Empezar Desde Cero (English: Starting From Zero) is the fifth studio album by Mexican pop group RBD, released simultaneously in Mexico and the United States on November 20, 2007.
The album contains two songs composed by two of RBD's band members: Alfonso Herrera and Christopher Uckermann. Empezar Desde Cero falls into the genres of Latin pop and pop rock. The album received a nomination for 'Best Pop Album by a Duo/Group with Vocals' at the 9th Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2008.
In the United States, Empezar Desde Cero debuted at #1 on both the Billboard Top Latin Albums and Billboard Latin Pop Albums charts, while peaking at #60 on the main Billboard 200 chart. In Mexico, the album reached #4 on the Mexican Albums Chart and sold 100,000 copies there, attaining a Platinum certification, as well as a 4×Platinum certification for pre-loaded sales of 400,000 copies. In Spain album peaked at #4 on the Spanish Albums Chart.
As part of the album's promotion, the album's lead single, "Inalcanzable", was released on October 8, 2007. The single peaked at #6 on the US Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart, becoming the group's last top-ten hit on the ranking, but reached #2 on the US Billboard Latin Pop Songs subchart. On January 29, 2008, the second single off the album, the title track "Empezar Desde Cero", was released. The song's main vocals are performed solely by Maite Perroni. Lastly, the third and final single from the album, "Y No Puedo Olvidarte", was released on June 5, 2008. The song was promoted by a live performance at the 2008 Premios Juventud but did not count with the support of a music video as the album's previous two singles.
Background
In 2006, RBD released their third studio album, Celestial, and immediately the group started a world tour to promote the album, the Tour Celestial. Months after the tour had started, in 2007, the group announced that the recording sessions for a new album could start after the end of the tour. Contrary to what was stated by the group, with the Tour Celestial still ongoing and in the midst of the group's hectic promotion and business events schedules, RBD started to record Empezar Desde Cero on August 30, 2007. The album's recording process lasted a month and was held in studios in Mexico and Burbank, California.
Different to RBD's previous studio albums, Empezar Desde Cero contained songwriting by some of the group's members. In addition to self-written songs by the group's members, the album contained more full solo tracks than the group's earlier albums. Previously, it was Christopher Uckermann and Alfonso Herrera who were lacking in solo-tracks, but for Empezar Desde Cero they both wrote their solo songs featured on the album; "Sueles Volver", composed and performed by Christopher, and "Si No Estás Aquí", written and performed by Alfonso. A demo version of the first leaked onto the Internet in May 2007, even before the album was announced.
The album also contains Spanish adaptations of songs previously recorded or written in English. The song "Fui La Niña" was originally titled "Being A Good Girl", while "Extraña Sensación" was called "Let's See Where It Goes". "Amor Fugaz" is a Spanish adaptation of the song "Love is All There Is", first recorded by Dana International for her album Free, but released after Sabrina Salerno's version, released on her album A Flower's Broken. The Spanish track lyrically differs greatly from its original version.
Artwork For the album's cover, a picture of RBD in front of a simple black backdrop was used. The typography used was also very simple and used red highlighting in some words. On the album's cover, the six members of RBD are seen seated in wooden benches and chairs. Anahí appears reclining on a wooden bench wearing a leather jacket over a green dress, holding a strand of her hair. Behind her, Christian is seen wearing a black sweater over a white T-shirt and khaki baggy pants. The singer is seen holding Maite's hand, who appears wearing a black dress and sitting behind Dulce María. The group's famous redhead is sitting in a wooden bench besides Anahí, also wearing a black dress, but under a grey sweater. Behind her is Alfonso, wearing a black leather jacket, and Christopher seated at his side, dressed similarly. Regarding the album cover's photo shoot, Alfonso commented: "It's not that overproduced in regards to the wardrobe, it's rather ultra-relaxed because as the album's title says, it's staring from zero."
Production and release In August 2007, RBD's manager, Pedro Damián, announced the release of the new album for late November of that year. Damián also revealed that around twelve songs were selected for the album, after having listened to approximately 1,000 songs, and that at the same time, the album could contain songs written by the group's members. During the first "Worldwide RBD Day" press conference, on October 4, 2007, RBD themselves confirmed the name of the album and announced it would in fact have its release in November. Later it was further confirmed that the album would be released worldwide on November 20, 2007.
The album was recorded in Mexico and Burbank, California. Empezar Desde Cero was produced by Carlos Lara and Armando Ávila and contains 13 songs, some of which had members of RBD itself participating in their composition, like "Sueles Volver" and "Si No Estás Aquí. The first single released to promote Empezar Desde Cero was "Inalcanzable", a song written by Carlos Lara, which was released to radio stations worldwide on October 8, 2007.
Wal-Mart stores, which first released the album's official track list, also released an enhanced version of the album which featured a bonus DVD entitled Así Es RBD. The bonus DVD included a one-hour documentary of never before seen footage, music videos, scenes from RBD's originating telenovela, Rebelde, and live performances.
On January 29, 2008, the album's second single was announced to be "Empezar Desde Cero". The single was chosen by fans through an online poll on the group's official website.
On February 8, 2008, Empezar Desde Cero was finally issued in Argentina as a special edition, which included as bonus tracks some of RBD's hits from their previous studio albums.
The album's last single was "Y No Puedo Olvidarte", which did not receive the same promotion as part of RBD's record label, EMI. This was due to the fact that the single was released at the same time RBD announced their disbandment, therefore provoking the cancelation of any remaining promotion for Empezar Desde Cero to give way to the recording of the group's last studio album.
Empezar Desde Cero is RBD's second studio album and first Spanish album to not have a Portuguese-language version released in Brazil.
Promotion Singles The album's first single was "Inalcanzable". The song was confirmed as the official lead single during RBD's press conference for the first "Worldwide RBD Day", held on October 4, 2007. On October 8, 2007, the song was made available for purchase as a digital download. The single reasched #2 on Billboard magazine's Latin Pop Songs chart and peaked at #6 on Billboard Hot Latin Songs. The song was well received by music critics and garnered award nominations on Premios Lo Nuestro, Premios Orgullosamente Latino and Premios Juventud. The song's official remix, which featured reggaeton duo Jowell & Randy and reggaeton solo artist De La Ghetto, won the award for 'The Perfect Combo' at the 2008 Premios Juventud. The song's music video was directed by Esteban Madrazo and shot on November 7, 2007, and won the award for 'Latin Video of the Year' at the 2008 Premios Orgullosamente Latino.
On January 29, 2008, the album's second single was released, the title track "Empezar Desde Cero". The single was chosen through a poll conducted by the Esmas website. The song's main vocals are performed only by Maite Perroni, with the rest of the group doing the choruses. The single debuted at #17 on Billboard Latin Pop Songs and at position #42 on Billboard Hot Latin Songs. The single's 1980s-style music video was filmed on February 28, 2008 in Mexico City and was premiered on March 25, 2008 on Ritmoson Latino. The music video for "Empezar Desde Cero" was also directed by Esteban Madrazo, who had directed the video for "Inalcanzable", as well as the group's previous videos for "Ser O Parecer" and "Celestial".
On June 5, 2008, the last single from Empezar Desde Cero was announced, "Y No Puedo Olvidarte". The single did not have the support of a music video due to the sudden announcement of the group's disbandment. The song was performed live on July 17, 2008 during the 2008 Premios Juventud, being this the group's first and last time to perform the song at an awards show.
"No Digas Nada" was sent to Brazilian radio as well to serve as the album's fourth single, but the plan was eventually canceled.
Live performances
The promotion schedule for Empezar Desde Cero started on November 1, 2007, when RBD performed "Inalcanzable" for the first time at the 'Evento 40' in Mexico. Also in November 2007, the sextet presented the single on the Mexican TV show Mojoe. On December 12, 2007, the group appeared without Alfonso at the FOX Sports Awards, where they performed their single "Inalcanzable". On December 15, 2007, the group appeared on the 1st Annual Mi TRL Awards by MTV Tr3s, and also performed "Inalcanzable". Also in December 2007, the group appeared on the Mexican Teletón and performed singles from their previous albums as well as "Inalcanzable".
On January 26, 2008, RBD appeared on the 'Evento Oye' in Mexico City to again perform "Inalcanzable". On February 1, 2008, RBD appeared on the festivities prior to Super Bowl XLIII and performed their biggest hits and "Inalcanzable". On February 10 the group appeared on the Mexican show En Familia con Chabelo to perform both "Inalcanzable" and "Empezar Desde Cero". On February 24 the group appeared on Boomerang's Boom Box en Estudio to perform "Inalcanzable". Also in 2008, the group performed "Inalcanzable" on the Latin American musical variety TV show Noche de Estrellas, hosted by Mexican singer Yuri. On March 4, 2008, the group appeared on the American morning show ¡Despierta América! to perform "Empezar Desde Cero" and "Inalcanzable". That same day, the sextet appeared on Escándalo TV to again perform both singles. On March 20, 2008, RBD performed "Inalcanzable" on the US TV special Feliz 2008, hosted by Don Francisco. On March 25, 2008, the group appeared in Spain's TVE gala, where they again performed their successful single "Inalcanzable". In April 2008, RBD appeared again on the 'Evento 40' in Mexico, organized by Los 40 Principales, to perform "Inalcanzable", "Empezar Desde Cero" and their soon-to-be-released single, "Y No Puedo Olvidarte". On June 19, 2008, the band performed at the Exa TV concert in Mexico, but with the absences of Anahí, due to sickness, and Maite, due to filming Cuidado con el Ángel.