Libra is the fourth studio album by Argentine singer Lali, released on 12 November 2020 by Sony Music Argentina. The singer worked with a variety of producers and co-writers on the album, including Rafael Arcaute, Tainy, Fito Páez, Camilo, Mau y Ricky, Julio Reyes, Abraham Mateo, Big One, Rec808, and JonTheProducer, among others.
The album expands on the pop sound of its predecessors, A Bailar (2014), Soy (2016) and Brava (2018), while incorporating elements of hip hop, trap, R&B, reggaeton, and urban pop. Precisely, Libra finds Lali looking for a balance between her signature pop sound, which she defines as her "essence", and these new urban elements that she had been incorporating into her music since Brava. Cazzu, Mau y Ricky, Noriel and CNCO make guest appearances in the album.
Libra was preceded by the release of four singles between October 2019 and August 2020: "Laligera", "Como Así", "Lo Que Tengo Yo" and "Fascinada". The album was released on the evening of 12 November 2020 as a surprise release, exactly an hour after the Cazzu-assisted track, "Ladrón", was released as its fifth single. The record debuted at number three on the Argentine Albums chart, and it climbed to the number-one position the following week. It went on to spend seven consecutive weeks on the chart's top ten.
Background and recording
In August 2018, Lali released her third studio album Brava. Work on Libra commenced six months later, as the earliest record of Lali working on it suggests, in February 2019. In early 2019, the singer traveled to the United States to promote her collaboration with Thalía, titled "Lindo Pero Bruto", which both singers had recently released as a single. During that trip, Lali got in a studio with Mau y Ricky and Camilo to work on what eventually became the album's sixth track, "No Puedo Olvidarte". In March, Lali posted a series of photos to Instagram with the caption "Studio Time" from Miami. Work on the studio continued in April as Lali posted a photo from a studio with DJ Snake. In May, it was announced that Lali was going to host the 2019 Premios Juventud alongside CNCO and Alejandra Espinoza. For that reason, she traveled to Miami to announce the nominees, and she stayed for a couple of weeks to work on new music with Rafael Arcaute, Julio Reyes and other producers and songwriters.
In June, Lali confirmed that work on her fourth studio album had effectively begun via Twitter: "After many years in the music industry, on the way to my fourth studio album, questioning and challenging myself is necessary. [I am] in a different place as a woman and as an artist! [I am] going out of my confort zone[,] focusing on what is truly important for me" In July, the singer once again traveled to the United States to co-host the 2019 Premios Juventud, and, again, stayed to work on new music. By that time, Lali admitted that Miami had become the "operations center" for the creation of her fourth studio album. On October and November, Lali released "Laligera" and "Como Así", respectively, as the first singles off Libra.
On 7 November, Lali finished the last leg of her Brava Tour, in which she visited multiple U.S. cities and culminated in Washington, D.C. Exactly one week later, it was announced that Lali was going to be part of the main cast of a new Netflix series, titled Sky Rojo. In late November, Lali moved to Spain and settled in Madrid to shoot the series. The shooting of the series delayed the release of Lali's new music. Although the shooting of Sky Rojo was originally planned to take place in approximately four months, the production of the series was forced to stop and was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic starting from March 2020. The pandemic caused the series to stop and, therefore, Lali's music to be further delayed. Before a nation-wide lockdown was established in Argentina, Lali managed to return to the country and go through quarantine in her Buenos Aires house. The singer took advantage of the time she spent in lockdown to focus on her new music. In May, Lali released "Lo Que Tengo Yo" as the album's third single. She recorded and released the song during lockdown, although her original plan was to dismiss it from the album's tracklist. By the end of May, although the nation-wide lockdown in Argentina was still running, Lali was legally allowed to return to Spain to keep shooting Sky Rojo. In November 2020, Lali confessed that, like many of the Sky Rojo staff, she tested positive for COVID-19 between the months of June and November.