When you look at Luis Fonsi, you don’t just see the singer-songwriter who has won five Latin Grammys, 12 Billboard Latin Music Awards, 17 Premios Juventud and seven Guinness Awards. He is not just the author of success either Slowly. One sees the father, brother, husband, son and friend. In Luis Alfonso Rodríguez López-Cepero (San Juan, Puerto Rico, 45 years old), the creative part and the human part stand out at the same time. During this interview in the penthouse of the Royalton Park Avenue hotel in New York, he appears humble, calm and approachable, always smiling, despite his busy schedule. He is passing through the city to present his eleventh album, Tripwhich was released on May 17, coinciding with the celebration of its 25 years on stage.
In the new album, the Puerto Rican singer experiments with various genres, including bachata, Latin pop, romantic ballads and, not to be missed, reggaeton. In 2017 he released Slowly along with Daddy Yankee, the song that can be said to have globalized the style. Several years after his big hit made the whole world dance, it remains a phenomenon: it is the second most viewed music video in the history of YouTube, with 8.446 million views.
Ask. This eleventh album coincides with the celebration of your 25 years of career. How has this journey been?
Answer. It has been a beautiful journey because I have had the opportunity to grow naturally, not forced, since that first album I recorded when I was still studying at university. I look back and smile, so it’s a celebration.
Q. It is an existential journey through cities such as Rome, San Juan, Santa Marta, Marbella, Medellín, Buenos Aires, Río…
R. It is a journey that represents 25 years of having gone through the most important stages of my life as a singer. My way of saying thank you is by celebrating it by evoking places of passage that have been representative throughout my career. The songs are not a tribute to those cities because it is not a literal journey, but an emotional one.
Q. But if I had to choose a destination…
R. I would go for my places, I will always go with San Juan. I am a beachgoer, for me vacations are synonymous with the beach. I feel more comfortable wherever there is the smell of the sea.
Q. How do you remember its beginning?
R. The first album, the first interviews, the first trips, had a huge impact on me. I remember being young with the guitar, full of enthusiasm, with a record under my arm, knocking on doors, making myself known. I don’t have a known last name, I don’t come from a famous band… I started from the bottom. They asked me in interviews: “What about you? Who are you? Where do you come from?” I earned my space, song by song, album by album, tour by tour.
Q. On this album there are collaborations with great international stars such as Carlos Vives, Jay Wheeler, Omar Montes and Laura Pausini, with whom you sing Rome. What has it been like to record with her?
R. Working with Laura is a gift, it is pure love. I met her more than twenty years ago, at the very beginning of my career and she is one of my best friends. She is an honest, spontaneous, fun, professional person. I wrote this song for her. I wanted to make a duet that sounded modern, but that contained the classic essence of the greats. power ballads from 25 years ago. It was a challenge because she didn’t know if he was going to like her; I had to write the song, record it and present it to him. Luckily he connected to the song. It’s the second song we recorded together, the first was in 2008, but it was never single.
Q. What is the best thing about your life as a musician?
R. The best thing is to meet people and have my music be part of people’s lives. They have told me “I married the song.” You arrived” either “I do not give up It is a song that helped me get through a difficult time.” That is very beautiful.
Q. On occasion he has expressed that the worst part of having to travel so much is missing chapters of his children’s lives.
R. The longest I’ve gone without seeing them has been a month and a half or two months. In the summers I take them to Spain with me, while I’m on tour or recording The voicebut during the academic year I cannot take them from Miami.
Q. What do you like most about being a father?
R. I have the soul of a child, so I connect a lot with them. They are creative, curious, funny… And I love living through their stages. From one day to the next they grow. When I return from a trip my son speaks differently, he uses different vocabulary, he has different tastes… I try to enjoy every moment with them because I feel that time passes very quickly.
Q. In March he published a bilingual rhyming children’s book, Extraordinary friends.
R. It talks about Blu, a little bear who travels to Puerto Rico and meets a frog, which is our coquí (name given to some native Puerto Rican tree frogs) and together they embark on an adventure through El Yunque, the only tropical rainforest in the United States. Joined. The story has a lot to do with me and obviously as a father of two young children. It was a very nice project.
Q. The tour of Trip It will start in the summer and continue until the end of the year, what are your plans afterward?
R. Next year my first film will be released. It is a romantic comedy titled Say a little prayer. It wasn’t something I was looking for, but when the director sent me the script I liked it and I identified with the role. It seemed like a good start to me. I am passionate about acting. In 2015 I participated in a Broadway play for one season, Forever tango, and I loved the experience. Theater gives me an adrenaline very similar to concerts, because it is being live on a stage.
Q. How do you face critical and difficult moments, moments of fear?
R. I turn to my family. I grew up in a very family environment, very much about being together and even still, if I have a free weekend, I always spend it with my two brothers and their children. The whole family also goes on vacation together. For me, family support is everything.
Q. Do you position yourself politically?
R. I try to stay out of it, but I’ve never been a fan of Donald Trump. I didn’t like the way he expressed himself in Puerto Rico, it seems to me that what he did was disrespectful. I don’t know what’s going to happen, I have no idea what’s going on.
Q. Professionally, what is the most important thing?
R. Continue maintaining the connection with the public, may it continue to grow with me. The world of music continually rotates and changes, what was heard a year ago is no longer heard… I like having to make an effort to stay current, that’s why I give a lot of importance to concerts. Now I can celebrate those 25 years of musical evolution on stage and offer a good Show live. Although I also tell you that I have many songs left to write and many stages to step on.
Q. Do you plan to stay and live in Miami?
R. Miami is about halfway from my home, Puerto Rico, and it is also the door to the Latin world. That’s where I write and record… And now it’s also where my parents and siblings live, as well as my children, who were born here. So no way. I’ll stay here.
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