Laura Pausini Matures With New Studio Set

Pop vocalist Laura Pausini says her new album, "Resta in Ascolto," is a more grown-up work. The title translates to "keep listening," and Warner Music Italy hopes fans do just that.

The set will be released Oct. 22 in Italy and will roll out through Warner Music International affiliates in the following few days. Atlantic will release it Oct. 26 in the United States.

Warner Music Italy says the album will initially ship about 1 million units between Spanish and Italian versions.

Pausini's 2001 best-of compilation sold 3 million units worldwide, including 700,000 in Italy and 800,000 in France, according to Warner Music Italy president/CEO Massimo Giuliano. "That's the benchmark for this [new] record," he says. "We plan to work the album for a year to achieve the same result."

Pausini's Spanish-language version of the best-of set ("Lo Mejor de Laura Pausini, Volver Junto a Ti") was released by Warner Latina in the United States. It spent 46 weeks on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart, peaking at No. 9 in February 2002.

Pausini released an English-language set, "From the Inside," in November 2002, also on Atlantic in the United States and globally through WMI. Despite high expectations (Billboard, March 15, 2003), "From the Inside" has shipped only 800,000 units worldwide, according to Warner.

Pausini says she still has mixed feelings about the project.

"Executives at Atlantic [in the United States] tried to get me to pretend that I was younger than I was," Pausini recalls. "And worse, they sent radio stations a dance-remix version of the single 'Surrender.' It topped the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play charts, but it really annoyed me. I see myself more as an AC artist.

"At one point, I delivered an ultimatum: Either that version goes, or I go," she adds. "Atlantic has since changed its management, but that wasn't because of me!"

Despite reservations, Pausini says she would repeat the English-language experiment, "if we can find the right music."

For the moment, she's happy working in Italian and Spanish. "From the Inside" was "a learning experience," she says. "This [new] album is definitely the result of that."

The 30-year-old Pausini says she sees "Resta in Ascolto" as "the album of a more mature woman who's no longer a teenager."

Writers contributing to the new album include Madonna and Italian artists Vasco Rossi and Biagio Antonacci.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Toni Vandoni is artistic director of Milan-based domestic-music adult top 40 national network Radio Italia and sister video channelVideo Italia.

He agrees with Pausini's description of "Resta in Ascolto" as a coming-of-age album.

"As an artist, she no longer needs to convince anyone. Now, it's a question of confirming her talent," Vandoni says.

He also suggests that Pausini's English-language venture had a positive effect on "Resta in Ascolto." The title track and first single is "more international than her previous efforts, and you can see the benefit 'From the Inside' has had on her artistic development," Vandoni says. "It's a step forward."

He adds that the single has been in heavy rotation (28 spins weekly) on Radio Italia since it was serviced Sept. 10. The video is getting 82 plays per week on Video Italia, he adds.

NEVER DISAPPOINTS

Retailers are also enthusiastic about the album. Tiziano Foglioli is chief buyer for the five Italian stores of French chain FNAC. "We see this as a potential top-five seller for us between now and Christmas," he says.

Pausini "might not sell quite as much in Italy as an Eros Ramazzotti or a Vasco Rossi," Foglioli says, "but her products never disappoint. She offers retailers certainty in difficult times."

According to Warner Music Italy, Pausini has shipped 22 million records worldwide since her 1993 debut at the annual Sanremo Festival.

In the United States, Pausini's Spanish-language hits stretch back almost a decade, including three No. 1 titles on the Billboard Latin Pop Airplay chart.

The artist has also long been established in Latin America, according to Miami-based Gabriela Martínez, VP of marketing for Warner Music Latin America. "Laura Pausini totally crossed the language barrier a long time ago," Martínez says. "We consider her Latin, and that's how we treat her album releases."

Promotional plans for the album roll into next year and call for Pausini to tour extensively in Europe beginning in February 2005, with Latin American dates to follow in late spring.



Additional reporting by Leila Cobo in Miami.