Gloria Estefans new album 'MISS LITTLE HAVANA" hits stores on Sept 27th.

Album will be available exclusely at Target and iTunes.

2 of the albums lead singles are on iTunes now 'WEPA" and the albums titel track "LITTLE MISS HAVANA" which was released today!.. Very 80s inspired.

I can't wait to hear the tunes she and Pharrell put together for the project.

[Edited 9/8/11 13:19pm]

Hope she goes on talk shows, but not The Talk. That sucks now! She's on Chelsea Lately tonight.

I like "Wepa" and I love "Little Miss Havana" (What I heard of it anyway). Looking forward to Gloria's new album!

Gloria Estefan on the set of her latest music video shoot. She talks about her new CD, Miss Little Havana, available exclusively at Target.

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The official album coverart.

G doing freestyle.

Hope she performs Miss Little Havana on

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Gloria Estefan Talks Miss Little Havana Album

September 27, 2011

Link

After a four year hiatus, Gloria Estefan returns with her English -- or "Spanglish" as she calls it -- album, Miss Little Havana.

Estefan delved into her 14th studio album differently than her previous projects, recruiting Pharrell Williams as executive producer. Pharrell came to Estefan with the titled track, "Miss Little Havana," which he'd written specifically for her.

Before either of them knew it, Estefan and Pharrell had wrapped up a naughty but nice dance album. "I gotta tell you this is one of the most fun projects I've ever done," Estefan told Billboard.com "Pharrell and I really clicked. We captured a lot of raw emotion. We got a really good gamut of what we considered different kinds of dance music from Pharrell's world and from mine."

Estefan sat down with Billboard.com to discuss all 13 songs on the album.

The legendary singer discussed the powerful Latin vibes through out the album and the chemistry in the studio.

1. "Miss Little Havana" "It's kind of 80s freestyle mixed with Pharrell's urban sensibilities brought to present day."

2. "Can't Believe" "There's very little bass on the whole record. Usually it's the 808s that are carrying the low end. So this song does have a bass that comes in that takes the song into overdrive."

3. "Heat" "I love 'Heat'! Pharrell arranged and performed the first nine tracks on the record. He had done amazing arrangements of percussion but I really wanted to bring real percussion to the project. We've got the timbales and the congas just kind of battling it out."

4. "Wepa" "It's about how the working man and how anybody have a great time with music and dance… I wanted to give it a very carnival, festival feeling, the type you hear in street parties in Brazil and Cuba, that people would go down the streets dancing to, just a crazy Caribbean feel to it."

5. "Say Ay" "The horns are actually carrying the bulk of the harmonic background of this record which I find really cool and different."

6. "So Good" "This is a straight up Cumbia directly from Colombia. We used the actual drums, and also the drums that are used in typical Cumbia. In a nutshell, this is about Pharrell, horns and drums.

7. "Right Away" "This was my kids' favorite song. Something about it speaks to them, it's kind of reminiscent of old 70s disco, it's got the wawa guitar that we put in. Goes from very sweet to nasty, and I love that."

8. "Make Me Say Yes" "'Make Me Say Yes' is reminiscent of early 90s techno pop. I love this because it's got a lot of layered vocals on it, very different sound from the rest of the record; it's one of my favorites from the get go."

9. "Time is Ticking Away" "I wanted to have at least one ballad for my fans because this has been who I am throughout my career. It's literally talking about my memories growing up in Miami."

10. "Hotel Nacional" "We wanted a very woody, old fashioned sound, cause its jitterbuggy this song. It's got clarinets, it's got saxes, and a whole different vibe-it just sounds like you could be in the 20s but with hardcore dance."

11. "On" "We wanted it to be very world African sounding. My little girl is shredding on the guitar, all the guitar is Emily playing the solos - she added this very cool, rock edgy solo to this African sounding beat."

12. "Make My Heart Go" "The brass section is killer. You could strip out the dance part and it is a straight up Merengue from Santo Domingo but it's got this really hard edge."

13. "Medicine" "To me, music has always been medicine. Music, dance, those things that unite us as human beings."

x 1000000000000000

1. "Miss Little Havana"
2. "I Can't Believe"
3. "Heat"
4. "Wepa"
5. "Say Ay"
6. "So Good"
7. "Right Away"
8. "Make Me Say Yes"
9. "Time Is Ticking"
10. "Hotel Nacional"
11. "On" (Deluxe Edition)
12. "Make My Heart Go"
13. "Medicine" (Deluxe Edition)
14. "Lets Get Loud" (Deluxe Edition)
15. "Wepa" featuring Pitbull (Deluxe Edition)

In addition to the tracks above, the Deluxe Edition from Target will feature downloadable content including a 25th anniversary remix of the 1985 single "Conga."

Available at Target stores (today!) for a mere $10.00

Going to get my copy this afternoon.

Kinda excited about Ms. Estefan new stuff. Look forward to hearing what she and Pharrell cooked up together, along with her husband.

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE

THIS ALBUM

Identity said:

11. "On" "We wanted it to be very world African sounding. My little girl is shredding on the guitar, all the guitar is Emily playing the solos - she added this very cool, rock edgy solo to this African sounding beat."

^^^ and she's NOT lying about her daughter shredding on guitar!!

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Gloria's 16 year-old daughter Emily rocking out on guitar. Dig it!

Gloria is back and "Wepa" is doing well on the dance charts. It was #4 last week.

I wanna hear Gloria's version of "Let's Get Loud", as it's the original version. The story is that she wrote and recorded it years ago but didn't think it fit on her album at the time. Lucky Jennifer Lopez happened to be in the studio that day as well, and loved it so Gloria gave it to her.

WEPA #1 BILLBOARD DANCE !!!!

The disappointing news is that the first-week sales are projected at 17-20,000. Hopefully, the album will have staying power.

I been looking for a good modern day latin funk album..... I will check this out.

[Edited 10/3/11 15:41pm]

Identity said:

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Gloria's 16 year-old daughter Emily rocking out on guitar. Dig it!

OMG! Emily is a total doppelganger of Gloria!

SEANMAN said:

OMG! Emily is a total doppelganger of Gloria!

http://soulbounce.com/sou...e_time.php

Gloria Estefan's 'Miss Li...l The Time

Ms. Krista | 10/27/2011 at 2:00 PM

Gloria Estefan's Miss Little Havana is a fun, sweet-but-street album that I challenge anybody not to get up and dance to. One thing I've always respected Gloria for is how she embraces all of Cuban music, specifically the African components. I'll never forget on the liner notes of her first Spanish-language album, Mi Tierra, how many times she stressed that this was Afro-Cuban music. So it should be no surprise that she used Pharrell Williams to produce the first nine tracks on MLH. However, this is not a "Neptunes featuring Gloria Estefan" album. Pharrell really stays true to the genre and the results are que bueno.

I would separate this record into two distinct parts: the tracks Pharrell produced and the tracks Pharrell didn't produce. The former bring you into the groove, keep you there, and make you never want to leave. The instrumentation is used wisely and never overdone in any one place. And the beat and bass are bangin. The non-Pharell tracks are kind of, well, all over the place.

The album opens with the Latin freestyle-flavored title track, "Little Miss Havana." (If you aren't familiar with freestyle music, check out George Lamonde or TKA.) The beat really swings, and is punctuated with just enough bells and horns to start the party. Gloria tells us all we need to know about the album's theme when she sings that Miss Little Havana is "17 with a body just like a model/I heard that she was in that superstar cabana/dancing as if she just hit the lotto." It sets the tone for the (loosely-based) theme of the album -- a cautionary tale for the Miss Little Havana's of the world trying to live too fast.

"I Can't Believe" picks up right where the title track leaves off, lyrically and musically. Pharrell leaves this one lean and mean, using only congas, cowbells, timbales, and a mixed-down piano for Gloria's voice to ride. He only brings the trombones and trumpets in for the bridge. This one has a mid-tempo salsa beat, and reminded me of a lighter version of Tony Touch's "Dimelo."

By the time we get to the salsa-funky "Heat," the party is full swing. Here, I love how Gloria's staccato phrasing on the hook makes each word a part of the rhythm "As-you're-dan-cing-you-look-down-and-sa-vor-your-bo-dy" rolls off like it's played on the congas. What sounds like an accordion provides the bass line, and hand claps blanket the conga and timbale rhythm. Here, as in several tracks, the lyrics are in Spanish and English, with Gloria paying homage to Buena Vista Social Club's classic "Candela" when she sings "Come on Candela/tonight you're sueño"

The first single off Miss Little Havana is entitled "Wepa." Let me warn you right now: I clocked this cut at 140 beats per minute. It is merengue with a double Café Cubano, so pace yourself dancing to it. You'll get caught up chanting the festive chorus "Hey hey hey hey! Wepa! Wepa!" and think you can hang. Have your oxygen nearby, though, because you'll be doubled over trying to catch your breath by the second verse. This is arguably the most street of all the tracks, with the shakers, trombone blasts, electronic drums, and rasta dub synth riffs. You could easily imagine a crowd on Ocean Drive in South Beach having a spontaneous merengue party to this song. Thankfully, you get time to catch your breath when the album downshifts to two smooth sambas: "Say Ay" and "So Good." "Say Ay" adds to the passion by trading lyrics in Spanish and English over its throbbing bass line. "So Good" is done in a more rustic style, blending acoustic guitars, shakers, and rim shots into a stripped down rhythm and dialing up the bass trombones.

After track nine, MLH uses several different producers. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, nor am I saying the latter tracks are bad because they aren't. What happens, though, is the album loses its originality by applying the current David Guetta/Dr. Luke techno sound and forgetting the tradition from the first half.

With "Hotel Nacional," I love how the producer Motiff reinterprets the big-band sound loops that were used in house music in the late '80s. Had I not heard the first few songs, I would feel differently, but to go from such a fine assembly of Afro-Cuban music on the same album to this is too big a step off the curb. We hear what sounds like a techno merengue with the song "On," but it feels forced. The lyrics are really bad. For example, the chorus is "You turn me On on on on/On on on on" and the melody is similarly one dimensional, literally one note on the synth. The guitar solo just doesn't fit with this song.

"Make Me Go" starts out sounding like something that would've been on Gloria's Oye album. She takes her time unfolding the vocals, while the beat forges ahead. Then they change the whole flow for the chorus, using some of the rustic rhythms and trombones from "Say Ay" but at a sped-up ranchero tempo.

Despite the album's latter tracks not being as strong as those that kick off the record, Miss Little Havana deserves a spot your music library. It is a fun and flirty non-stop dance party and one of the most surprising albums of the year. Press play and be transported to South Beach. Wepa! (Now where's my oxygen tank?)

Gloria Estefan Miss Little Havana [Amazon][iTunes]