In Mexico in 1993, Paulina Rubio was following up on the success of her debut solo album with this album, 24 Kilates (24 Carats). She was competing Thalia for the place as the queen of pop music, as Thalia already had three albums under her belt and was in the middle of promoting her top-selling Love album. While Paulina had great success with her debut album, La Chica Dorada, she still had to work to make a name for herself as more than just an Ex-Timbiriche member.
At this time, Ex-Timbiriches Benny Ibarra released his first album, Erick Rubin was recording his debut solo album, Sasha Sokol had many albums already released, Eduardo Capetillo had found success with a solo career too. This was the era of Ex-Timbiriche members on the charts. And don’t forget, Timbiriche was still going strong with Timbiriche 12. Paulina needed to keep herself from falling into the melting pot of generic pop music.
24 Kilates had a more rock feel to it than her debut album with songs such as “Maldito Amor,” “Los Dioses Se Van,” and “Compania.” But it wasn’t those tracks that grabbed the attention of fans and critics. Both singles, “Nieva Nieva” and “El Me Engaño” hit the pop charts and gave her enough success to continue with her third album under EMI records. But truthfully, those popular tracks aren’t the best from the album. I do believe those three tracks I mentioned that had a strong rock influence were some of the highlights from the album. It is easy for this album to get lost in the history of Paulina as her future work does surpass this album; but for a moment in time, Paulina could have become a great rocker chick.
One song that didn’t fall in the rock genre or one of the popular tracks is “Corazon Tirano,” which is by far the best song that showcases Paulina’s talents and how well she can belt out a ballad. It makes the album completely worth listening to completely through as it is the last track of the album.
24 Kilates is a pretty decent album for Paulina’s early work and is a must for new Paulina fans.
Since that day, I have been study Latin pop and rock music and have become a Latin pop music historian through the publishing of articles, fanzine, and websites. My goal is to teach people about Latin pop music and the history behind it with my website, Siempre En Domingo.
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