In 2003, Abelardo Vazquez ended their then-nascent musical project, tentatively called "Reik". Abelardo Vazquez invited Jesús Navarro and Julio Ramirez to record their first demos, which were released through the Mexican underground club scene. Two of the most successful demos — "Levemente" and "Ahora Sin Ti" — brought more widespread coverage across Mexico. In early 2004, Reik invited Gilberto to join the band. On May 24, 2005, Reik released their self-titled debut album, produced by Kiko Cibrian. The group's name actually means "rake" (as in raking the guitar's strings), but the band wanted their non-English speaking Mexican listeners to pronounce it correctly, hence, Reik. The first single "Yo Quisiera" got heavy rotation on Mexican pop radio stations and soon went to number one. Their second single "Qué Vida La Mía" also topped the Mexican charts as did their third single "Noviembre Sin Ti". Their fourth single, "Niña", failed to match the success of their previous singles, charting only at number 33.