The Mexican golden girl - Paulina Rubio

It is impossible to talk about Thalía without mentioning her nemesis, Paulina Rubio. That's why I have written about her immediately after. Enjoy ;-). Allow me to begin by saying that, unlike Thalía, who is infinitely more popular but sells much less, Paulina Rubio is only second to Shakira in the Spanish speaking world when it comes down to sold units of her albums. Which has a lot of merit when you think that she is also one of the most widely disliked and ridiculed celebrities both in Spain and Latin America: someone whose fame is as sustained by her godawful 'singing' as it is by her relationships with washed up (and much older) pseudo-playboys, hitting paparazzi with anything at hand, keeping her fans waiting for hours before she feels in the mood to start singing and infuriating displays of overall imbecility - of which she is incredibly proud. In short, Paulina Rubio is the prototypical unprofessional, childish, rude, narcissistic, foul-mouthed and destructive rock star, but without the talent and no rock songs! Or else, she is a tabloid dream, and a train wreck waiting to happen.

Paulina was born into an extremely wealthy family in 1971. Her father is one of Mexico's most important television and cinema producers and her mother is well known telenovela 'actress', Susana Dosamantes. Educated in the Centro de Educación Artística, which has no prestige whatsoever, Paulina was selected at the age of ten to be part of the horrible group Timbiriche. She would rapidly become one of the group's most prominent members: in fact, she was the first creature out of it to land a stellar role in a massively successful telenovela. Soon enough, though, her alarming lack of talent was made apparent when her particularly atrocious acting was blamed for the debacle that was the soap opera Pobre Niña Rica/Poor Little Rich Girl. Something scary when you think that telenovela actors in general couldn't be any worse. Thus, Paulina received the distinction of being named the shittiest among the awfully bad. Wonderful start to a golden career!



Thus, Pau (as she likes to be called) saw that acting wasn't her thing, and decided to try her hand at (gulp!) croaking... No, I mean cracking... er, burping? Never mind. Unlike Thalía, whose producers and songwriters drew inspiration out of their arses in order to perpetrate her first horrible albums, Paulina did things properly: she hired renowned hit makers, actual producers (not her drug-addicted, 27-year-older boyfriend - that would come later) and shot nice videos. The results are quite nice, to be honest. Her first record La Chica Dorada/The Golden Girl (1992) was a massive success, as were her second and third, which have some really great songs. Sadly, Paulina became comfortable and produced a disastrous fourth album Planeta Paulina (1996), which is utter shit and could be single handedly responsible for the prohibition of house music.

During those years, Paulina had a relationship with the son of renowned architect Ricard Bofill (who is responsible for some of the most expensive hazard-ridden, crumbling buildings in history), and released nothing at all. A union made in drug and alcohol heaven, they provided endless hours of delightful entertainment with her increasingly bizarre displays of arrogance and his scary displays of unpredictable, psychotic behaviour (which gave Paulina a split forehead during a particularly nasty fight with a television crew - aaaawwww, the very stuff of romance!). After much ridicule and no work, Paulina was unceremoniously dumped by her record company, and started looking for a new music contract.



And that's when things began to look up! Becoming part of the Universal rooster, she hooked up with megastar producer Estéfano, who is mostly responsible for the massive success of her album Paulina (2000), which sold four million copies around the world and spawned seven massive hits. She wisely stayed with him, and even though her English language dull-a-thon début is mostly rubbish and her subsequent albums are very fun but have no substance whatsoever, she's kept being massively successful, constantly hitting the top spot of the Latin Billboard chart and every other Latin American country, as well as Spain, where she is massively popular.

Soon after becoming so successful, Paulina dumped Ricard Bofill Jr, started touring the world and made enemies everywhere thanks to her crazy antics (which include spending whole interviews refusing to talk to her interviewer, bopping up and down like a little girl while wiggling her bony behind and shouting incoherently whenever someone asks her something she doesn't like and, of course, publicly insulting Thalía and recalling how they used to punch each other on stage - classy). In fact, her behaviour is so freakingly weird that people have changed her official title, La Chica Dorada, for La Chica Drogada (The Drugged Up Girl), because the stupid cow is either crazy, mentally retarded or has a severe drug problem... If not all three things at once.

Finally, we come to the end of this heap of endless praise upon the great diva of our generation by doing the usual thing: go to buy her albums at Amazon and enjoy the selection, my dears!

Fire (Sexy Dance)

I love this song. In fact, it's my favourite from Paulina. It also happens to be one of the few decent tracks in her 2002 album Border Girl. Technically, this is a remix from a song from her previous album, but while the original had a more tropical feel to it (which didn't suit it at all) this is pure techno bliss. Whispery vocals that follow an almost inexistent melody are followed by distant echoes that delve into the lovely chorus, which is made out of endless layers of voices pressed together. The second chorus is particularly nice, with Paulina 'belting' a gorgeous melody. Wonderful song! Video.

Y Yo Sigo Aquí/And I'm Still Here

The second massive hit for her 2000 return to form, this very strange and cheerful song has one of the most unappealing melodies imaginable, and seems to have been put together from pieces of other far better songs. However, there's something completely irresistible about it. From the strange beginning, in which we hear a car engine along radio static sounds to the thumping beats and sing-along-ish chorus, this is a wonderful song that has nothing of wonderful about it. Maybe that's why it became so successful: it's like nothing anyone would expect. Video.

Ni Una Sola Palabra/Not Even A Single Word

This fast rocky ballad is simply lovely, and has been a huge hit for her latest album Ananda (2006). A delicate heartbreak song about a woman whose desperate efforts cannot rescue her failing relationship, it is simply great. The melody is gorgeous and the chorus is impossibly catchy - if you can avoid singing along to this, you're made of iron. Video.

Algo Tienes/You've Got Something

This infectious, bouncy song was the first single for Paulina's stupidly titled 2004 album Pau-Latina. A self-proclaimed incursion into pop/rock-folk, it is a rather enjoyable collection of pop confections that have as many pretensions of treascendence as they have hooks: many. It's a worthy album, for all the songs are extremely catchy and well-written (so much so, that Paulina can't ruin them in spite of trying very hard). With whispered, almost inexistent verses, a cheerful rise and explosive choruses, this is a summery that that will surely satisfy everyone. Video.

Nieva, Nieva/It's Snowing, It's Snowing

This is my favourite song from Paulina's first years. The first single and hit from her spectacular second album 24 Kilates/24 Karat Gold, this song is simply adorable, and even though it isn't exactly a ballad, it isn't a danceable either. Gracefully lying between both genres, it beautifully glides away with Paulina's croaky belting. Not strangely at for early Paulina, the lyrics are fantastic, and the melody gorgeous. There's not much more tosay about it, so I'll let you all enjoy it.