A new hip-hop hero is born

After over 15 years in the business, Enrique Iglesias is now enjoying his biggest year ever. I guess it helps that the buffed 30 something is still one of the sexiest men in show business or that he is hot gossip fodder thanks to dates with the likes of world tennis champ Maria Sharapova. Are they still exclusive?

The real reason though is his new album, Euphoria. It has a big hit, the tune I Like It featuring hip-hop star Pitbull, who had a No. 1 seller with I Know You Want Me, plus, surprise! Lionel Richie doing his famous All Night Long in the track. On its first week out, the song instantly conquered the club charts and placed Iglesias on the same level as Michael Jackson and Prince.

These three are the only male singers to have seven No. 1 hits in the dance club chart. Top notcher is a female, Madonna but coming in second with two legends is not that bad. Enrique’s earlier number ones were Bailamos, Be With You, Hero, Escape, Not In Love With You with Kelis, and Away featuring Sean Gannett.

You know the dance club charts. That means mostly young music buyers and it is great to know that they have discovered Enrique. As the legendary Julio’s son, people thought he would be this crooner forever. Soulful yes, but still a crooner. Not anymore.

If you want to move into the groove then check out Euphoria where Enrique has several fun, danceable, very young sounding tracks. And I guess this is the most important factor in his current success. Enrique has kept up with the times. He has astutely adapted his style to the demands of today’s new buyers. I Like It has turned him into hip-hop’s newest hero and one with Latin good looks to boot.

But truth to tell, Euphoria is cleverly aimed at Enrique’s fans from everywhere. This is why the CD is a big international hit. If they want him in his original Spanish, the album has No Me Digas Que No featuring Wisin & Yandel; Ayer; Cuando Me Enamoro featuring today’s big Latino pop star Juan Luis Guerra; Dile Que; Tu Y Yo; and a solo take on No Me Digas Que No.

If you want him singing in English, he has I Like It; One Day At A Time featuring Akon; Dirty Dancer with Usher; Why Not Me?; Heartbreaker; Coming Home; and Heartbeat. There is also Everything’s Gonna Be Alright featuring Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger. Now I would like very much to know if these two talked about their Filipino roots when they made the recording.

And take note, while he may sound different with the varied rhythms featured in the most of Euphoria, Enrique has not in any way forgotten his loyal following. It is for them that he did a light bolero in Cuando Me Enamoro and the lovely Dile Que. This one has him crooning again backed up by a Spanish guitar. All acoustic and of course, very romantic.

Enrique’s I Like It was one of the nominees in this week’s MTV Video Music Awards in the Best Dance Music Video category. He lost to Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance. It stays at No. 4 in this week’s Hot 100 songs list from Billboard Magazine.

The Top 20 tunes in the Hot 100 are: Love The Way You Lie by Eminem featuring Rihanna; Teenage Dream by Katy Perry; Dynamite by Taio Cruz; I Like It by Enrique featuring Pitbull; DJ Got Us Falling In Love by Usher featuring Pitbull, too; Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars; California Gurls also by Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg; Cooler Than Me by Mike Posner; Mine by Taylor Swift; and Take It Off by Ke$ha.

Magic by B.o.B featuring Rivers Cuomo; Airplanes also by B.o.B but featuring Hayley Williams of Paramore; Just A Dream by Nelly; Ridin’ Solo by Jason Derulo; Not Afraid by Eminem; Club Can’t Handle Me by Flo Rida featuring David Guetta; Misery by Maroon 5; Billionaire by Travis McCoy featuring Bruno Mars; Right Above It by Lil Wayne featuring Drake; and OMG by Usher, who seems to be collaborating with everybody these days.