Rebels (album)
Rebels is the fourth studio album by Mexican pop group RBD, released on 19 December 2006. It is their first and only English album. The album contains songs from the group's previous studio albums that were translated into English for the release, as well as new songs that were recorded exclusively for the project. Rebels falls into the genres of Latin pop and pop rock, with dance-pop, reggaeton and R&B stylings, which were new music styles for the group.
To promote the album, only two official singles were released. On 22 September the album's lead single, a cover of the ballad titled "Tu Amor", which was composed by Diane Warren, was released. With the song, the group won the Les Etoiles Cherie award in France for 'International Song of the Year' and a Mi TRL award for 'Best Music Video'. The album's second single was "Wanna Play", which was released only in the United States. The song did not have an accompanying music video. The third and last single to be released from the album was planned to be "Money Money", but the song only managed to be released as a promotional single in Spain on 19 December.
On 21 March 2007 a deluxe edition of the album, titled We Are RBD, was released only in Japan. The deluxe edition included two new cover tracks: "Let the Music Play" and "Gone", which were originally recorded by Shannon and Kelly Clarkson, respectively.
RBD member Christian Chávez mentioned that Rebels would be re-released in late 2007 or early 2008 and that the new version would contain new songs and a collaboration with the Black Eyed Peas on one of the tracks. The group's next single off the album was expected to be featured on this future re-release. Billboard magazine even published that the re-release would happen in early 2008 and it would feature three hip hop-influenced songs. When the group disbanded in 2009, nothing about the re-release was announced, so it is assumed to be canceled.
Album information
On 21 November 2006, RBD released their third Spanish-language studio album, Celestial. Rebels was released as RBD's first English-language album on 19 December 2006, in the United States; the jewel case booklet of previous album Celestial initially announced that the album would come out on 26 December. The album leaked onto the Internet on 9 December. It had Pedro Damián as its executive producer and was recorded in California, New York City and Mexico City.The album contains eight songs which were originally from the group's former Spanish albums that were re-recorded in English:
- "Connected"
- "Keep It Down Low"
- "Save Me"
- "Happy Worst Day"
- "This Is Love"
- "Gone"
- "My Philosophy"
- "I Wanna Be the Rain"
"Connected" was also originally written in English, but its composers were not able to sell it. RBD's label then bought the song in 2004 and adapted it to Spanish for inclusion on the band's debut album. "Connected" has been covered by several different artists, such as Sara Paxton, Katharine McPhee, and Melissa Lyons with Cassidy Ladden, Amy Deasismont, and Suzanne Shaw.
The songs "Happy Worst Day" and "Gone", are covers of Swedish singer Mikeyla and American singer Kelly Clarkson, respectively. The former song was a single from Mikeyla's self-titled debut studio album, and the latter belongs to Clarkson's second studio album Breakaway. The group had previously recorded Spanish versions of the songs for their second studio album, Nuestro Amor. The album achieved a Gold certification in Japan.
The song "Money Money" is a reggaeton song that follows the group's previous release in this genre, "Lento". Both were produced by reggaeton production duo Luny Tunes. Despite the English title, it's the only track on the album that is mainly sung in Spanish.
On 28 November 2008 the album was released in Greece. The Greek edition of the album contained a bonus track featuring Greek pop singer Tamta. The song is titled "Agapw Αγαπώ I Love", and serves as the Greeklish remix of "Wanna Play". Two months later, Tamta made a Greek cover version of RBD's signature song "Rebelde", titled "Pame Parea".
Rebels was the first RBD studio album to not have a Portuguese language version since most of the adapted songs had already been translated in the Brazilian editions of their previous albums.
Promotion
Singles
The album's first single was the cover "Tu Amor", which was released on 22 September 2006. The song was composed by Diane Warren. The single officially debuted on the KISS-FM radio station in Los Angeles, California, after having been leaked on the Internet before its official launch date. The single won the Les Etoiles Cherie FM award in France for 'International Song of the Year', and the Mi TRL Award for 'Best Music Video'. The song's music video was filmed in a beach in Los Angeles and was premiered by MTV Tr3s on 23 October, 2006. Its main vocals are performed solely by Christian Chávez, with the band providing backgroun vocals.The second single, released on 17 December 2006 only in the United States, was "Wanna Play". The song was composed by Andrea Martin and RedOne. The single, however, did not have the promotional support of a music video.
Lastly, the album's third single, "Money Money", was released on 19 December 2006, only in Spain. No music video was released to promote the single.
Live performances
RBD performed live various songs from Rebels on radio and television throughout 2006 and 2007.In the 2006 edition of Walmart Soundcheck, a performance series by Walmart retail chain to promote albums being released, the group performed the album's lead, "Tu Amor", for the first time. On 24 November 2006, after their English interview on Yahoo! Music, they also performed "Tu Amor". In 2007, the group appeared on the US music TV show CD USA, where they also performed "Tu Amor", as well as "My Philosophy", "Wanna Play", "This Is Love", "I Wanna Be the Rain" and "Save Me".
On 28 May 2007, the group was invited by American businessman Donald Trump to appear on the year's biggest beauty pageant, Miss Universe 2007. The event took place on the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City, where the group performed a medley of the songs "Wanna Play", "Cariño Mío", and "Money Money". On 25 July 2007, the group performed their single "Tu Amor" on the acoustic music TV show Confesiones en Concierto on Ritmoson Latino.
Also in 2007, the group participated for a second time on "Walmart Soundcheck". This time, they performed the tracks "Cariño Mío" and "Money Money" to continue the promotion for Rebels, as well as other tracks from their Spanish album Celestial.
Tour
Although the album did not count with an exclusive concert tour to promote it, the album's songs were included in RBD's third worldwide concert tour, the Tour Celestial. The concert tour included performances of the songs "Cariño Mío", "Wanna Play", "Money Money", "I Wanna Be the Rain", and "Tu Amor". The tour visited the United States and Europe, as well as Central and South America. The band also continued to increase their string of successes internationally; the band's visits to Romania and Spain during 2007 surprised the Latin American entertainment industry, while giving the band the opportunity to win over the Spanish music market, one of the most competitive music markets in the world.On June 22, 2007, as a result of their successful performances in Spain as part of the Tour Celestial, in a unique concert in the Vicente Calderón Stadium in Madrid in front of 40,000 people, RBD recorded their third live album and live concert video, where the group displayed their unique material and their command of the stage.
In early October 2007, however, it was announced through Roptus.com that the rest of the tour was postponed until later announcement. The reason given through RBD's website was that the group wanted to give their public a better show by performing songs from their then upcoming album, which would be released on November 20, 2007. With the tour, RBD collected $5,400,000 in ticket sales just in North America, and sold a combined total of 293,742 tickets to their concerts worldwide.
Critical reception
The album received mostly mixed reviews. Jason Birchmeier of AllMusic commented that the album's lead single, "Tu Amor", was "perfect for the project" due to its "simplicity" and "production". He also commented similarly about the tracks "Wanna Play" and "Cariño Mío" due to their "light yet trendy reggaeton production style." However, he ended his review by stating: "Unfortunately, the remainder of the 11 songs are mildly disappointing."Denise Sheppard, editorial reviewer on Amazon.com, went on to describe the album and gave a background commentary on RBD's success, yet stated: "Since most of RBD are TV veterans, it's safe to say that some are perhaps more gifted actors than they are singers. Thankfully, the songwriting is left up to the pros who provide a consistent balance of teen-friendly top-40 pop, largely centered around two topics: love and the loss of love. "Tu Amor" and "My Philosophy" are two examples of straight-up boy-band style love songs with a Latin hue; the group occasionally brings in a somewhat gruff reggaeton sound which is where they shine the brightest. There is admittedly very little that is rebellious about RBD, but their devoted audience clearly loves them just the way they are."
MSN Music critics gave the album a low two-star rating. Jon Pareles of The New York Times published a mixed review, complaining that none of the music is rebellious, and only one song has a Latin beat. He noted that the songs are not written by the group, nor do they play the instruments.