Thalía and 'Amore Mio' Only Held Down by English-Language Interruptions from Fat Joe and Becky G

Society always celebrates the records that top the Billboard 200 album chart. Back of The Billboards is a Music Times weekly segment that looks at the opposite end: the new record that finished closest to the back of the Billboard 200 for the previous week. We hope to give a fighting chance to the bands you haven't heard of. This week we look at Mexican pop star Thalía and her new album 'Amore Mio.'

Week of 11/28/2014
WHO: Thalía
WHAT: Amore Mio
SPOT: 173

NOTE: This week's last placing new album on the Billboard 200 was listed as Classic Christmas by "Various Artists." However Billboard was unable to provide album art for the collection and-believe it or not-there are many albums with the same title and artist. Therefore we transferred Back of The Billboards to Thalía this week.

Thalía could be considered the Mexican variant of Columbia's superstar native Shakira for several reasons, foremost of which is that neither seems to age. More importantly is that both are at their peaks when seducing listeners in their native language. The difference of course is that Shakira has hooked millions of American fans with her English-language hits. Thalía tried a similar gambit during 2003 with an English version of her 2002 self-titled albums but ultimately reached no. 22 on the Hot 100 with "I Want You/Me Pones Sexy."

The only comparison to be made with that unimpressive release is the guest verse from Fat Joe during "Tranquila" (he also appeared on the aforementioned 2003 single). Thalía is a vocalist that doesn't need lyrics to impress us however: The elegant "Por Lo Que Reste de Vida" and the pumping "Contigo Quiero Estar" have our attention and we can understand the message without a translation.

And, if you really need an English connection, check out "Cerveza en México": It's just a Spanish-language translation of Kenny Chesney's "Beer in Mexico."