Felicidades (album)

¡Felicidades! is the fourth studio album and the first Christmas-themed album by the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, released in 1979 by the record label Padosa.^[1] It features the Meléndez brothers—Carlos, Óscar, and Ricky—along with Fernando Sallaberry and René Farrait. This was the last album to feature Carlos Meléndez, as he reached the group's age limit of 15 in early 1980 and was replaced by Johnny Lozada.^[2]

According to author Damarisse Martínez Ruiz, albums like ¡Felicidades! served as a vehicle to expand the group into international markets, as evidenced by their appearance on the Spanish television show 300 millones, in 1979.^[3]

The album was recorded and mixed at V.U. Recording in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Jonatan Castro and Edgardo Díaz were responsible for the recording engineering, while the mixing was carried out by Vinny Urrutia and Edgardo Díaz. Musical arrangements were created by Miguel Monserrat, and Edgardo Díaz served as the production director. On the visual side, the cover photo was provided courtesy of New York Department Stores, and the back cover was designed by Rod Hernández. The cover layout was prepared by Pichy Ponla and René Zayas, with Ricardo Pérez acting as production assistant. The album cutting was done by Miguel Vega, and the cover cutting was handled by The Lacquers Lab in San Juan.^[4]

Among the tracks on the album ¡Felicidades!, four compositions by Herminio de Jesús stand out. A renowned Puerto Rican songwriter with a deep connection to his country's traditional music,^[5] he contributed the following songs: "El chiji navideño", "Naqui quiñaqui", "Arre, caballito", and "Eso es lo mío". Four of the songs are credited as "D. R.", an abbreviation of Derechos Reservados, which typically indicates that the works are traditional or of public domain origin, with no specific composer officially credited. These songs are: "Ensillando mi caballo", "Noche de paz", "A la banda de allá", and "Plena borinqueña". "Noche de paz" is the Spanish-language version of the well-known Christmas carol "Silent Night", originally written in German as "Stille Nacht" in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber (music) and Joseph Mohr (lyrics).^[6][7] "Plena borinqueña", as the title suggests, draws from the plena genre—an Afro-Puerto Rican musical tradition used historically for storytelling and social commentary^[8]—highlighting the album's cultural roots.

To promote the album, the group performed on television programs. On 31 December 1979, they performed four songs from the album on the Spanish show 300 millones, broadcast on TVE1 in Spain, and transmitted via satellite to all member stations of the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) in Hispanic America and the United States, which aired it in their countries.^[9]

The album was not released in its entirety in the United States, but in 1983, the record label Profono included six of its ten tracks on a compilation titled Feliz Navidad — Con 14 Éxitos Navideños that also featured the group's second Christmas album, Es Navidad (1980), in full.^[10] This compilation was commercially successful, appearing on the Latin albums chart in Billboard magazine.^[11][12] The remaining four tracks from ¡Felicidades! were not included in any other Menudo releases.

In her book Menudo: El Reencuentro con la Verdad, author Damarisse Martínez Ruiz provides a critical analysis of the album ¡Felicidades! and Menudo's other early works. She argues that these productions were not distinguished by their musical quality, instead featuring simplistic and underdeveloped content. Ruiz reveals that to compensate for the group's vocal limitations, the choruses were often enhanced by professional backup singers and vocal coach Marilyn Pagán—a practice that underscored the prioritization of image over artistic authenticity. However, Ruiz acknowledges the strategic role these albums played in Menudo's trajectory. Though the songs were considered saccharine and repetitive, they were deliberately crafted with catchy choruses and youthful themes, targeting a teenage audience that had been largely overlooked by the music industry at the time.^[3]

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ¡Felicidades!.^[4]

• Production director: Edgardo Díaz
• Recording and mixing: V.U. Recording, San Juan, P.R.
• Recording engineers: Jonatan Castro, Edgardo Díaz
• Mixing: Vinny Urrutia, Edgardo Díaz
• Cover photo: courtesy of New York Department Stores
• Back cover: Rod Hernández
• Production assistant: Ricardo Pérez
• Cover layout: Pichy Ponla, René Zayas
• Cutting: Miguel Vega
• Cover cutting: The Lacquers Lab, San Juan, P.R.
• Arrangements: Miguel Monserrat