Ni es lo mismo ni es igual

Background

Juan Luis Guerra stated that his style of music was influenced by The Beatles, American rock, folk, R&B, jazz, and traditional Dominican music. His style of songwriting has been known to take on a poetic feel and address romantic and social issues. Guerra started his career with the release of Soplando. His fifth studio album, Bachata Rosa, received a Grammy Award for Best Tropical Album. KAREN, a Dominican-independent record label, was involved with Guerra's previous albums and helped produced Ni Es Lo Mismo Ni Es Igual. According to Guerra, he remained with KAREN because they gave him the opportunity to set up his own recording schedule.

Writing and composition

For Ni Es Lo Mismo Ni Es Igual, Guerra continues his aforementioned take on songs about love and social issues. "El Niágara en Bicicleta" takes on the impossibility of obtaining medical treatment in a third world hospital, and compares it to crossing Niagara Falls on a bicycle. He based the song on a trip to a hospital in which the equipment were either unavailable or broken down. The song "Mi PC" combines lyrics and the sound of merengue to compare a woman to a personal computer. "Quisiera" is a salsa theme song that was co-written by Guerra and Colombian songwriter Kike Santander. Guerra also produced ballad songs for the album such as "Testimonio" and "Amapola". In addition, Guerra remade "Amor de Conuco" from his album, Mientras Más Lo Pienso...Tú, into a ballad version.

Singles

Four singles were released from the album. The first single, "Mi PC", reached #1 on Hot Latin Tracks and became his second song to reach #1 on the chart. The second single, "Palomita Blanca" (Little White Dove), also reached #1 on the Hot Latin Tracks chart. The third single, "El Niágara en Bicicleta", peaked at #2 on the Hot Latin Tracks chart. The fourth and final single, "La Hormiguita" (The Little Ant), only made the Latin Pop Airplay chart, peaking at #33.

Critical reception

Ni Es Lo Mismo Ni Es Igual was met with positive reaction from critics. Evan Gutierrez of Allmusic gave the album a five-star rating, commenting that "Guerra offers delightful surprise in song after song." David Wilson of Wilson & Alroy's gave the album a four-star rating, stating that, "after four years off, Guerra's melodic and lyrical gifts hadn't dissipated at all." On the other hand, he called the re-recording of "Amor de Conuco" a "devastating remake". Guerra expressed his surprise at the success of the album and compared it to one of his earlier albums, Bachata Rosa.

On the 42nd Grammy Awards, the album received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Latin Pop Performance, which it lost to Tiempos by Ruben Blades. At the first Latin Grammy Awards in 2000, the album received two Latin Grammy Awards for "Best Merengue Performance" and "Best Engineered Album". The album was also nominated for Album of the Year, which it lost to Luis Miguel's Amarte Es Un Placer.

Commercial performance

Ni Es Lo Mismo Es Igual was released on December 15, 1998, four years after his previous album, Fogaraté, in 1994. The album debuted and peaked at #4 on Top Latin Albums, where it remained for two non-consecutive weeks. On the Tropical Albums chart, the album also debuted and peaked at #2 for four consecutive weeks, in which the #1 spot was being held off by Elvis Crespo's Suavemente. As of July 2004, the album has sold over 400,000 copies.

Track listing

All tracks written by Juan Luis Guerra.

Personnel

The following credits are from Allmusic.

Technical