90 Millas

The album, with 14 brand new tracks, is a tribute to the music of Estefan's native Cuba, following on from her previous Cuban-influenced album, 1993's multi-platinum Mi Tierra. 90 Millas has been described as Estefan's love letter to the people of Cuba, and her beloved country.[1]

Carlos Santana made a guest appearance on the album, which also included several other legends of traditional Latin music such as: Andy García, Jose Feliciano, Cachao, La India, Candido Camero, Sheila E., Johnny Pacheco, Papo Lucca, Sal Cuevas, Giovanni Hidalgo, Arturo Sandoval, Paquito D'Rivera, Nelson Gonzalez, Alfredo “Chocolate” Armenteros, Generoso Jimenez, Luis Enrique, and Orestes Vilato. The Album was produced by Emilio Estefan & Gaitán Bros, and Composed by Emilio Estefan, Gloria Estefan, Ricardo Gaitán & Alberto Gaitán.

The album was released worldwide in September 2007 and the track listing was different in certain countries, the European version and the Limited Edition Package (which was released exclusively in United States and United Kingdom) have two bonus tracks; "Vueltas Da La Vida" and "No Llores" (featuring Wisin & Yandel). The Japanese edition also features "Vueltas Da la Vida" as well as "Al Verte Partir", a track exclusive to this version.

The inclusion of Carlos Santana on the album stirred a controversy among certain Cuban exiles in the U.S. who alleged Santana was sympathetic to the Fidel Castro regime and Che Guevara because he had worn a t-shirt featuring Guevara's image created by Jim Fitzpatrick.[2] Emilio and Gloria Estefan issued a joint statement in March 2007, addressing the controversy:

"For the past 32 years of our career, our position against the Castro regime has been crystal clear . . . we have expressed our disagreement with the Cuban dictatorship and have spoken worldwide of the pain of the Cuban people. We have never nor would we ever collaborate with anyone who supports the Cuban dictatorship or Che Guevara. This should be abundantly clear due to our trajectory".[3]

90 Millas made it to the 2007 Billboard Year-End Charts", and ranked #28 at the Billboard Top Latin Albums, and #4 at the Top Tropical Albums. In April 2008, Estefan was the winner of two Billboard Latin Music Awards beating other artists such as Olga Tañon and Fanny Lú in the race for the "Tropical Album of the Year — Female" and "Tropical Airplay Song of the Year" for "No Llores".

Estefan also received three nominations at the Latin Grammy Awards of 2008, and won for "Best Traditional Tropical Album" and "Best Tropical Song" for "Píntame De Colores" (she was also nominated for "Best Music Video – Long Form", but she lost out to Julieta Venegas's MTV Unplugged video concert). Estefan was also selected as the "Persona Del Año" ("Person of the Year"), the first time this award was given to a female artist.

For the 2008 Billboard Year-End charts, the album ranked at #7 in the Top Tropical Albums, and #59 in the Top Latin Albums. Estefan also ranked seventh as the Top Tropical Albums Artist.[4][5]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[11]
Billboard	favorable[12]
About.com	[13]

Jason Birchmeier from Billboard commented that "ever since Gloria Estefan split from Miami Sound Machine in 1989 to go solo, her best efforts tended to be her Spanish-language ones, and her fourth such album, 90 Millas, is no exception. In fact, it might be her best overall effort—regardless of language—since Mi Tierra (1993), which was her first to be sung entirely in Spanish and an instant, best-selling classic. In a couple ways, 90 Millas is a follow-up to Mi Tierra".[12]

Tijana Illich from about.com said "Gloria Estefan's fourth Spanish-language album is her best, not surprising when you consider the spectacular cast of musicians that join her on this homage to her native Cuba. 90 Millas takes Estefan back to her roots with lots of varied Afro-Cuban rhythms and genres, some pure in form, others mixed with her trademark pop sound. A must have for any fan of modern, Afro-Cuban music".[13]

In the United States, 90 Millas debuted at #25 on the Billboard 200, selling approximately 23,000 copies in its first week.[14] In comparison, Estefan's previous English-language album, Unwrapped (2003), only made it to #39. 90 Millas also became Estefan's third number-one album on Billboard Top Latin Albums and her fourth number-one on the Billboard Top Tropical Albums. It also went into the Top 20 on Billboard's Top Digital Albums. As of July 2011 it has sold 150,000 copies in United States.[15]

The album enjoyed some success in other countries, charting at #1 in The Netherlands (becoming the first number-one album for Estefan since 1988's Anything For You and also the first Spanish language album to reach number-one on the Dutch charts). The album was also a Top 10 hit in Spain and Switzerland, and Top 20 in Italy and Europe overall.

• Standard – 14 tracks album.
• Deluxe Edition – 14 tracks + DVD with the documental "90 Millas" with bonus features such the "No Llores" music video, behind the scenes footage and career retrospective.
• Limited Edition Wal-Mart Exclusive 2-Pack – 14 tracks + 2 bonus tracks, includes the deluxe version of the album with a DVD with the documental "90 Millas" with bonus features such the "No Llores" music video, behind the scenes footage and career retrospective. This set was only sold at Wal-Mart stores.

• List of number-one Billboard Top Latin Albums of 2007
• List of number-one Billboard Tropical Albums from the 2000s

• Gloria Estefan Myspace page
• GloriaEstefanMexico.com