Unwrapped (album) - Album History

Album History

Estefan worked with notable artists on the album. Stevie Wonder played harmonica and sang on "Into You", while Chrissie Hynde appeared on "One Name". "Hoy," which became one of Estefan's most successful singles, was written by Peruvian singer-composer Gian Marco and contains several Peruvian folk music elements.

The album uses the theme of unwrapping herself to the world in the lyrics, recording and the artwork. The picture on the back cover is actually Gloria's back. Next to the title, "Into You," there is a pink line that runs down to the bottom. That is the scar from Gloria's back surgery when she broke her back in 1990. She has never shown the scar publicly before. Since the lyrics were supposed to come from within her, some of the song lyrics are actually written on her body backwards, hence stressing that the lyrics emerged from inside her body. If the viewer puts the picture of the cover up to a mirror he/she can read some of the lyrics to "Wrapped", "Famous" and "I Will Always Need Your Love." The picture above the "I Will Always Need Your Love" lyrics is Gloria holding hands with her husband Emilio, for whom the song was written. The picture of the hand pointing to the lyrics to "You" is Gloria's daughter, Emily, for whom the song was written.

The recording of the album is very different than any other of Gloria's albums. As mentioned in the bonus feature in the Live & Unwrapped DVD, the album was recorded live which means the band played and Gloria sang at the same time. There is less reverb (echo) on Gloria's vocals, done to create an intimate feeling. The album is very acoustic and is designed to feel like an unplugged album. This is also the first Estefan album to not feature a brass section.

To promote the album, Gloria launched the American tour Live & Re-Wrapped Tour which was made after her Live & Unwrapped performances at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.