album rating: ★★★★☆
Genre: Salsa romántica / salsa erótica. Un Nuevo Despertar ('A New Awakening') is a studio album by Puerto Rican salsa singer Lalo Rodríguez (born Ubaldo Rodríguez Santos, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, 16 May 1958 – 2023), released in 1988 on TH-Rodven (catalogue TH-2517). The album was produced by Julio César Delgado and Frank Torres, with arrangements by Ernesto Sánchez, Carlos 'Cuto' Soto and Tommy Villariny. Backing vocals were provided by Nino Segarra, Héctor 'Pichie' Pérez and Lalo Rodríguez himself. Keyboards: Ramón B. Sánchez. Lalo Rodríguez's career had begun in extraordinary circumstances: at the age of sixteen he sang on Eddie Palmieri's landmark 1974 album The Sun of Latin Music — the first Latin recording to win a Grammy Award — and he subsequently worked with Machito on Fireworks (1977). By 1980, Rodríguez had launched his solo career with Simplemente... Lalo (Tierrazo Records), establishing himself as a significant voice in salsa. After an early-1980s period of commercial salsa, he turned to folkloric Puerto Rican styles for the 1985 album El Niño, el Hombre, el Soñador, el Loco. By 1988, returning with Un Nuevo Despertar, he embraced salsa romántica full-time and achieved his greatest commercial success. The album contains eight tracks: 'Ven devórame otra vez', 'Sí, te mentí', 'Voy a escarbar tu cuerpo', 'Te estoy pidiendo', 'Tú ni te piensas', 'Después de hacer el amor', 'Tú iluminas' and 'No te voy a defraudar'. The album represents both the refined romanticism of salsa romántica and the more explicit currents of what was briefly dubbed salsa erótica — a subgenre in which overtly sexual imagery replaced the emotional declarations of conventional romantic salsa. The lead single 'Ven devórame otra vez' ('Come, Devour Me Again'), with lyrics by Dominican songwriter Palmer Hernández, became the album's defining track and one of the most celebrated salsa songs of the era.
Label: TH-Rodven, 1988. Catalogue: TH-2517. Originally released by La Discoteca; the widely distributed version is the TH-Rodven reissue of 1989.
Producers: Julio César Delgado and Frank Torres. Arrangements: Ernesto Sánchez, Carlos 'Cuto' Soto and Tommy Villariny.
Recording studio: Not individually specified in publicly available sources.
Critical reception: Un Nuevo Despertar was praised as a near-definitive statement of the salsa romántica / salsa erótica moment. The Discogs reviewer calls it 'a very romantic production almost to the point of porn' whose lyrics 'were very suggestive but typical of the salsa tune coming out at that time.' The Amazon/AllMusic biography notes that 'Ven devórame otra vez' 'opened the doors for salsa music' in Europe — Spain in particular. Billboard listed the song among its '15 Best Salsa Songs Ever' in 2018.
Commercial success: Un Nuevo Despertar spent more than 67 consecutive weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Tropical/Salsa chart — an extraordinary achievement — and spent more than a year in the salsa Top Ten. It became the first salsa album to be certified Gold and Platinum in Spain. 'Ven devórame otra vez' reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks; 'Sí, te mentí' reached number 12; and 'Voy a escarbar tu cuerpo' reached number 23. The album received the first-ever Premio Lo Nuestro award for Tropical Album of the Year in 1989; 'Ven devórame otra vez' received the Premio Lo Nuestro for Tropical Song of the Year at the same ceremony. Spanish duo Azúcar Moreno covered the lead single in 1990, reaching number 9 on the Hot Latin Tracks. In 2023, Shakira and Jonathan Enrique recorded an excerpt of 'Ven devórame otra vez' for a commercial, demonstrating the song's continuing cultural currency.
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