Livin' la Vida Loca

The song finds Martin getting wild and crazy with a seductive woman who makes him forget his troubles and live for the moment. It was written by Desmond Child and Robi Rosa. Child has written hits for many artists, including Kiss, Cher, Bon Jovi, and Aerosmith. Rosa was in the group Menudo with Martin. Child and Rosa said they were trying to write "The Millennium party song from Hell." What they came up with was a new sound of Latin pop that crossed over to the mainstream, and it was partly the result of technological breakthrough: Pro Tools digital recording. In a Songfacts interview with Desmond Child, he explained: "We were the first to record and mix a record all what they call 'in the box,' on Pro Tools. At the beginnings of Pro Tools. We were the first to go all the way to #1 with a song that was 100% non-analog, and that fact made it into the Wall Street Journal." He continued: "One of the things about that new sound of digital, it had a kind of metallic sound, and to compensate for that metallic sound, we made it drier than Latin music had ever been, which is more like ambient dance music, where things were deconstructed and you could hear everything your friend said, instead of the kind of records that sounded as though they were in a hall or with a lot of echo or had a corny kind of Europop sound. So we changed that with Ricky. We got his voice right in everybody's face. It really worked, and from that moment on nothing has ever sounded like it used to sound."

Martin's first mainstream hit, "Livin' La Vida Loca" took off after his triumphant performance of "Cup Of Life" at the 1999 Grammy Awards. He got a lot of media attention and expanded his fan base to an English-speaking audience eager for songs they would Zumba to 10 years later. A notable supporter was Madonna, who did a duet with Martin called "Be Careful (Cuidado Con Mi Corazón)."

Frank Sinatra died on May 14, 1998, which was around the time this song was conceived. Desmond Child told Songfacts that Sinatra's music was a strong influence on this song. Said Child: "Frank Sinatra's music was coming out of the airwaves, and we were all of a sudden into this Rat Pack idea, and also the Latin Elvis concept that we had for him. So we put that into the songs, as well - there was a swing aspect to it. So the verses were more like that, and then the choruses were all out rock anthems, with horns. Because horns had fallen out of favor, we brought horns back."