Becky G’s past few albums have found her cruising in the pop lane while retaining a Latin twist to her sound, but ‘Baraja Bendita’ offers a return to her hip hop roots. Married with the melodic sensibilities of recent efforts, the California vocalist’s fifth album is an attempt to, in her words, “embrace every corner of her musical journey”. That proves to be an unwieldy proposition.
The album opens with the infectious 5’5, a song that’s primed for the dancefloor while boasting the sort of attitude that owns a room. Her presence is commanding and, while the storytelling is on the nose, it puts you at the heart of a hot Miami club. Cntrl is a prime cut of Latin dance-pop that could have been plucked out of the mid-to-late-noughties, while Oasis and Chula are a pair of sensual early highlights.
But this momentum proves hard to maintain once ‘Baraja Bendita’ reaches its midpoint. TQM/ILY is an inconsequential downgrade on the earlier, stronger +Pretty and, while there is at least an attempt to bring in a sense of drama with Bandera Blanca and Perreo Triste, they’re quickly forgotten. Equally, 2AM and Automatico are dime-a-dozen modern pop songs.
EPA and Glitch elevate the tail end of the record but, even with a trim running time of 47 minutes, there was no need for it to feature 17 tracks. Five or six should be resting on the cutting room floor, with a stronger whole as a result. When it’s good, it’s pretty great, but ‘Baraja Bendita’ is ultimately an album that falters due to its own ambition — Becky G’s musical journey has been long and successful, so to round it all up on a single record is a thankless task.
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