Songoftheday 8/27/19 - I've been avoiding things I'm missing, then you came into my life a brand new flower baby...

"Mental Picture" - Jon Secada
from the album Heart, Soul & A Voice (1994)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #29 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 6

Today's song of the day comes from Latin-American pop singer/songwriter Jon Secada, who had last landed in the top ten in the U.S. with his song "If You Go" in the summer of 1994. The second release from his Heart, Soul & A Voice album, the seductive "Whipped", got to #34 on Billboard magazine's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") chart, as well as #20 in Canada, but the track stalled down at #65 on the pop Hot 100. Perhaps it was too intense in sexuality for American audiences at the time (recalling the experimentation of "Justify My Love"). But Jon rebounded with the third single from the record, "Mental Picture". Written by Jon with longtime collaborator Miguel Morejon, "Mental Picture" was also boosted by an appearance in the Sly Stallone movie The Specialist...

"Mental Picture" became Jon's sixth and so far final top-40 pop hit in the U.S. in February of 1995. The song also climbed to #10 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart, while the Spanish version, "Solo tu Imagen", made it to #13 on their Latin Songs chart. The remixes of the track landed Secada his first charting club hit at #30 on the Dance Club Play list as well. Internationally, the song climbed to #16 in Canada, while just missing the top-40 in the UK at #44.

The next single from the set, the Diane Warren-penned ballad "Where Do I Go From You", went to #36 on the Adult Contemporary tally, but only managed to "bubble under" the pop Hot 100 at #112. Later that year, Jon recorded a ballad duet for the Disney movie Pocahontas with R&B singer Shanice. The result, "If I Never Knew You", again "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #108, eclipsed by Vanessa Williams' "Colors Of The Wind". Jon also released an album for the Latin market only, Amor, and from it the single "Es Por Ti" ("Is For You") peaked at #5 on the Latin Songs chart.

In 1997, Secada returned with his third English-language album, Secada. The lead single from the set, "Too Late, Too Soon", was a worthy ballad in the vein of "If You Go", but stopped one notch short of the pop top-40 at #41, while getting to #8 on the Adult Contemporary radio list and #30 on the Adult Top-40 chart. He emerged again in 2000 with his fourth set, Better Part Of Me; the lead single "Stop" got to #23 on the Adult Contemporary list and became his biggest dance hit at #15 on the Dance Club Play chart. But despite the "Latin Explosion" going at the time, Jon had more success as a writer for Ricky Martin than for himself, writing his top ten hit "She's All I Ever Had".

After another break where Jon concentrated on stage performances, he came back in 2005 with Same Dream. From that set "Window To My Heart" went to #6 on the Adult Contemporary list, spending almost eight months on the chart. Also at that time, a holiday single, a cover of "Feliz Navidad", spent a week at #3 on that chart as well. His most recent radio hit came in 2012, when the title track to his album I'm Never Too Far Away went to #29 on the Adult Contemporary format tally. Jon's latest album, To Beny Moré With Love, was released in 2017 and won a Latin Grammy for best Traditional Tropical Album.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)



The Spanish version of the song, "Solo Tu Imagen", climbed to #13 on Billboard's Latin Songs list...

 And here's Jon performing "Mental Picture" live in concert in Rio...

Up tomorrow: Soul group from New Jersey score a hit by wanting their mama back.