At the height of her decade-long rise to fame, Julieta Venegas released her first live album, MTV Unplugged, a star-studded and meticulously arranged performance recorded before 450 adoring fans in Mexico City. She performs her greatest hits, of course, but she also adds to her set list relatively obscure songs – most delightfully "Esta Vez," a ballad from her debut album, Aquí (1998) – and several new songs, including the international chart-topping lead single, "El Presente." As with many MTV Unplugged albums, guest stars are featured throughout; most noteworthy among them here are Spanish rapper Mala Rodríguez, who performs in the place of Chilean rapper Anita Tijoux on "Eres Para Mí," and Brazilian superstar Marisa Monte, who duets in Portuguese on "Ilusión" (a new song written by Venegas, Monte, and Arnaldo Antunes). Guest star or not, the performances are each interesting in their arrangements, which are generally quite different from their studio original counterparts.

Otra Cosa, the eagerly awaited fifth studio album by Julieta Venegas, is remarkably similar to her previous two, Sí (2003) and Limón y Sal (2006). The similarity is remarkable because both those albums were all-around excellent, loaded with Latin pop hits and first-rate album tracks. There wasn't a bad track on either album, and Otra Cosa is likewise rock-solid, starting off with three fantastic songs in a row, "Amores Platónicos," "Bien o Mal," and "Despedida." Moreover, all three albums are similar in style, produced by Cachorro López and comprised of upbeat pop songs with clever lyrics, rich melodies, and a range of instrumentation (guitar, piano, accordion, and beats, above all). Otra Cosa was eagerly awaited in part because of the four years since Limón y Sal. During that time, Venegas became one of the most popular and critically acclaimed Latin pop artists in the world.

Afro-Cuban star Daymé Arocena releases her new album Alkemi released via Brownswood Recordings. It is her first album since Sonocardiogram in 2019. When Daymé decided to switch gears and record her fourth studio album in Puerto Rico with the iconic producer Eduardo Cabra (Calle 13), she never imagined that she would end up moving there. From the cosmopolitan smoothness of lead single “Suave y Pegao” – an effortless fusion of jazz, bossa nova and urbano stylings with reggaeton star Rafa Pabön on guest vocals – to the smoldering neo-soul of “A Fuego Lento,” with Dominican singer Vicente García, Daymé’s latest album relies on sacred formats of the past but rearranges them in a conscious quest to redraw the very definition of what Latin pop is supposed to sound like.

The English-titled version of Shakira's seventh studio album, The Sun Comes Out/Sale el Sol, features exactly the same 15 tracks as the Spanish edition, but with a different running order, as the collaborations with Dominican rapper El Cata ("Rabiosa", "Loca") are reduced to bonus track status in favor of the more well-known hookups with Pitbull and Dizzee Rascal, respectively, while the official 2010 World Cup theme, "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)," swaps places on the track list with the "Esto Es África" version.

Like many eponymous albums, Shakira's self-titled 2014 set marks a new beginning: a new album for a new label after she got a new job. The new job was as a co-host on the hit American televised musical contest The Voice, the new label was RCA, and the new album was her first full-fledged pop album since She Wolf, the rather brilliant, hard electronic dance record that stiffed in 2009. She bounced back in 2010 with Sale el Sol, but that album wasn't made with the U.S. market in mind, something that certainly can't be said of Shakira. Opening up with a duet with Rihanna, and later finding space for her Voice co-host Blake Shelton, Shakira is determined to appeal to all audiences here: don't like the relentless dance of "Dare (La La La)"? Stick around for the reggae collaboration with Magic! on "Cut Me Deep," or maybe the appealing faux-folk of "23" or the full-bore adult-pop assault of "The One Thing," which may be the best cut here.

In early 1990, when she was one of the biggest pop stars in the world, Gloria Estefan suffered a broken vertebrae when her tour bus was struck in an accident, and her miraculous recovery from that near tragedy greatly informed her successive album, Into the Light. Though often noted as a "comeback" album, that descriptor is misleading. Yes, Into the Light is a comeback – a comeback from her accident, that is. It's not a comeback in the sense that her previous album, Cuts Both Ways, had been a failure or even a disappointment. No, Estefan hadn't fallen off, so to speak, with that album. Quite the opposite. It was a monster hit, breaking into the Top Ten and scoring a couple of high-charting ballads: "Don't Wanna Lose You" and "Here We Are." It also marked a drastic shift away from the unabashed dance-pop of her Miami Sound Machine output toward a more respectable adult contemporary appeal. This shift affected not only her image but also her audience as a result, and that shift is even more apparent on Into the Light. In fact, the shift seems complete, as this is full-fledged adult contemporary album with serious themes and toned-down production.

Aguilera is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Christina Aguilera. It was released through Sony Music Latin on May 31, 2022, as the follow-up to her first Spanish-language album, Mi Reflejo (2000), and her previous release, Liberation (2018). Titled after her Ecuadorian surname, Aguilera created the album as a means to pay tribute to and connect herself and her children to their Latin American heritage. Aguilera is a trilogy album, consisting of three separately-released parts: La Fuerza, La Tormenta and La Luz. Each part deals with one of the album's central themes of empowerment, vulnerability, and healing.

Joan Manuel Serrat i Teresa is a Spanish musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and performer. He is considered one of the most important figures of modern, popular music in both the Spanish and Catalan languages. Serrat's lyrical style has been influenced by other poets such as Mario Benedetti, Antonio Machado, Miguel Hernández, Rafael Alberti, Federico García Lorca, Pablo Neruda, and León Felipe. He has also recorded songs by Violeta Parra and Víctor Jara. Serrat was one of the pioneers of what is known in Catalan as "Nova Cançó". Joan Manuel Serrat is also known by the names "El noi del Poble-sec" and "El Nano". In 1970, he represented Spain in the IV Festival Internacional da Canção in Rio with Penélope, where he won the Lyrics, Music and Performance awards.

Smooth jazz stalwarts the Rippingtons infuse their trademark brand of instrumental pop with a Latin aesthetic on Wild Card. Once again featuring the lead guitar of Russ Freeman, the Rippingtons deliver a solid collection of mellow contemporary pop and lite jazz that should please longtime fans. Evenly split between R&B-inflected cuts such as the Aretha Franklin hit "Till You Come Back to Me" and Latin tracks including the flamenco-inspired "Spanish Girl" and the salsa-ready "Mulata di Mi Amor," Wild Card is a pleasant listen.

Is there a name for the opposite of a break-up album? Because that's what Camila Cabello's sophomore effort Romance feels like: a record as bursting with ecstatic emotion and erotic desire as the exuberant delirium of having just fallen in love. It's a palpable vibe she put on display during her blush-inducing performance of the single "Señorita" with her duet partner (and rumored boyfriend) Shawn Mendes at the 2019 American Music Awards. The performance ended with Cabello and Mendes teasing a kiss, a bold move that left the audience excited for what the rest of Romance would hold. What Cabello does reveal on Romance is an artist continuing to refine her distinctive pop persona as she happens to be deep in the sway of love.