Portal:Latin music/Selected album/59
Suavemente (English: Smoothly) is the debut studio album by American merenguero recording artist Elvis Crespo. Released by Sony Music Latin on April 14, 1998, the album popularized merengue music and established Crespo as a leading artist in the Latin music market. He collaborated with several songwriters and record producers (including Homero d'Rodriguez, Raldy Vázquez, Luis Cruz, and Juan Perez), and wrote three songs creating an overall tropical music-flavored recording.
With romantic ballads and uptempo songs, Suavemente received favorable reviews from music critics who praised its "energetic" and "catchy fan-pleasing" songs. The album was the first merengue recording to peak at number one on the United States Billboard Top Latin Albums chart, and two of its singles ("Suavemente" and "Tu Sonrisa") peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart; Crespo is the first merengue artist with two number-one merengue singles. Suavemente peaked at number 106 on the US Billboard 200 chart. The album was Crespo's commercial breakthrough, introducing him to the popular music market with the Spanglish remix of its title track.