"Cuts Both Ways" is a single by Gloria Estefan. It was released in 1990 worldwide as the fifth and final single from the album, Cuts Both Ways. It had moderate success on the U.S., becoming a number one hit on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, but reaching only at number 44 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[1] "Cuts Both Ways", even with its success, was not included on the U.S. release of the Gloria Estefan Greatest Hits album, but was included in The Essential Gloria Estefan and iTunes Originals: Gloria Estefan. A rerecorded version was included in Estefan's 2020 album Brazil305.[2]
Critical reception
The song received favorable reviews from many music critics. Matthew Hocter from Albumism described it as a "heartbreakingly beautiful song of love lost" and picked it as one of the "higlights" of the album.[3] Bill Coleman from Billboard called it a "trademark-styled ballad, highlighted by lovely acoustic guitars and affecting vocals."[4] David Giles from Music Week said it's a "big ballad". He added, "Cliched lyrics aside; its acoustic guitar is undeniably pleasant and her voice is left attractively uncluttered, Carpenters style."[5]The Network Forty wrote that "shifting gears from power ballad to folk to Latin, this single has a deeper message, both musically and lyrically, than you might expect."[6] Pop Rescue noted that "this is really quite a nice track as it twists and turns", adding it as "a nice plodder".[7] Mike Soutar from Smash Hits called it a "latin-tinged sappy smoocher".[8]