A Puro Dolor

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"A Puro Dolor"
Single by Son by Four
from the album Son by Four
Released2000
Recorded1999
Genre
Length
  • 3:32 (ballad version)
  • 4:23 (original version)
Sony Discos
Songwriter(s)Omar Alfanno
Producer(s)
  • Oscar Llord
  • Alejandro Jaen
  • Omar Alfanno
Son by Four singles chronology
"No Hay Razón"
(1998)
"A Puro Dolor"
(2000)
"Miss Me So Bad"
(2000)

"A Puro Dolor" is a song recorded by Puerto Rican band Son by Four. It was written by Omar Alfanno and released as the first single of the second studio album of the band in 2000. Two versions of the track were produced by Oscar Llord for the album; one as a salsa and the other as a ballad. The ballad version was arranged by Alejandro Jaén.

The song reached number-one on

Billboard Top Latin Songs chart, and became the longest running chart topper of its history, spending 20 weeks at the top; this record was broken five years later by Colombian singer Shakira with "La Tortura" which spent 25 weeks at number-one. "A Puro Dolor" also reached the Billboard 100
; this led to the recording of an English-language version of the track "Purest of Pain", which was also charted in the United States.

The composition also met with critical acclaim receiving the

Billboard Music Award and a Latin Grammy Award nomination. In 2009, "A Puro Dolor" was named the best-performing Latin single of the 2000s decade in the United States. Two music videos were made for the ballad and the English versions. The record was covered by Mexican group Dinora y la Juventud and Brazilian boy band KLB
both of which received radio airplay.

Background and composition

In 1998,

salsa recording singers Marc Anthony, Víctor Manuelle, Jerry Rivera and Gilberto Santa Rosa was in charge of the album production.[3] Alfanno declared that he wrote the song in ten minutes, and that after the success of the track, he analyzed the composition, since he did not understand how "A Puro Dolor" became that popular.[1] He named it "the Cinderella of all his songs."[1]
After its success in the Latin market, Oscar Llord then engineered an English version of the song “Purest of Pain”, which went on to become a Billboard Top 40 hit, and performed alongside N’Sync at the 2001 Latin Grammy Awards.

Critical reception

The song was released in 2000. It became very successful with the ballad and tropical and salsa versions setting an airplay record for a Latin single with 23.4 million impressions in those countries. The reaction to the song was intense, and Son by Four was asked to record an English-language version of the track.[4] This version, titled "Purest of Pain", was serviced to English-speaking radio stations in May 2001. The success of the song took by surprise the leader of the band, Ángel López, who told Billboard magazine: "When they told us we were going to be signed by Columbia for the single, we flipped."[5] A ranchera version was also recorded for the Regional Mexican audience.[6] About the song, López also declared that "has something everybody can relate to. We're adults, we've been all through that [rejection]. The way the song reaches out to people is outstanding."[5] In his album review for AllMusic, Evan C. Gutierrez declared that "A Puro Dolor" set "an impossibly high standard for the rest of the playlist."[7]

Son by Four received seven Billboard Latin Music Award nominations in 2001 for "Hot Latin Track of the Year", "Pop Track of the Year" and "Tropical/Salsa Track of the Year" ("A Puro Dolor"); "Tropical/Salsa Album of the Year, New Artist" and "Tropical/Salsa Album of the Year, Group" (Son by Four); and "Billboard Latin 50 Artist of the Year" and "Hot Latin Track Artist of the Year". With further nominations for Alfanno as "Songwriter of the Year" and Jaén for "Producer of the Year".[1] Son by Four won all the awards, and Alfanno won the award for the writing of the song.[8]

At the

ASCAP Latin Music Awards, Alfanno was awarded "Song of the Year" and "Pop/Balada Song of the Year" for his composition of the song and was named Songwriter of the Year.[13] In 2015, "A Puro Dolor" ranked number 35 on Billboard's Best Latin Songs of All Time.[14]

Promotion

To promote the single, Son by Four opened a

mis 3 hermanas from Venezuela. In 2000, due to the success of the track in the American market, they were asked to perform on The Tonight Show hosted by Jay Leno.[2] The salsa version of the song was included on their greatest hits album Salsa Hits (2001) and Lo Esencial (2008) and on the compilation album Salsahits 2001 (2000).[15]

Two music videos were made for the song; the first one for the ballad version, and the other for the English version.[16][17] The ballad version was directed by Felipe Niño.[2] In the video, the group is shown performing the song along with an orchestra behind them. It is filmed on a stage where shows López singing his verses, while the others members of the group, follow up with the chorus. At the end of the video the people of the orchestra starts to applaud when the group ends to sing.[16] In the English version of the video, the plot is completely different. The video starts in a cloudy afternoon after a storm, where the group is situated in a white room. It shows López singing in a ladder when it later starts to fill with water. At the last part of the video, it shows Son by Four singing out of the house after the storm has ended.[17]

Chart performance

"A Puro Dolor" reached the top spot of the

Gold certification in Argentina,[22] Mexico,[23] and the United States.[24] "A Puro Dolor" ranked first at the Hot Latin Songs 25th Anniversary chart.[25] "Purest of Pain" was also a modest success in Europe where it peaked at number seven and eighteen in the Flanders and Wallonia regions of Belgium and number three in the Netherlands.[26][27][28]

Formats and track listings

CD maxi single[29]
No.TitleLength
1."Purest of Pain (A Puro Dolor) [Spanglish]"3:30
2."Purest of Pain (A Puro Dolor) [Bilingual]"3:30
3."Purest of Pain (A Puro Dolor) [Living without you]"3:30

Charts

Credits and personnel

The credits are adapted from the Son by Four liner notes.[56]

Other recordings

In 2000, Mexican group Dinora y la Juventud performed a cover "A Puro Dolor" in

Billboard Regional Mexican Songs chart.[57] The success of their cover led to the group receiving a Lo Nuestro Award for New Regional Mexican Artist of the Year.[9] A music video for the song was filmed for the group.[58]

In 2001, Chinese Pop singer

Sony Music Entertainment[62] Her version placed at number 35 on the Taiwan Yearly Singles Top 100 chart in 2001.[63]

In 2002, Malaysian pop group Phyne Ballerz recorded a Malay cover titled "VIDA" under KRU Records label; as their second single. The Malay version is co-written by Ajai and Norman Abdul Halim. It was compiled in their debut album "Monte Carlo" in 2002.

Piska, a Brazilian producer and composer, wrote the lyrics for a cover version of the song, which was recorded by the boy band

eponymous debut album under the title "A Dor Desse Amor".[64][65] It was later released as a single, and became the group's first single to play in radio stations in the country.[66] The cover became a hit; it was the tenth most-played song in Brazilian radios in 2000.[67] A music video, directed by Preta Gil, was filmed for KLB.[68]

In 2009, Son by Four recorded a new version of the track for their studio album Abba Nuestro which did not have López's involvement as he left the band in 2003.[69][70] López himself recorded a new version of the track on his studio album Historias de Amor (2010) which features a cover of Alfanno's other compositions which was produced by Alfanno.[71] He also recorded it as a duet with fellow Puerto Rican singer Ana Isabelle on her studio album Mi Sueño (2010).[72] Four lines from "A Puro Dolor" was sampled on the song "Vacío" by Luis Fonsi and Rauw Alejandro.[73] Fonsi the song live at the 69th Miss Universe contest.[74]

See also

External links

References

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