Mexican group Reik returned to their pop roots with Panorama, a 13-track album that honors their past while exploring more avant-garde compositions. It's their first LP since 2009 Ahorabut this album consisted mostly of previous hits with only a few new tracks.
Released on May 10th under Sony Music Mexico, Panorama includes the previous singles “Baja California”, “Abril”, “Gracias por Nada” and “El Correcto” with Carin León, in addition to “Roomies”, “Te Odio”, “Vámonos a Mi Casa” with LAGOS, the album's centerpiece 'No Molestar' and its title track.
“I'd say we haven't made an album like this since Des/Amor [in 2016], so it was extra special. We really felt like we had lost the muscle memory of how to make albums and how to work on them and release them,” says Reik vocalist Jesús Navarro. Billboard Español. “The first few weeks were extremely overwhelming because I didn't at least remember how much work it takes to try to release an album, but also promote it, put the finishing touches on it and at the same time plan the tour, the music video, the release, the promo… and it's something we've done thousands of times in the past, not all together in about 10 years.”
After spending several years experimenting with Latin urban sounds, Reik, which also includes guitarists Julio Ramírez and Bibi Marín, teamed up with MiSHNRZ, a production duo consisting of Ismael Cano Jr. and Matthew Rey. “We put a lot of heart and also a lot of thought into it. We didn't want to settle down,” says Ramírez. “We really wanted to make this a very unique album.”
“I think it was very automatic,” Marín adds of their reuniting to create an entirely new album. “I think when it's time to do something, you just do it… The gears of the machine have always been fine-tuned. Right now, we're very excited that everything is going, that we're in this new stage and we're happy.”
Rake spoke to me Billboard Español on Thursday (May 16) from Houston, where they performed a concert as part of their Panorama 2024 US tour. Presented by Loud and Live, the 25-date tour kicked off on May 11 in Orlando, Florida and wraps up on June 10 in Seattle . (For more information click here).
Below, Reik breaks down five key songs from their album Panorama.
“No Molester”
Julio Ramirez: Now that I think about it, that was the easiest, surprisingly. It was really cool when that song was made, because the truth is, the album was mostly made—I think we had about nine songs or 10 already—and we always wanted to keep it all pop, get our sound back… but change it a bit so it doesn't look like it's the same from tracks 1 to 13.
And when “No Molestar” starts, wow! I happened to be on the computer testing sounds from MiSHNRZ producer Ish (Ismael) and suddenly I was like “This is it!” It was the chorus chords, I remember. “TA ta ta.” So we immediately started humming the chorus and then we were like, “You know what? Let's do a verse!' And we went to the first chords and we were all excited. For us it was a bit of a Bruno Mars vibe in the studio. We finished the lyrics and there's a video of everyone dancing, jumping, having a blast.
That feeling made us say, “Wow, we have something special.” We always get emotional in the studio, but this song made us very emotional. And I love that we dared to include a super out of nowhere, French cover at the end of the song. The Beatles' “Michelle” was the inspiration. It was a treat for us too.
“Panorama”
Bibi Marín: “Panorama” was, in my opinion, the first song that came out of this new stage, of these new experiments that we were doing. And when I say experiments, I mean it was a very consciously decisive moment where we started looking for the new pop sound for Rake. It was already very clear to us that we didn't want to keep experimenting with urban… so we said, “Okay, pop, but how?” Because we don't want it to sound like we're going to release an album that might as well have come out in 2004 or 2005.
So it was the first time we got together with MiSHNRZ, who wrote almost the entire album, produced almost the entire album, in short. We got together and the first experiment that came out was 'Panorama' — so for everyone, it was very refreshing and very inspiring. It was a new, fresh sound, it was kind of challenging, but at the same time it made us feel like we were going in a really good direction. Even though it was a somewhat “rare” song for Rake, it was still very pop sounding. So much so that it even gave the album its title and kind of marked the direction in which we started to move musically.
“Ojos Papel” (feat. Leo Rizzi)
Jesus Navarro: “Ojos papel” is a very special song for me. I believe that Leo is one of the most special singers we have heard in the new music scene in Spanish and we are very aware of his existence. We had already made a track together on one of his albums — but it was a little weird because we had just come out of the pandemic and it was still hard to travel, so we made this track and released it without ever meeting in person. We just met at [2023] Latin Grammy in Seville and we gave each other a very big hug, with a lot of emotion.
Just recently, when he was in Mexico City a few months ago, we got together to write with him and this great song came out. I think Julio hit the mark at the beginning of the session when he talked to the whole team and they agreed to let Leo take the lead a little bit in the session so we could get a song that was ours but at the same time not typical, no what you would expect. I think the goal was achieved.
“Rooms”
Bibi Marín: I'm going to say “Roomies”, because apart from the fact that it's a song I love, I think it's the song that pays the most homage and reference to our origins in two senses: One, musically, in the sense that it's an extremely light pop song with good atmosphere. [and two] as in literally the end of the song, the outro is its intro “Qué Vida la Mía” [from 2005]. The idea of not only the song, but the whole album and this scene, is yes, to make the statement that we're going back to our roots — to a super pop pop — and what better way than to use a little bit of one of our first songs. I think that song covers a lot of ground there.
Baja California
Julio Ramirez: “Baja California” is a spectacular song for me. It became so important that we opened the album with this song, and we also opened the Panorama tour show with this song. We find the video impressive. It was really cool to go back to where we grew up, to do the video with Ry [Shorosky], who is a really impressive director from Utah. It turned out beautiful, the atmosphere is incredible. And I think it was really cool to make that track—I'll talk about it on a writer level—trying to make a pop that's cooler, a lot bolder.
I mean, in my eyes, the approach was what we would sound like with a kind of The Weeknd or Harry Styles vibe, but with our own signature — and out came “Baja California.” I don't know, I love this song, I love that we mention Baja, we mention Rosarito, but we put it in the context of a love story. I think it's very cool. I hope people like it. It sets the mood for the whole album.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/latin/reik-panorama-new-album-5-essential-songs-interview-1235686609/