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Mi Plan is the fourth studio album by Canadian recording artist Nelly Furtado, released on September 11, 2009 by Universal Music Latino. Furtado had began writing and producing the album with guitarist James Bryan. She also had worked with Lester Méndez, Salaam Remi and The Demolition Crew.

The album received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who commended the musical content and Furtado's vocal performance. The album had reached commercial success in North America, as well as many countries in Europe. In the United States, the album debuted at number-one on the US Billboard Latin album chart and peaked within the top 10 in a few other countries.

Background and production
After Furtado finished touring and promoting her album, Loose (2006), she took time off to spend at home with her daughter, Nevis and husband, Demacio Castellón. During that time, she began writing songs with guitarist and producer James Bryan, who were both reportedly uninspired at the time. In an unfruitful attempt, however, Furtado wrote the lyrics in Portuguese. The two had discussed bringing in another singer to help with the songwriting but did nothing about it for a few months. Bryan later called Furtado, and had mentioned working with Canadian singer-songwriter Alex Cuba. While Furtado and Bryan were in the studio, attempting to write a song entitled, "My Plan", Cuba had stopped in and suggested writing the song in Spanish. After Furtado approved of the idea, he wrote the lyrics in Spanish. After the writing for the title track was completed, the three began "really organically writing songs", according to Furtado.

Music and lyrics
The album comprises of Latin pop songs and is sung solely in Spanish. The song's lyrics focus thematically on love, and as Furtado put it, "they're really like songs that everybody can relate to about love and life and everyday living, just the things you go through". Furtado had collaborated with Canadian singer-songwriter Alex Cuba, who helped her translate lyrics she had written in English into fluent Spanish.

"Más" is a love song, with lyrics that illustrate Furtado as asking her lover for "more". "Suficiente Tiempo", a song produced by hip hop producer Salaam Remi, has influences of 1980s electropop. Another track produced by Remi, entitled "Fuerte", has an influence of flamenco music combined with R&B.

Chart performance
In the United States, Mi Plan simultaneously debuted at number-one on the US Billboard Latin Albums and Latin Pop Albums chart on the issue dated October 3, 2009, selling approximately 13,000 copies in its first week. It debuted at number 39 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart, becoming Furtado's fourth consecutive album to peak within the top 40 on the chart. On November 6, 2009, the album was certified a Latin platinum album for selling over 100,000 copies, by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). According to Nielson SoundScan, it was the highest-selling Latin Pop album in 2009.

Critical reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 71, based on 8 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Leila Cobo, of Billboard, said: "There is nothing contrived about Nelly Furtado's Spanish-language debut" adding that the album has "simple, straightforward songs that appeal to melodic sensibilities rather than rhythmic contraptions".

Singles
"Manos al Aire" was released by Universal Music Latino as the album's lead single commercially worldwide in June 29, 2009. It achieved commercial success in the United States, reaching number-one on the the US Billboard Top Latin Songs chart, becoming Furtado's first number-one song on the chart as a lead artist. Furtado also became the first North American artist to reach the top spot on the chart with an originally written Spanish song. The song had also achieve international success, peaking at number two in Italy, Czech Republic and Germany, as well as peaking within the top ten in several other countries.

Personnel
Track listing and personnel are adapted from the Mi Plan liner notes.

Production

 * Andrés Recio – executive producer, A&R
 * Nelly Furtado – executive producer, producer, mixing
 * Chris Smith – executive producer
 * James Bryan – producer, guitar, drums, keyboards, engineer
 * Julieta Venegas – producer, accordion
 * Lester Méndez – producer, percussion, guitar, keyboards, mixing, engineer, string arrangements
 * Brian West – producer
 * The Demolition Crew – producers
 * Salaam Remi – producer, drums, keyboards
 * Vanessa Freebairn-Smith – cello
 * Alex Grant – cello
 * Daniel Stone – percussion
 * Rafael Padilla – percussion
 * Roger Travassos – percussion
 * Dan Warner – guitar, bass
 * Dan Turco – guitar
 * Vincent Henry – guitar
 * Staybent Krunk-A-Delic – guitar, keyboards
 * Ramón Stagnaro – guitar, cuatro
 * Matt Scannell – guitar, bass


 * Michael Anthony – drums
 * Lee Levin – drums
 * Julio Hernandez – bass
 * Alex Cuba – bass
 * Chris Gehringer – general mastering
 * Demacio Castellón – mixing
 * Franklin Emmanuel Socorro – mixing, engineer
 * Jason "Metal" Donkersgoed – mixing, engineer
 * Joel Numa – mixing, engineer
 * Ron Taylor – digital editing
 * Jorge Vivo – engineer
 * Antonio Resendiz – engineer
 * Julian Vazquez – engineer
 * Allan Leschhorn – engineer
 * Ryan Evans – engineer
 * Enrique Larreal – engineer
 * Carlos Alvarez – engineer
 * Aureo Baqueiro – vocal producer
 * Marc Rogers – double bass
 * Javier Limón – flamenco guitar
 * Tyler Armes – piano
 * Nick Banns – string arrangements
 * Sonus Quartet – strings

Guest appearances

 * Alex Cuba appears courtesy of Caracol Records
 * Alejandro Fernández appears courtesy of Universal Music Latino
 * Julieta Venegas appears courtesy of Sony Music
 * La Mala Rodríguez appears courtesy of Universal Music Spain


 * Concha Buika appears courtesy of Warner Bros. and casalimon.tv
 * Javier Limón appears courtesy of casalimon.tv
 * Josh Groban appears courtesy of Warner Bros. Records
 * Juan Luis Guerra appears courtesy of EMI Televisa Music