Escape is the fifth studio album and second English-language album recorded by Spanish singer and songwriter Enrique Iglesias. It was released by Interscope Records on 30 October 2001.
The album Escape proved to be even more successful than its predecessor, Enrique (1999), having sold over 8 million copies worldwide.[7] The album spawned several hits such as "Hero", "Escape", "Don't Turn Off The Lights" and "Love To See You Cry." In November 2002 a second edition of the album was released with two new tracks; a new version of the track Maybe and To Love A Woman both of which were released as international singles.
Background
Iglesias co-wrote every track on the album and co-exective produced the album with Andres Restepo. The album returns Enrique to a straightforward pop style in comparison to the Latin-pop theme songs of his English debut. The album also has influences of 80s guitar rock much like his early Spanish releases. "I'm Latin and always will be but my music is not. Even when I only sang in Spanish, it was still pop."[8] Many of the tracks were co-written with Paul Barry and Mark Taylor who had written his previous hits "Bailamos" and "Rhythm Divine" as well as co-writing "Be With You". The album also has tracks written with Steve Morales and Kara DioGuardi as well as one track with Lester Mendez. Backing vocals for some tracks were provided by Jon Secada.
In interviews Iglesias has said that for many of the tracks on the album he started out simply with titles that he later based the songs around. The first song to use this method was "Don't Turn Off the Lights", which in a radio interview with EXA in Mexico he claimed was originally going to be the title of the album and the first single. In August 2001 he made the decision to release the ballad "Hero" which was seen as a risk but went on to become one his biggest hits.[9]
Escape debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, his then-highest debut on the chart, selling 267,000 copies in its first week, behind Michael Jackson's Invincible.[18] With "Hero" already at number one on the UK Singles Chart, the album also topped the UK Albums Chart, making Iglesias the only Latin artist to have a number-one album and number-one single on the UK charts simultaneously, as well as the first act of any nationality to do so in five years. Escape was the second-best-selling album of 2002 in the United Kingdom, beaten only by Robbie Williams' Escapology. It was also the best-selling album of 2002 in Australia.
The album also performed well throughout the world, being certified triple-platinum in the United States,[19] quadruple-platinum in the United Kingdom,[20] 5× platinum in Canada and Australia,[21][22] and platinum in Germany.[23]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
