In 1999, the boy-band MDO released their second album, Un Poco Mas minus a member. The album was released without Daniel Weider, who left the group. He left just after a year of the band separating from Menudo. This album is the follow-up to the self-titled album released in 1997.
Menudo/MDO had always been a five-member band. Un Poco Mas was the first album to show the group as a foursome. It didn’t hurt the band one bit. The members were all grown-up and no longer did they have to leave the group at a certain age. This gave longevity to the members and their fan base. Despite the major changes, Edgardo Diaz still had his hands in the group’s management. Un Poco Mas was a hit on the US Latin charts.
While the album is definitely considered pop, at this time in Latin music history, bands were being influenced by the musical beats from their native lands. A lot of bachata and rumba was being integrated into pop. This infusion would continue even to this date. Pop artists step more into the traditional Latin sounds. MDO began their descent into a more urban sound with this album.
“Baila Mi Rumba” and “Toma Mis Manos” helped lean the band toward the new generation of Latin music. They also attempted to break into the English market with the songs, “Groove With Me Tonight” and “Fantasy”. Think about the time. Ricky Martin just hit the scene with “Livin’ La Vida Loca” and the music world was more open to Latin sounds. As a boyband, MDO would be competing with Backstreet Boys and ‘NSync but the English market wasn’t biting for MDO. The song didn’t make any noise.
That album is good with a mix of pop and ballads, because what boyband doesn’t record love songs for the girls. For some reason, this album is not available on streaming services at the time of writing this but I do find this album quite a bit on the discount racks of second hand stores.
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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