Lali (album)

On 30 March 2023, Lali unveiled the album's cover art, aesthetic and release date through an official Spotify pre-save countdown.[21] It features Lali in its center wearing a black leather coat and her hair tied with a bun while looking over her shoulder and standing on a zebra crossing and blurred buildings behind her.[22][23] The cover is inspired in Avril Lavigne's debut studio album Let Go (2002), teasing the early 2000s influence of the album.[24][25] Ignacio Ferreyra of XMAG magazine also noticed a resemblance with the music video of "2 Become 1" by the Spice Girls.[26] Other than the singer, the word "Lali" written in all caps appears on the bottom right of the cover, while the parental advisory label can be seen on the upper left.

The album was written entirely by Lali, Galán, and Mauro De Tommaso. The trio named itself "El Triunvirato del Pop" (Spanish for "the triumvirate of pop").[5] Only "Disciplina" and "Diva" feature an additional writer, Dano.[27] The album's production was entirely in charge of De Tommaso. Dano also serves as co-producer in the two tracks he helped writing, while Jean Luka co-produced "KO", and Lex Luthorz was involved in the production of "Diva".[28] This reduced number of producers contrasts sharply with her previous record, Libra, for which Lali worked with different producers for every song. When asked about the production of Libra in a 2020 interview, Lali had said: "I decided to get into the studio everyday with a different producer, a different songwriter, with people that had different ideas from the composer of the day before, willing to make songs that are not similar to the music I made the days before".[29]

Lyrically, the album "has to do with [Lali's] emotional and sexual-affective quest". In an October 2022 interview for Shangay, Lali had teased that the album was born from her night-life experiences and had a lot to do with having lived in Spain for some time, adding: "I met a quite-hyporcite-with-herself Lali who had a lot of fears and was censoring herself, so the album is a really sincere one which reflects my quest during all this time".[30]

Britney Spears's voice is sampled in "Obsesión", while she is name-dropped in "Diva". She served as one of the main sources of inspiration for Lali.

Lali opens with "Obsesión" (English: "obsession"), a song in which she narrates a breakup with someone with whom she had a toxic relationship and who still chases her but she rejects.[31] The song captures the intention of the album from the very beginning as the opening instrumental already resembles those popular early 2000s pop sounds. Among these, "Love Don't Cost a Thing" by Jennifer Lopez, "The Call" by the Backstreet Boys and "Bye Bye Bye" by NSYNC were perceived as influences.[32] The song's most notorious reference is a sample to Britney Spears's "The Stop!" remix version of her 1998 song "(You Drive Me) Crazy" in the middle of its chorus.[33] In the interlude, the song references Luis Miguel's 1996 song "Cómo Es Posible Que a Mi Lado" and a phrase said by Argentine pop icon Moria Casán in the TV show La Noche de Mirtha.[18] At the same time, Lali talks to someone on the phone, which coincides with the man that called her asking for forgiveness in her 2014 song "Desamor" from her debut studio album A Bailar.[34] The album's second track is "Disciplina" (English: "discipline"). The dance-pop[35] single's "dark and sultry, hot and heavy"[36] lyrics find Lali venturing into erotic practices known as BDSM, especially discipline, dominance and submission.[37] The third track is "Cómprame un Brishito" (English: "buy me a little sparkle"). In Lali's words, the track is "an ironic joke to jewelry and cockiness".[38] Its lyrics see Lali obsessed with gemstones, jewellery and diamonds.[39] The song was compared to Rosalía's album Motomami because of its urban sounds.[15][40]

In "KO" (short for "knockout"), Lali calls someone out for not being enough competition for her using several references to boxing. The song features background vocals by Argentine singer Ca7riel, who also was responsible of the guitar arrangements of the chorus.[41] The record's fifth track, "2 Son 3" (English: "two are three"), is an electronic pop song with elements of rock music for which Lali took Shakira's and Paulina Rubio's pop-rock music as inspiration.[42] Its lyrics find Lali preferring threesomes over monogamous sexual relationships. However, the singer suggested that a deeper look into its lyrics and music video hints at "mental repression, brainwashing, and the scarce freedom that we sometimes have to say what we want [and] what we like."[43] The album continues with the "soulful"[42] ballad "Incondicional" (English: "unconditional") which renders Lali's quest for a more sincere self-love and for a freer way of bonding with others.[30] Having experienced toxic treatments in previous relationships like the one which inspired "Obsesión", Lali reflected upon what love is and what it should and should not be. In a radio interview, Lali confessed what the objective of her quest is:

"It is my dream to love in such a sane, good, non-selfish, sincere way, with my good and bad things. Humanity defines us. The pressure of being what the other needs to be happy is just too much. You have your problems [and] I have mine but we choose to be together and love each other uncondionally".[44]

Moria Casán inspired "Quiénes Son?". Many of her catchphrases were used throughout the song and also in "Obsesión".

For the seventh track, "Quiénes Son?" (English: "who are they?"), Lali sampled the same words said by Argentine pop icon Moria Casán. The song was described as "a sarcastic ode against online hate culture"[45] The song begins with a voice recording by Casán while multiple of her catchphrases are referenced throughout the track.[32] The eighth track on Lali is "Diva", a late-nineties/early-two-thousands-inspired song that references numerous iconic elements in pop culture and pays homage to some of the greatest divas of the music industry such as Marilyn Monroe, Britney Spears and Cher.[46] "Diva" is a downtempo song that fuses pop, neo soul and R&B.[47][35] Its lyrics find Lali ironically boasting about her often-acknowledged status of diva, a celebrated woman of outstanding talent in the world of popular music. Since the beginning of her career, the media has granted Lali the titles of "Pop Diva", "Queen of Argentine Pop", or "Current Queen of Latin Pop", among others.[48][49][50][51][52] Nevertheless, Lali acknowledged that the world of a diva is a dangerous one since they can become void and isolated.[53]

Cher is name-dropped and referenced in "Diva".

"N5" (short for "number five") is the album's ninth track and Lali's first song ever to portray a same-sex relationship after coming out as bisexual some years before.[54][53][55] "N5" is a pop song with elements of house and flamenco which was inspired by an episode with Spanish singer Lola Índigo in which both artists were spotted kissing at a party.[56][54][57][58] The song's title references the famous perfume Chanel No. 5 by Coco Chanel. The album's tenth track is "Ahora" (English: "now"). The song's "naughty", "mellow" and "lewd" lyrics find Lali completely mesmerized by the intimate relations she practices with a man and wanting to have sex with him right away.[59][42]

The album's last three titles comprise the most EDM songs of the album. The eleventh track is "Motiveishon" (a hispanicization for "motivation"),[60] an "electronic [song] in which the singer celebrates as the pop diva she is".[61] At the 31st Annual Buenos Aires Pride, where Lali premiered the song, she said: "[It is] a song that inspires us to carry on, do the things we wish [and] go to the places that we were told we could not go but we can".[62] Next is "Como Tú", another dance track in which the singer describes an irreplaceable feeling that she can get off only one thing.[63] The album's closing title is "Sola" (English: "alone"). Described as "an electropop with smooth and opaque finishes",[45] the song revolves around anonymity. Lali confessed that she is used to going out, sometimes by herself, in places where she is not so well-known and connect with people. Referring to the song as a "real experience", she said: "we are surrounded by noises, cellphones [and] social networks, and we are moving all the time. This track is about me being alone. I can have a great time anyways, I go to a bar where no one knows who I am but suddenly you connect with someone who is also having a drink" and concluded that "it is about being alone, not about feeling lonely".[44] Finally, Lali confessed that the song's instrumental outro functions as an open door and a slit to spy on what her future music will sound like.[45]

In a positive review for Rolling Stone, Juana Giaimo wrote: "Lali is an album full of passion—passion for dancing, sexual passion, artistic passion; no matter what, her voice overflows with energy and, chiefly, voracity" and called it an "ambitious" album because "it goes over the differente slopes of pop [music]" and "its lyrics are also about being ambitious, getting higher and having a joyful life".[15] Similarly, Lupe Torres of La Nación said that the album "aims at sounding fresh and displays an artistic proposal with an attractive aesthetic and a mesmerizing choreography" while naming Lali the "queen of Argentine pop".[41] After reviewing the album, El Comercio also called Lali the "Argentine queen of pop".[18] Belén Fourment of El País compared Lali's fifth album to the end a treasure hunt, saying: "If what [Lali] had been building since her debut album A Bailar was a persistant path, sometimes erratic but always determined, of internal digging and insistence, Lali is the chest with everything that is inside: an album like an identity that embraces the references, acknowledges the pillars and, from them, stands on its singularity".[45]

Even prior to its release, the album debuted at the top of the Uruguayan Albums chart on its March issue. The album achieved that within only one tracking week consisting purely of pre-sales.[64] While remaining at the number one position on the April issue of the Uruguayan chart, it also boosted Lali's fourth studio album Libra to make its debut on the chart at number sixteen.[65] In Argentina, the album debuted directly at the top of the Argentine Albums chart within just three tracking days.[66] Lali remained at the top for six consecutive weeks.[67][68][69][70][71] The album became the first album by an Argentine female artist to top the chart since Lali's own Libra in 2020.