Insomniac (Enrique Iglesias Album) - Background and Composition

Background and Composition

"Sometimes I take a pill to sleep, or two or six. But I guess that is the way it goes - when you put three years into making an album, you also become a bit of an insomniac. I have always been more of a night person. I never lay vocals onto any song before eight or nine at night. I always work at night. I go to the studio at six or seven in the evening and leave again at six in the morning. So in a way the album was done by night."

—Enrique Iglesias told to The Insider about recording the album.

The album is his first for four years since 7, which failed to match the staggering sales of 2001's Escape. "Insomniac" is not just the title of the album, it is also a fact of Iglesias's life, who says he often takes sleeping pills to get a good night's rest. Iglesias recorded most of the album in the evening and early hours of the morning. He wrote more than 50 songs before settling on 12 that he felt were strong enough to put on the album.

Insomniac runs the gamut of emotional anxiety, moody pining, enduring love and a constant sexual pulse. He says he wrote hundreds of songs for the album. "The more songs I wrote, the best chance that I could pick 12, 15 great ones. It's not that I wanted to make a musical change, I just wanted to write good songs." The album is said to be Iglesias' most diverse to date. It features a song titled "Miss You", which he has dedicated to his girlfriend, former tennis star Anna Kournikova, as well as a track, "Push", which he performs with rapper Lil' Wayne -- a big departure from his usual material. The first single, "Do You Know", has become known as the "ping pong song" because of its stand-out beat. There is also a cover of indie pop band Ringside's "Tired of Being Sorry".

"I wanted to write about love because it is the one thing that we all identify with. Everyone knows what it feels like to be with someone you love, and to fall out of love. You suffer because of love and then love makes you happy."