente"
(1998) 		"I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You"
(1998)

"Contra la Corriente" (transl. "Against the Current") is a song by American singer Marc Anthony from his third studio album of the same name (1997). It was released in 1998 by RMM and served as the album's fifth single. The song was written by Omar Alfanno, with co-production handled by Ángel "Cucco" Peña and Anthony. "Contra la Corriente" is a salsa song, that lyrically recalls a "good love from the past."

"Contra la Corriente" was praised by music critics and was nominated in the category of Tropical Song of the Year at the 11th Annual Lo Nuestro Awards and the 6th Annual Latin Billboard Music Awards in 1999. Commercially, it reached number two on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs in the United States and topped the Tropical Airplay chart where it spent four weeks at this position. Puerto Rican singer Ángel López covered this song as a ballad on his studio album Historias de Amor (2010).

Background and composition

By 1996, Marc Anthony's studio albums, Otra Nota (1993) and Todo a Su Tiempo (1995), both released by RMM, had sold over 600,000 copies combined.[1] Sergio George, who produced both albums, had left RMM to establish his own record label and was working with his own artists.[2] As a result, George was unable to produce Anthony's next record.[3] Puerto Rican musician Angel "Cucco" Peña took up the position as the co-producer for Anthony's third studio album Contra la Corriente (1997).[4][5][3] As Anthony was involved with the production of The Capeman (1998), he recorded in New York and Puerto Rico and took three weeks to complete Contra la Corriente.[6][4]

Omar Alfanno, who composed three tracks on Todo a Su Tiempo,[7] wrote five tracks for Contra la Corriente including the title track.[5] The song begins with an acoustic guitar before transitioning into a "medium-paced salsa rhythm", according to The San Diego Union-Tribune editor Ernesto Portillo, Jr.[8] In the lyrics, Diana Raquel of La Prensa de San Antonio noted that the track "nostalgically evokes the memory of a good love from the past."[9]

Promotion and reception

The title track was released as the fifth single from Contra la Corriente in 1998.[10] A truncated version of the song was released on Anthony's greatest hits album Desde un Principio: From the Beginning (1999), while the original recording was included on the compilation album Éxitos Eternos (2003).[11][12] Anthony delivered a performance of the track prior to the album's release at the Madison Square Garden in New York City on October 18, 1997.[13] He performed the song live at the same venue three years later, which was recorded for the live video album The Concert from Madison Square Garden (2001).[14] In 2010, Puerto Rican singer Ángel López covered "Contra la Corriente" as a ballad for his studio album Historias de Amor, a collection of songs Alfanno had previously composed.[15] López's rendition, along with the rest of the album, were arranged and produced by Alfanno.[16][17]

On the review of Contra la Corriente for La Prensa de San Antonio, Diana Raquel lauded the song's "intense rhythm" and noted that the track has all the elements of a salsa romantica which progresses into a "tasty mambo".[9] Tom Moon of The Philadelphia Inquirer complimented Anthony for adlibbing "in a loose, refreshingly offhand way".[18] A writer for La Prensa listed it as one of Marc Anthony's best 15 songs.[19] "Contra la Corriente" was nominated in the category of Tropical Song of the Year at the 11th Annual Lo Nuestro Awards,[20] as well as "Tropical/Salsa Hot Track of the Year" at the 1999 Latin Billboard Music Awards.[21] It lost both awards to Elvis Crespo's "Suavemente".[21][22] Commercially "Contra la Corriente" reached number two on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs in the US,[23] and topped the Billboard Tropical Airplay chart on the week of November 7, 1998; it remained on the spot for four weeks and became his tenth number one on the chart.[24][25] It ranked number eight on the 1998 Tropical Airplay year-end chart.[26]

Personnel

Credits adapted from the Contra la Corriente liner notes.[27]

Charts

See also

References

  1. ^ Lopetegui, Enrique (May 1, 1996). "Marc Anthony's Putting a Real Kick in His Salsa". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
  2. ^ "Marc Anthony: A Portrait of the Salsero As a Young Man". Saludos Hispanos. 15: 35. 1998. ...but when it came time to do the third album, he dropped off the face of the earth. He simply didn't want to produce my record. He was into other things, his new label with his own artists.
  3. ^ a b Camarena, Ricardo (June 22, 1998). "Marc Anthony a contracorriente: El salsero dice traer 'todos los hierros' para su presentacion del viernes en el Teatro Griego". La Opinión (in Spanish). p. 1D – via ImpreMedia.
  4. ^ a b Lannert, John (December 20, 1997). "RMM Salsa Star Marc Anthony Builds Int'l Career". Billboard. Vol. 109, no. 51. p. 108. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved February 19, 2011.
  5. ^ a b Jenkins, Terry F. "Contra la Corriente – Marc Anthony". AllMusic. Archived from the original on November 20, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  6. ^ Lechner, Ernesto (June 14, 1998). "His Heart Belongs to Salsa". Los Angeles Times. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original on February 5, 2022. Retrieved June 5, 2010. It was a time crunch, I had three weeks to record it. I picked those nine tunes after listening to 1,300 of them, so I knew [they] would work.
  7. ^ "Sony/ATV Publishing: Omar Alfanno" (in Spanish). Sony Music Entertainment. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  8. ^ Portillo, Jr., Ernesto (January 15, 1998). "Album Reviews". The San Diego Union-Tribune. p. 15.
  9. ^ a b Raquel, Diana (December 4, 1997). "Aqui y alla: Marc Anthony...Contra la corriente". La Prensa de San Antonio (in Spanish). p. 24. Este tema evoca nostálgicamente el recuerdo de un buen amor del pasado.
  10. ^ Contra la Corriente (CD Single) (Media notes). Marc Anthony. Spain: RMM. 1997. BT 148CDS.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. ^ Promis, Jose. "Desde un Principio: From the Beginning – Marc Anthony | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Archived from the original on June 18, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
  12. ^ "Éxitos Eternos – Marc Anthony | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Archived from the original on March 1, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  13. ^ Watrous, Peter (October 20, 1997). "Pop Review; Hard-Driving Salsa, With a Sense of Humor Added". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 5, 2022. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
  14. ^ LeVasseur, Andrea. "The Concert from Madison Square Garden (Video/DVD) – Marc Anthony | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Archived from the original on January 3, 2020. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  15. ^ "Historias de Amor – Angel Lopez | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Archived from the original on August 11, 2020. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  16. ^ Cobo, Leila (April 16, 2010). "Songwriter Omar Alfanno Launches Hits Project". Reuters. Archived from the original on April 20, 2021. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  17. ^ Barraza, Yanina (December 4, 2009). "Inicia su gira en Panamá". Crítica (in Spanish). Archived from the original on April 22, 2021. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  18. ^ Moon, Tom (December 21, 1997). "New Recordings". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 95. Retrieved June 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Marc Anthony: Recordemos 15 de sus mejores canciones en el día de su cumpleaños". La Prensa (in Spanish). September 19, 2019. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
  20. ^ "¿Quiénes se llevarán esta noche el Premio Lo Nuestro '99?". Panamá América (in Spanish). May 6, 1999. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
  21. ^ a b Lannert, John (April 24, 1999). "10th Annual Latin Music Conference". Billboard. Vol. 111, no. 17. pp. LM-3. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
  22. ^ "Lo Nuestro – Historia" (in Spanish). Univision. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  23. ^ a b "Marc Anthony Chart History (Hot Latin Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
  24. ^ a b "Marc Anthony Chart History (Tropical Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
  25. ^ "Tropical Airplay: Week of November 7, 1998". Billboard. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  26. ^ a b c "1998: The Year in Music". Billboard. Vol. 109, no. 52. December 26, 1998. p. YE-70, 75. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  27. ^ Anthony, Marc (1997). Contra la Corriente (Media notes). RMM.
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