Звукозагруженный: Новый альбом Рики Мартина

Sound Loaded is the sixth studio album by Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin. It was released on November 14, 2000, by Columbia Records. Following the huge success of his first English album, Ricky Martin (1999), Martin returned to the studio to record its follow up English album. He worked with producers Walter Afanasieff, Emilio Estefan, Draco Rosa, and Desmond Child to create the album. Musically, Sound Loaded consists of dance club tracks, pop songs, adult contemporary ballads, and mid tempo Latin numbers. After the album's release, Martin embarked on a North American promotional tour. The album was supported by three singles. The lead single "She Bangs" topped the charts in seven countries and reached the top five in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and several other countries. The second single "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" was re recorded along with American singer Christina Aguilera and became a number one and top five hit around the world. "Loaded" was released as the album's final single and experienced moderate commercial success. Sound Loaded received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who complimented its dance tracks. The album was a commercial success. It debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 with first week sales of 318,000 copies. It also reached the top five in Australia, Canada, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. It has received several certifications, including triple platinum in Canada and double platinum in the United States, and has sold over seven million copies worldwide.

Ricky Martin released his fifth studio album and English language debut, Ricky Martin in 1999, which became his biggest commercial success, debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart and selling over 15 million copies worldwide. To further promote the album, he embarked on the worldwide Livin' la Vida Loca Tour. While the Livin' la Vida Loca Tour had not been concluded yet, Columbia Records asked Martin to return to the studio to record his sixth studio album. He later wrote about the request in Me, his official autobiography: "Now, when I think about it, I realize I should have said no. Definitely no! It was too soon and I was not ready to fully immerse myself in the intense creative work needed to record a new album." He reflected on it as "one of the worst decisions" of his life and "a very serious mistake". In October 2000, Rolling Stone revealed the album's title as Sound Loaded, mentioning that it is an English album set for release on November 14, 2000. During an interview with the CNN, Martin explained the idea behind the album's title:

When I gave my album a name when I started talking to people about Sound Loaded they said, "Is it about computers?" It is about listening to all those different sounds and having the opportunity to exchange ideas with, you know, people from different parts of the world, and just making all these different sounds part of my sound. It's all about educating. It's all about letting people know it doesn't matter what part of the world you are from. It's about feeling good with yourself. It's about trusting your emotions and your instincts things that I talk about in my album. The singer worked on the album with several producers and songwriters, including Walter Afanasieff, Emilio Estefan, Draco Rosa, and Desmond Child, and recorded it in Miami. During an interview with Billboard Martin explained: "It might sound clichéd, but it was my dream team. It was a situation devoid of egos. It was all about creativity. Everyone was open to working toward the same goal, which was to make the best possible record." consisting dance club tracks, pop songs, adult contemporary ballads, and mid tempo Latin numbers. The song's instrumentation features "powerful" percussion, trumpet blasts, and tropical beats. Lyrically, it tells a "tale of a wild woman who may be hard to let go and even harder to hold", which is "a metaphor for the universe". The album also contains a Spanish language version of "She Bangs", which was recorded under the same title. "Come to Me" is a pop love song and ballad, featuring elements of flamenco. It also has a Spanish version titled "Ven A Mí" featuring elements of flamenco and Latin music. "Amor" is a Latin flavored Spanglish salsa and dance club song, with Cuban influences, "The Touch" is a power ballad, "If You Ever Saw Her" is a fusion of pop soul, glam rock, and urban contemporary music. The track was commercially successful, reaching number one in Argentina, Chile, Hong Kong, Italy, South Africa, Sweden, and Uruguay, as well as the top five in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and several other countries. It was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards. The Spanish language version of "She Bangs" reached the summit of the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart. "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" was re recorded along with American singer Christina Aguilera in December 2000. The duet was released to radio stations in the United States, on January 16, 2001, as the second single from the album. The single peaked at number one in Hungary, New Zealand, Romania, Poland, and Croatia, as well as the top five in Italy, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom, among others. It was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards. Both "She Bangs" and "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" reached the top 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and has been certified silver in the UK. The album's final single, "Loaded", was launched on April 17, 2001; it became a top 20 hit in Belgium, Romania, Spain, and the United Kingdom. In the United States, it peaked at number 97 on the Hot 100. Music videos were filmed for both English and Spanish versions of "She Bangs", "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely", "Sólo Quiero Amarte", "Loaded", and "Dame Más". The Spanish language visual for "She Bangs" won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Music Video at the 2nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards, Video of the Year at the 13th Lo Nuestro Awards, and the Best Clip of the Year — Latin at the Billboard Music Video Awards. "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" video won the award for Outstanding Music Video at the 2002 ALMA Awards.

Sound Loaded was released by Columbia Records on November 14, 2000. The Latin American edition of Sound Loaded includes "Sólo Quiero Amarte", while "Are You In It For Love" is not featured. Since Martin re recorded "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" with Aguilera after the album's original release, the duet was added to the album's track list later. The collaboration was not released in a major commercially available single format in the United States, and consumers could purchase the song only with buying the album. Those who had already bought the album could download it from Martin's website for free or mail a sticker from their copy of the album, receiving a free CD with the new version. In all regions, the re issue used the same track list as the original and the duet was added as the second disc.

To further promote Sound Loaded, Martin embarked on a North American promotional tour. The tour began on November 13, 2000, at the Irving Plaza in New York City, and concluded on February 26, 2001, at the Guvernment in Toronto, with five concerts throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada. In addition to his tour, Martin performed singles from Sound Loaded on many television programs and award shows. He performed "She Bangs" at the 2000 Billboard Music Awards, the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards, the 43rd Annual TV Week Logie Awards, the Today Show, Saturday Night Live, Al Fin de Semana, and Otro Rollo. The singer performed "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" at the 28th Annual American Music Awards on January 8, 2001. the ITV's CD:UK, and the 13th Annual World Music Awards. In the same year, Martin also performed "Cambia la Piel" at the Premios de la Música and "Loaded" at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. To promote the album's material in the United Kingdom, he delivered performances of "She Bangs", "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" (with Aguilera), and "Loaded" on the BBC's Top of the Pops in November 2000, January 2001, and July 2001, respectively. In July 2001, Martin performed "She Bangs" and "Loaded" at the Allsång på Skansen, becoming the first "world famous pop artist" ever to perform at the show, while breaking the record of its highest attendance show with drawing an audience of 15,000.

Sound Loaded debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 318,000 copies, according to data compiled by Nielsen SoundScan for the chart dated December 2, 2000, becoming Martin's second top five album on the list. Although the album was released in November, it was ranked among the best selling albums of 2000 in the United States, selling over 1.1 million copies in the country. In December 2000, it was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of over two million copies in the US. Sound Loaded debuted at number three in Australia, on the chart issue dated November 19, 2000.