Track Listing

1. Tu Amor
2. Wanna Play
3. My Philosophy
4. Connected
5. I Wanna Be the Rain
6. Carino Mio
7. Era La Música
8. Keep It Down Low
9. Happy Worst Day
10. This Is Love
11. Save Me
12. Money Money [*]
13. Tu Amor [Anavidad Mix]
14. Celestial: Ser O Parecer/Dame/Bésame Sin Miedo/Celestial [Sampler]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106753 in Music
• Released on: 2006-12-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Amazon.ca
The massive success of Mexican pop group RBD can be described as such: the six members of the band were originally cast as bandmates on a Mexican TV series entitled Rebelde ('rebel') and the enormous success of the show made putting together a real-life band a natural next step. The group exploded in the Latin scene, winning Billboard Awards, packing arenas, and selling almost ten million CDs in their first two years together. Rebels, the group's third disc (their first English-language recording) features five of their previous hits translated into English. The songs are all group efforts, with members trading off vocal leads and each contributing harmonies. Since most of RBD are TV veterans, it's safe to say that some are perhaps more gifted actors than they are singers (consider Dulce Maria's painful Britney-on-helium whine). Thankfully, the songwriting is left up to the pros who provide a consistent balance of teen-friendly top-40 pop, largely centered around two topics: love and the loss of love. "Tu Amor" and "My Philosophy" are two examples of straight-up boy-band style love songs with a Latin hue; the group occasionally brings in a somewhat gruff reggaeton sound ("Cariño Mio," "Wanna Play") which is where they shine the brightest. There is admittedly very little that is rebellious about RBD, but their devoted audience clearly loves them just the way they are. --Denise Sheppard

Customer Reviews

Release in English a little rough
Rebels by R.B.D. was originally released Dec. 19, 2006 but it has taken me a month and a half to translate the whole album and write a review on it.

Okay, I jest. This album is in English (except for the last song) and has touches of Spanish intertwined for spice. A good deal of the songs are translated adaptations from their earlier albums, so fans of the group will notice some similar sounds. The lyrics on the other hand... I have not heard any of their other songs before, but I can tell you whoever translated those songs did their job. Unfortunately, they did it literally.

One that really bugs me is in My Philosophy. "Always lookin' for a minimal sign." How about "the smallest sign?" Same number of syllables and it sounds much better. Or what about "I can't stand sometimes the morning light" from Save Me. These small flaws make me wonder how English lyrics sound when translated into other languages.

For fans of nasal music artists, "Connected" features the singing of Dulce Maria. I hope it's just singing in English that makes her sound so bad. I have to rate the song at least one star less because of that. She also leads off in This Is Love, but thankfully gets pulled after the first stanza. I think the only saving grace for her is her decent looks. But again, I haven't heard her sing in Spanish so I won't write her off completely.

Two inclusions on Rebels make me question whether I received full value for the $9.99 I spent on the album. This album was released before Christmas, but remixing and slightly rewording Tu Amor, which is one of the good songs on the album, was a lazy thing to do. Don't get me wrong - it doesn't sound bad. The move brings back memories of Billy Mack in Love Actually though. The only way he made his song No. 1 was singing naked, a sight we don't want to see from R.B.D., unless it's only the female band members.

Celestial is just a sampler from their Spanish album of the same name. Two minutes of wasted disc space. You do get to hear 30 seconds of My Philosophy in Spanish though, and it seems better than the English version.

Rebels does have several redeeming qualities. The afore mentioned Tu Amor and I Wanna Be the Rain are two beautifully composed ballads that caught my attention on my initial listen through. Additionally, two reggaeton-ish songs, Wanna Play and Cariño Mio, made me want to bring the dancer out of me. Salsa-sounding Era la Música did the same, but I didn't think it wise to dance while driving. Oddly enough, I liked Money Money, sung entirely in Spanish, a lot too. I still don't know what they're saying in the song though.

If you don't mind Spanish accents and a new taste to your music collection, try Rebels out. Just make sure you don't pay more than $10.

bi-lingual pop
I liked the all-Spanish version better. This is still bouncy and fun, but I miss the heart of the original.

It's good but better in spanish
RBD really tried their best to do a good CD in English and they somewhat succeeded. I like listening to the CD and I eventually didn't notice their bad accents. If you are English speaking- you won't understand why RBD is so popular by listening to this CD. My adivice is to buy the spanish one. Even if you don't know Spanish, you'll love it. Then when you get to liking it you might want to buy the English one just to hear more from them. I remember when that song Drangostea Din Tei came out in Romanian, I don't know Romanian and I loved it. I know that if they sang in English I wouldn't enjoy it as much so just buy the Spanish CD and you'll eventually understand it. You can get their lyrics and put it through a translator website and you can somewhat get the meaning. They all sing MUCH better in spanish and their spanish songs are more "them" so you should definitely not judge them solely on this CD. Get the Spanish ones, the first or third and you will definitely love them. OO and i wanted to clear up why they're called Rebels. In the novela which they were in they were in they did not conform to all the rules and rose up against them to help other and for justice. So they literally are "Rebels" to the meaness and injustice of the world. They also were like typical teenagers and broke the rules they thought made no sense- all in goodness and innocence.