Tengo Un Amor
"Tengo Un Amor" is the debut single by Puerto Rican-American singer and songwriter Toby Love from his self-titled debut studio album. It was released on July 18, 2006 by Sony BMG Norte. A remix version with R.K.M & Ken-Y was also recorded and included on the album. After separating from the bachata group Aventura in 2006, Toby Love set out on his own to record his debut album. The song became a success in the Latin market, reaching number one in the Billboard Latin Rhythm Airplay chart, the top five of both the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks and Billboard Latin Tropical Airplay charts while peaking at number 100 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States.
Background
Toby Love was born and raised in the Bronx, New York to Puerto Rican parents. He has said that he fell in love with the genre of bachata after being exposed to it as a child. He explained that his mother had always listened to that type of music. His mother had remarried to a Dominican and Love was raised around both cultures. He stated that he is a big fan of R&B and found it easy to incorporate it in his music.After spending six years with the bachata group Aventura, first appearing on the album Generation Next at the age of 16, Love embarked on his solo career. He met with Aventura while he was still in a merengue group as a teenager. Living in the same neighborhood as the group, he became close friends with the member Max "Mikey" Santos, who later asked Love to join.
Composition
"Tengo Un Amor" was written by Love with additional composition by Edwin Perez who also handled production for the song. The song was written with Spanglish lyrics combining crunk hip hop with bachata. David Jefferies, while reviewing the parent album, called the song an "incredibly smooth, lush, and glittery ballad" while listing the song as a selected "Allmusic Pick". Love later called "Tengo Un Amor" the "door-opener" for all of his future success.His influential musicians include Michael Jackson, Lauryn Hill, Juan Luis Guerra and Héctor Lavoe, which helped combined the mixture of R&B and bachata found on "Tengo Un Amor". According to Billboard, the original version of the song is a "straightforward bachata song while the remix with R.K.M & Ken-Y, known then as Rakim & Ken-Y provides "urban street cred". The remix also features a verse by R.K.M where he raps to a rhythm of bachata infused with reggaetón, or bachaton.