The Mexican crowd pleaser - Fey

Mexican electro-bubblegum queen Fey's story is a sugary tale with a few touches of 'intense dramatism' thrown in for good measure. Born in a privileged environment and brought up since early childhood to be a star by her parents, who were highly involved in the Latin music industry, Fey has experienced the fickleness of fortune (and record companies) more than a few times, and possibly become stronger as a result... Even if she's been forced to remain within the confines of teenage pop in order to maintain her ever changing degree of popularity. This, however, has also helped her to keep a certain perennial freshness to her style that has enabled her to trascend the sways in pop culture trends. Said in less words, Fey's music flooded the airwaves with healthy bursts of cheesy wholesomeness in 1994, and has kept it's every-girl-next-door appeal regardless of what was happening around it.

Gifted with considerable charisma, prettiness and little else, Fey's raspy, half-sung and half-spoken vocals are the very opposite of what one would expect in a teenage star, for they convey everything but sweetness. This, however, didn't keep her from exploding into the mainstream with her début single, the adorable Media Naranja, which was followed by her massively successful self-titled album, which spawned another three hit singles. However, things were going to become even bigger with the release of her second album Tierna La Noche/Sweet Night(1996), as Latin America seemed to be afflicted by an acute case of Feymania that only got worse with the shameless overexposure of the artist: from crisps to lip balms, she endorsed everything and anything imaginable.



This was bound to affect her both personally and professionally, though, and her next album, the absolutely dismal El Color De Los Sueños/The Colour Of Dreams (1998), which was praised for mixing styles in the worst way imaginable, sold only a little less than her previous efforts on the strength of Fey's enormous popularity. In the eyes of her record company and most of the media, this was a sign that her good luck was coming to an end, and rumours started appearing about Fey's inminent disappearance from the charts and the hearts of her public. Of course, no one stopped to think that maybe the fact that the record was utter shit had something to do with the decline of her popularity, but the case is that, at the end of her 1999 tour, Fey announced with discretion that she was retiring... By going everywhere where they would have her and weeping about how terrible success had been for her! Poor little thing! ;-)

After nearly four years away from the spotlight, Fey returned in 2002 with what actually is her best material ever, the truly excellent Vertigo. Released as a double album with versions in Spanish and English (the English CD has rather accomplished extra tracks), the album was meant to launch her internationally and turn her into the next post-maternity, spiritually-liberated Madonna. Sadly, after being promised the moon, the record company got cold feet and simply refused to promote the album, which had an unfairly mediocre reception. Disenchanted, Fey retired and reluctantly came back two years later with her worst material ever, which ironically would propel her to the top of the charts and make her massively popular once again. Her horrid raping of Spanish legendary group Mecano's classics in La Fuerza Del Destino/The Strength Of Fate (2004), and then the careless, tired electro-pop of Faltan Lunas/There Are Not Enough Moons (2006 - the next album review, by the way! :-)) truly attest to the fact that Fey's popularity was built upon good songs in the first place.

But enough of my ramblings! If you want to buy her records, go to Amazon.

Azúcar Amargo/Bitter Sugar

Fey's wondrous greatest hit ever, from the legendary success that was her sophomore album, Tierna La Noche. This paean to heartbreak, which resorts to all sorts of hilarious malapropisms to convey the pains of teenage disillusion, is simply irresistible and arguably her best vocal performance ever, forcing her to go to the top of her range to 'belt' (:-S) the simply perfect chorus. Few pop moments have ever been so perfect, and this truly shows what Fey is capable of doing when given the right material. Video.

Sé Lo Que Vendrá/I Know What Will Come

The first of the only two singles released from her masterpiece Vertigo, this ought to have been a massive hit, but unfortunately both the rave reviews that the album received and the attempts that Fey made to promote it were unfructifeous. A truly superb dance song that, unlike Madonna's efforts, manages to convey a sense of heightened spirituality while being entertaining. A genuinely beautiful song with excellent lyrics (written by Fey herself), this is just delightful. Video.

Media Naranja/My Other Half

Fey's star-making first single, this song has aged surprisingly well, and could have become a hit nowadays as easily as it did in 1994. The impeccably polished production creates a joyful atmosphere while allowing the impossibly pretty (the overabundance of superlatives again! Ugh!) melody to flow naturally along Fey's peculiar vocals. Even though I wouldn't dare to call this a classic, it is indeed a fine pop confection. Video.

Canela/Cinnamon

The requisite ballad of this post comes with one of the few tolerable moments of the album El Color De Los Sueños. This extremely laid back and sweet song has very light touches of folk music, and manages to be one of Fey's most significant highlights by conveying profound sadness and despair without resorting to exaggerate instrumental effects or a dramatic vocal delivery. Truly beautiful. Video.