Border Girl is the sixth studio album and first English-language album by Mexican recording artist Paulina Rubio, released on June 18, 2002 by Universal Records. Its music incorporates Latin pop styles with rock, R&B, dance, and mariachi elements. The album's lead single, "Don't Say Goodbye" would become her most successful song in English. Other singles released from the album were "I'll Be Right Here ", "The One You Love", "Casanova", and "Libre". Each of the main single releases, as well as other English songs on the album, have Spanish-language counterparts that became big hits on Billboard'sHot Latin Songs chart.
Background
After the success of her previous album Paulina, Universal Records decided to launch Rubio's career in the English market. Contributions to the album's production came from a wide range of producers and songwriters, including Cheryl Yie, Gen Rubin, Calanit Ledani, Daryl Zero, Jeeve, Kevin Colbert, Richard Marx, Marcello Azevedo, Brett James, Troy Verges, Jodi Marr, Rodolfo Castillo, Michelle Bell, Desmond Child, and once again with Estéfano and Christian De Walden. Some of the songs from Paulina were re-recorded in English for Border Girl. The album spawned five singles, giving Paulina a number one hit on Spanish radio: "Baila Casanova". Also, her first English-language single "Don't Say Goodbye" is still her most well-known song in English; it saw a physical release in the United Kingdom. The Spanish versions of the album's singles entered the Top 10 of Billboard‘s Hot Latin Songs chart.
Reception
Critical response
The album has received favorable reviews. Ken Micallef from Rolling Stone gave a mixed review saying "her taste for combining techno, pop and Mexican flavors quickly asserts her unique potential." Jose F. Promis of Allmusic stated that it "is a winning combination of different musical styles, successfully bridging pop, dance, hip-hop, rock, ballads, Latin, and even ranchera into one delicious package." Leila Cobo of Billboard said that Border Girl'' is a party album with a wide array of elements and praise Rubio's vocal as "a voice that is sensually raspy but too wispy", leaving a good convincing impression. People Magazine recognized that she "brings to mind Kylie Minogue ’80s-style uptempo numbers such." and she does "a couple of forays into the pop-R&B territory of Jennifer Lopez".
Commercial performance
The album debuted at #11 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 56,000 copies, becoming Rubio's highest charting album in the U.S. As of December 2006 the album had sold 286,000 copies in United States according to Nielsen SoundScan. It was certified gold in July 23, 2002, indicating shipments of over 500,000 units. It was also certified Gold in Spain. The album managed to become a top tenhit on the Canadian Album's chart peaking at #9. The album managed to chart on countries such as New Zealand, Dutch, Germany, Austria, Greece, Ireland, Russia and on the Swedish album charts where Paulina had not charted before. Border Girl also was number one in sales in Mexico. With this album, Paulina is introduced to the rest of the world and visits countries such as the United Kingdom and Japan to promote the album. As of December 2002, the album had sold more than 1 million copies worldwide.
