Marc Anthony Releases MUEVENSE Album Today, Highlighted By An Essay By Lin-Manuel Miranda

Essay by Lin-Manuel Miranda

**ALBUM MUEVENSE OUT NOW**

AVAILABLE HERE

What’s your Marc Anthony Story?

If you are Latino/Latina/Latiné and living anywhere on planet Earth, you have a series of unforgettable moments where Marc Anthony’s voice was soaring across your life. It may have been your last Spring Break with your friends, screaming “Voy a reír, voy a bailar…” at the top of your lungs. It may have been blasting No Me Conoces during your first heartbreak (“Y AHORA RESULTA QUE NO SOY SUFICIENTE PARA TI, WHOAAA…” you sang to that empty bedroom). Or walking down the aisle to Vivir Lo Nuestro/Nadie Como Ella, too many classics to count.

Here’s my Marc Anthony Story. My first album was Otra Nota, which I purchased at Nobody Beats The Wiz with my 13^th birthday money in 1993, because Palabras Del Alma was already so inescapable that I had to hear the rest of the album. Even as a teenager, I knew that the passion and depth in this young man’s voice was beyond anything I’d ever heard in salsa. It forced me to double down on learning to dance salsa, so that by the time Todo A Su Tiempo came out in 1995, I was ready to tear up the dance floor at Mayra Linares’ quinceañera with all her gorgeous friends.

I was at the NY Puerto Rican Day Parade in 1997, watching Marc Anthony on the main stage on 86^th and 5^th Avenue, when Tito Puente came by on a passing float. He pointed at Marc, jumped down from his parade float, and took to the mainstage for a blistering timbale solo on the song already in progress, a passing of the torch I’ll never forget.

Our school courtyard steps in 1998 my senior year: I was blasting Marc from my boombox when Vanessa Nadal, a sophomore, came up and danced with me in front of everyone. When Nadie Como Ella was over, she went back to her group of friends. We wouldn’t get married for another 12 years, but you don’t forget that kind of first impression.

I went to see Marc Anthony’s Broadway debut in The Capeman that same year, and sang Adios Hermanos with my friends at graduation.

My mother reports that after she dropped me, her youngest child, off to college in 1998, she listened to Contra La Corriente for a month straight. “’YO TRATO, TRATO, TRATO, PERO NO TE OLVIDO…’ Lin-Manuel, I was so depressed at our empty nest and that album got me through it.”

When my son Francisco was born, Marc’s voice was singing on our childbirth playlist: “Si te vas, si te vaaas…”

I could go on, but these liner notes only have so much space.

All this to say, a new Marc Anthony album is always cause for celebration, and it speaks to the timelessness and consistency of his voice and his musical collaborators that at any moment you can turn on any radio station and within the same commercial-free music block, hear a song he recorded last year next to a song he recorded 30 years ago. He is our Sinatra, and when we hear him, we also hear the echoes of all the unforgettable moments in our own lives.

And now here comes MUEVENSE, a new soundtrack for the next chapter in Marc’s life and ours. The blistering title track, “Muevense,” which is all over ONE CHORD, but contains a universe of syncopation and will flood all dance floors. An ex-lover classic in Punta Cana, which joins No Me Conoces, Hasta Ayer and Y Hubo Alguien in the pantheon of You Broke Up With Me And You’ll Always Regret It. But I’m Thriving anthems, now in bachata mode! Si Te Enamoro, headed for your next wedding playlist immediately. Ojala Te Duela, a historic foray into mariachi with the great Pepe Aguilar, and confirms what we have always known: that lágrima in Marc’s voice transcends styles and musical boundaries. En La Distancia, by the great Colombian songwriter Fonseca, has one of the most exciting musical builds in Marc’s discography. Ale Ale is as close to a valedictory speech as you’ll ever hear Marc give, his My Way. A Donde Vamos A Parar is the breakup/crying on the dancefloor jam you’ve been waiting for, written by Marc’s namesake, the legendary Marco Antonio Solís. The album’s closer, Amarte A La Antigua, has the craziest held note into a key change you’ve ever heard, and will be a staple in our lives for years to come.

Thank you, Marc. Every new album is a promise of more life, more music, and more memories, and Muevense is up there with your best. See the rest of you on the dance floor.

Siempre,

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Track list:

1 . Muevense

2 . Punta Cana

3 . Si Te Enamoro

4 . Malos

5 . Ojalá Te Duela

6 . En la Distancia

7 . Ale Ale

8 . A Dónde Vamos a Parar

9 . Pasemos a los Besos

10 . Amarte a la Antigua

*Note about album cover:

This is the first time that Marc has released a graphic cover. This artwork was designed by Hong Kong artist Caine Wong. 

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