Lo Que te Conté Mientras te Hacías la Dormida

Lo que te conté mientras te hacías la dormida (Spanish for What I told you while you pretended to be asleep) is the third studio album of Spanish band La Oreja de Van Gogh. It was released on April 28, 2003 through Sony Music Entertainment label. It is the best selling work internationally from the band and it is certified as one of the best selling albums of all time in Spain. In France the album was released under the name of "París".

A critical and commercial success. Only one single was published before the release of the album. "Puedes contar conmigo" was released on March 28 of the same year. It became a commercial success in Spain where it reached number one and overseas reaching number four in the United States.

Some time after the album was published new singles were released. "20 de enero" which reached number one in Spain as well as their prior release. "Rosas" which became a international and commercial success for the band both in America and Spain, reaching number four on US Hot Latin Songs and number one in Spain again. Overtime the single has become one of the band's signature songs as well as their most listened song across all platforms. "Deseos de cosas imposibles" was released to less commercial success in Spain although it peaked at 24 in United States.

Other songs "Geografía", "Vestido azul", "Historia de un sueño" y "Bonustrack" were released to a minor success globally but it maintained popularity in Spain where some appeared on the charts the latter reaching number nine on PROMUSICAE Top 100 Canciones.

Commercially Lo que te conté mientras te hacías la dormida was a success. Peaking at number one on the Spanish albums chart and number eight on US Top Latin Albums. Globally it’s La Oreja de Van Gogh's second best-selling album with over 2.000.000 copies sold worldwide. In Spain the album is one of the best selling albums of all time with a certification of 7x Platinum awarded by PROMUSICAE for exceeding 700.000 copies sold. In Hispanic America Lo que te conté mientras te hacías la dormida was as well received, being certified as multi platinum in Argentina, Mexico, Chile and platinum in Colombia

Background
On previous album El viaje de Copperpot (2000) La Oreja de Van Gogh characterized their own pop rock and ballad sound similar to their first record Dile al sol (1998) while delved more into a Spanish pop rock style with songs such as "Cuídate" as well and power-ballads with songs like their hit "La playa".

However when recording Lo que te conté mientras te hacías la dormida the band mixed their previous style of genres while exploring Electropop and Europop resulting in songs like "Puedes contar conmigo" which contains more of a pop rock style as well as receiving influences of electropop synthetizers. Other songs like "20 de enero" only keeps the synthpop/electropop style while "Rosas" sounds as similar as the style the band embarked on their last album. Other songs like "Bonustrack", "Geografía" and "Deseos de cosas imposibles" combines both styles characterizing it as the sound of the album.

Reception
Lo que te conté mientras te hacías la dormida received positive critical success. In 2023, an article published by Rolling Stone Colombia magazine, remarking the Top 20 albums that turned twenty years old that same year, the album was mentioned and was describe as "A pop treasure full of metaphors telling everyday life situations in all of their 14 tracks". Jenny Gage from AllMusic rated the album 3.5 out of 5 stars. While the user rating of the website holds at 4.5 stars, La Oreja de Van Gogh’s highest ranking.

"Lo que te conté mientras te hacías la dormida is La Oreja de Van Gogh's most accomplished album, and would be an excellent choice for an audience willing to lay the seductions of caliente aside in favor of a distinctly European and new wave-inflected cool"

- Jenny Gage from AllMusic

Singles and information

 * "Puedes contar conmigo"

"Puedes contar conmigo" ("You Can Count on Me") was the first song released to promote the record being published on March 28, 2003 one month prior the album's release. It became a hit in Spain and in some territories overseas. Internationally the song became La Oreja de Van Gogh's first top ten on the Hot Latin Songs chart, reaching number five and spending eleven weeks on the chart. For the band, the song represented a new style from previous releases. It was well received and reached the number one in band's native Spain becoming the first number one of the album. Commercially the single was certified platinum for selling over 100.000 copies on both formats, physical and digital.


 * "20 de enero"

"20 de enero" ("January, 20") was the first released on July 14th of that same year after the band's album was published. It wasn’t received as well as "Puedes contar conmigo" internationally but still the single became a hit in Spain reaching the number one as well as their previous release. The single supposed a change with the band's style, embarking on a synthpop Europop style. "20 de enero" gains popularity around the time of the same date every year (as the track translates to 20 of January) the last time to chart the song peaked at 113 on the daily most streamed songs on Spotify chart in Spain. Accumulating 84.931 streams on that day.


 * "Rosas"

"Rosas" ("Roses") was released on September 26, 2003 as the album's third single. Not much after its release the song became a breakthrough hit that peaked number one in Spain and gave the band commercial success internationally. Especially Hispanic America, making the single the band's signature song outside Spain and the United States, where "Rosas" become the band's second and last top ten on the country to date. "Rosas" is also one of the most streamed Spanish-language songs from the 2000s as well as the best selling single of the band. The song's success boosted the album's sales helping the performance of the album on the charts and giving the band another commercial successful album. In the midst of 2024 a chart resurgence of «Rosas» in Hispanic America led the song to appear in the charts all around the continent as well as charting as high as the top 50 in countries like Costa Rica, Ecuador and Mexico. In Europe the song saw also a resurgence in Spain where the song peaked at 127 and accumulated 80,176 streams on May 30, 2024’s Spotify daily chart.


 * "Deseos de cosas imposibles"

"Deseos de cosas imposibles" ("Wishes of Impossible Things") was released as the follow-up song of "Rosas". It did not performed as good as the prior title commercially peaking at 19 in Spain, however internationally it was better received reaching number 24 in the United States. Despite lack of attention by the time of its release the song has become one of the most streamed tracks of the band. It broke the number one streak for the band's on the charts. A live version of "Deseos de cosas imposibles" alongside Argentinian Abel Pintos was included on the band's live album Primera fila (2012). When published the live version to YouTube, "Deseos de cosas imposibles" resurged in success, becoming La Oreja de Van Gogh's second most watched video after "Rosas".


 * "Vestido azul"

"Vestido azul" ("Blue Dress") was released as the fifth single to promote Lo que te conté mientras te hacías la dormida it was released on March 22, 2004 almost one year after the release of "Puedes contar conmigo" to a minor success than the album's first releases. The song maintained the sound of the first two releases of the album as it's got synthesizers to some chorus on the song. In the charts the song did not do as great in performance, peaking at 17 in the Top 100 Canciones of PROMUSICAE.


 * "Geografía"

"Geografía" was released as the sixth single on the album. Maintaining a classical pop-rock sound the song was produced and written all group members and Xabi San Martín on the production. Commercially "Geografía" peaked at 15, doing better than the previous release.


 * "Historia de un sueño"

Translated as "History of a Dream" it was released as a result of the success of Lo que te conté mientras te hacías la dormida. The label kept releasing singles to maintain the album on the commercial focus, releasing "Historia de un sueño" as the album's seventh single.


 * "Bonustrack"

"Bonustrack" was released as the eighth and final single to promote the album. It was written and produced by all group members with Xabi San Martín. At first the song was a hidden track only discovered when played the album. Later the label decided to release it to a better commercial performance than its previous releases becoming the first song to reach the top ten from the album since "Rosas". "Bonus track" ended up peaking at number nine in its second charting week, spending two weeks among the ten most popular singles of the chart in Spain.

French release
A work under the name of París was released to the French market. Issued by the band’s label. Including the songs from Lo que te conté mientras te hacías la dormida but also featuring songs from their previous record El viaje de Copperpot (2000) and an additional version duet with Belgian singer Pablo Villafranca of the track «París».

The artwork from this project is the same as its Spanish release but changing the title to «París» and a lighter white color filter.

Album cover
The album cover depicts band singer Amaia Montero sleeping sideways on a white bed. On the left, in the nightstand. A picture of the other members of the band can be found next to a glass half-filled with water and a daisy in it. The typography can be found in the middle of the picture with the title name. The same picture featuring a green filter is an alternative cover that can be seen alongside with the original without filter.

Awards

 * Ondas Award Best album of 2003 (Won)
 * Amigo Award to the best Spanish band (Won)
 * Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album (Nominated)

Performing

 * La Oreja de Van Gogh
 * Amaia Montero – vocals, backing vocals
 * Xabi San Martín – keyboards, backing vocals, programming
 * Pablo Benegas – guitar
 * Álvaro Fuentes – bass
 * Haritz Garde – percussion, programming
 * Pablo Villafranca – vocals

Technical

 * Nigel Walker – record production, audio mixing
 * Bori Alarcón – technical production
 * Damian Schuler – sound recording
 * Rubén Suárez – sound recording
 * George Marino – audio mastering

Design

 * Jaume de Laiguana – photography, graphic design