"Azul" () is a song by the Mexican singer

Cristian Castro Cristian Sáinz Castro (born 8 December 1974) is a Mexican pop singer. He is the son of actors Verónica Castro and Manuel "El Loco" Valdés, and nephew of actors Ramón Valdés (known for playing Don Ramón in '' El Chavo del Ocho'') and ...

from his seventh studio album of the same name (2001). The song was co-written by brothers

Kike ''Kike'' (), also known as the K-word, is an ethnic slur directed at Jews. The etymological origin comes from the Yiddish word for circle, (''kaykel''), itself a derivation of the Ancient Greek word . Etymology According to the ''Oxford Eng ...

and

Gustavo Santander Gustavo Adolfo Santander Lora is a Colombian composer who has had great success at international level. He has composed over 200 songs for major artists like David Bisbal, Alejandro Fernández, Cristian Castro, Diego Torres, Ricardo Montaner, ...

and produced by Kike, Andrés Munera, Fernando "Toby" Tobón. It is a

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Balla ...

in which the singer likens love to the color blue. The track was released on as the

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

from the album by BMG US Latin on 3 May 2001. A

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Azul" was directed by Pedro Torres and features Castro in a beach, house, and a nightclub with friends and premiered on 6 June 2001. The song received positive reactions from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

who found it to be catchy. It was nominated in the category of Pop Song of the Year at the 2002 Lo Nuestro Awards and Latin Pop Airplay of the Year at the 2002 Latin ''Billboard'' Music Awards, while Kike Santander was the recipient of the

Broadcast Music, Inc. Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is a performance rights organization in the United States. It collects blanket license fees from businesses that use music, entitling those businesses to play or sync any songs from BMI's repertoire of over 22.4 milli ...

(BMI) Latin Award in the same year. Commercially, it topped the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Latin Songs The ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs (formerly Hot Latin Tracks and Hot Latin 50) is a record chart in the United States for Latin music, Latin songs, published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine. Since October 2012, chart ranki ...

Latin Pop Airplay Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area around Rome, Italy. Through the expansion of ...

, and

Tropical Airplay The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

charts in the United States.

Background and composition

In 1999,

released his sixth studio album, ''

Mi Vida Sin Tu Amor ''Mi Vida Sin Tu Amor'' (My Life Without Your Love) is the sixth studio album by Mexican singer Cristian Castro Cristian Sáinz Castro (born 8 December 1974) is a Mexican pop singer. He is the son of actors Verónica Castro and Manuel "E ...

'', which was produced by the Colombian musician

Kike Santander Flavio Enrique "Kike" Santander Lora is a Colombian-American composer, record producer, arranger and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the principal Latino composers of the day, having worked with artists such as David Bisbal, Cristi ...

. Although the album was met with mixed reviews, it achieved multi-platinum status and Castro was named Latin pop artist of 2000 in the US by ''

''. On 15 October 2000, Castro announced that he was working on two albums, one with

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

songs and

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

and an English-language disc of cover ballads. He also announced the titled of the former album as "Azul" as well as the lead single of the same name. Santander worked with Castro again to produce the album. "Azul" is a

reminiscent of 1980s music. The ''

San Antonio Express-News The ''San Antonio Express-News'' is a daily newspaper in San Antonio, Texas, founded in 1865. It is owned by the Hearst Corporation and has offices in San Antonio and Austin, Texas. The ''Express-News'' is the third largest newspaper in the sta ...

'' editor Ramiro Burr compared the track to Castro's 1992 song "

No Podrás "No Podrás" (English: "You Can't") is a song written and composed by Alejandro Zepeda and Peter Skrabak, originally recorded by Mexican recording artist Cristian Castro. Lyrically, the song describes the end of a relationship between two lovers ...

" with its "driving percussions and searing guitar lines". It was written by Santander and his brother

Gustavo Gustavo is the Latinate form of a Germanic male given name with respective prevalence in Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian. It is derived from Gustav /ˈɡʊstɑːv/, also spelled Gustaf, a Swedish name, likely from Slavic Gostislav. People with ...

, and produced by Kike, Andrés Munera, and Fernando "Toby" Tobón. In the song, Castro sings: "Azul, y es que este amor es azul como el mar. Azul, como de tu mirada nació mi ilusión. Azul como una lagrima cuando hay perdón" ("Blue, and this love is blue like the sea. Blue, like my illusion was born from your look. Blue like a tear when there is forgiveness").

Promotion and reception

"Azul" was released as the album's

on 3 May 2001 by BMG US Latin. BMG also released a remix disc containing a

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

and merengue versions of the track on 20 August 2001. A

was filmed at South Beach, Florida and directed by Pedro Torres. It features scenes of Castro at a beach with friends, at a house, and at a nightclub. The visual was released on 6 June 2001 and took over 30 hours of filming.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

critic John Bush called "Azul" a "downright catchy hit single". In spite of giving the album a negative review, Jordan Levin of the ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by McClatchy, The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward County, Fl ...

'' found it to be a "reasonably catchy pop-rocker". ''

'' editor

Leila Cobo Leila Cobo is a Colombian journalist, writer, novelist, pianist and television show host. She is noted for her coverage of Latin music for ''Billboard'' where she is currently the Chief Content Officer for Latin Music and Español, overseeing the ...

also regarded the track as a "catchy, exuberant slice of '80s-etched rock". ''Billboard'' ranked the track number 23 on their list of the 50 best Latin pop songs between 2000 and 2023. At the 2002 Latin ''Billboard'' Music Awards, "Azul" was nominated Latin Pop Airplay of the Year, but lost to " Abrázame Muy Fuerte" by

Juan Gabriel Alberto Aguilera Valadez (; 7 January 1950 – 28 August 2016), known professionally as Juan Gabriel (), was a Mexican singer-songwriter and actor. Colloquially Honorific nicknames in popular music, nicknamed Juanga () and El Divo de Juárez, ...

. In the same year, it was nominated for Pop Song of the Year at

Lo Nuestro Awards The Lo Nuestro Awards or Premios Lo Nuestro (Spanish language, Spanish for "Ours") is a Spanish-language awards show honoring the best of Latin music (genre), Latin music, presented by TelevisaUnivision, and is carried by its Univision network in ...

, but also lost to the same song. The track was recognized as one of the award-winning songs at the 2002 BMI Latin Awards. Commercially, "Azul" topped the ''Billboard''

chart for nine weeks and was ranked the second best-performing track of 2001 on the chart. It also reached the top of the

and

subcharts, spending 12 weeks on the former and four weeks on the latter.

Track listing

Single #Personal Greeting #"Azul" (album version) - 4:24 #Screensaver Remixes #"Azul" (album version) - 4:24 #"Azul" (dance remix) - 4:32 #"Azul" ( merengue version) - 4:14 #"Azul" (merengue version with guitar intro) - 4:20

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

References

{{authority control 2000s ballads 2001 singles 2001 songs Cristian Castro songs Songs in Spanish Songs written by Kike Santander Sony BMG singles Song recordings produced by Kike Santander Songs written by Gustavo Santander Pop ballads Rock ballads Pop rock songs Mexican rock songs