Ricky Martin tells it like it is

TORONTO -- Latin heartthrob Ricky Martin, whose presence in Toronto the past few days literally shut down blocks of the downtown core, both at his Sunrise Records autograph session Friday and MuchMusic appearance Saturday, managed to squeeze in a press conference for the non-Anglo media yesterday afternoon in between personal interviews with English-language television, print and radio.

The 27-year-old hip-swiveling singer has released four Spanish-language albums, but the current "Ricky Martin" is his English-language debut and the first single "Livin' La Vida Loca" an instant smash. In the two months since its release, the album has sold an incredible half-a-million copies in Canada; seven million worldwide.

During the press conference at the Metropolitan hotel, Spanish, Italian and English-speaking reporters lined up to ask questions of the charming and attentive Puerto Rican native for the half-hour allotted before he had to bolt to MuchMusic, where thousands of fans gathered outside. Most of the reporters spoke to him in Spanish and he answered likewise.

At first, one disgruntled man asked why the newly-crowed global superstar was neglecting the Latin media by not agreeing to one-on-one interviews. But subsequent questions from other members of the media were far from hostile and were frequently topped or tailed by expressions of congratulations and cultural pride.

Here's a sample of what Martin had to say:

On "neglecting" the Latin media:
"Since I've been working for the past 15 years with the Latin media, I wanted to take my time with the Anglo media in this case, for them to listen to me. I wanted to create a very comfortable atmosphere for them to understand where I'm coming from. There's a lot for me to say about my culture, about my music that is definitely very influenced by Latin America. In order for them to understand what is happening with me, I think it has to be one on one. Once again, the Latin media for me is a priority and has always been and will always be."

On his experience working with Luciano Pavarotti on the War Child charity:
"When I received the phone call from the maestro Luciano Pavarotti, 'Hey, Ricky, say yes to me, say yes.' 'Who is this?' 'Luciano' 'Yeah, heh, and I am Mickey Mouse.' To make a long story short, it was fascinating to work with him. I think collaborating with others is very important. I've had the opportunity to collaborate with Gloria Estefan, Madonna, Sting, and now Luciano. The thing is that to be in the room with him, and for him to say, 'Ricky, what is it that you need? What do you have to say?' Pinch me. It's like...excuse me? It's not about competing. It's all about creating and making beautiful sounds."

On whether he had to teach Madonna how to pronounce words in Spanish for "Be Careful (Cuidado Con Mi Corazon)"?
"She's very good at phonetics. I met an amazing woman. I say Madonna is Madonna because of her strength and her wisdom and she's very intense. When she wants something, she gets it without hurting anybody. (She's) another person who's seen it all and heard it all and done a lot of music and she was, 'Tell me. What can we do? Let's create music, lets fuse the Spanish guitar and percussion, where do you think they should go?' You learn so much from her. She's really into learning at the same time. And her Spanish is beauftiul. She has no problem with Spanish."

On what's next, a Latin or English project:
"An Anglish project (laughs) - English and Spanish. I'm definitely going to be working with Robi Rosa, who is the guy I've been working with for many years, Desmond Child, Emilio (Estefan) of course, but I've also met so many amazing directors and producers the past couple of months, like William Orbit, who's from England, but he's in touch with the Latin sounds and knows what fusion is. It's funny that it took us two and a half years to record this album, the one I'm presenting at the moment. It's not going to take me two and a half years to record the next one, but I'm going to have to start working right now, and very simple. My projects are not scientific projects. My albums are made out of emotions. So we just need that time to detach from everything and dare to be ourselves. So I guess I'm going to have to start writing now so hopefully by the end of next summer I'll be recording. We're thinking that the end of next year, I'll be presenting."

On the most 'loca' thing he's ever done in his life:
(long pause) What could be loca for me, may be dumb for you. Ahhh. No cops around? (laughs). Ahhh, next question please. Very simple. Nothing bad. Look at my itinerary, that what it is for me to live la vida loca, besides the fact that I'm presenting these different sounds, sounds of the sixties, Latin and ska."

On if anything crazy has ever happened on tour. Maybe someone threw her bra or underwear onstage?
"That's not loca for me!"

On his favourite language in which to sing:
"It's Spanish. I'm so comfortable with my mother tongue." (claps erupt from the crowd).

On the potential of over-exposure:
"You mean are people going to tire of Ricky Martin soon? I guess, everything we've done, what we're presenting is an album and the first impression, the way it's worked for me, is you have to be aggressive about it. I always say, yes, I'll do my tour and then leave for a while. But this is only the beginning and maybe people know who I am. I have things to say and things to talk about and people are wanting it. The newspapers and television stations they come to me because people want it. People are asking about what's up with Ricky Martin? So, hey, I'm here. I know what you mean. Things that I am concerned about, that's one of them, but what we've done, I think, is very precise and everything that's done is done with class, the videos, the interviews. I'll be concerned about it after the tour."

On Toronto:
"It's one of the most beautiful cities I've ever visited."

On his Toronto fans:
"Very Respectful, very honest, very warm. It's fascinating because you know what's funny, when I do music and I'm in the studio, I'm not thinking about a certain group of people. It's all about breaking cultures and also generations. A lot of people say, 'Oh, but the screaming girls...' There's screaming mothers too. And there's the boyfriend buying the CD for his girlfriend and the guy buying the CD for himself. That's what I want to do. When I do my concert, you see a little bit of everything and that's what you want. So it was flattering."

If he needs to sing in English to attain this worldwide success:
"I've been working on crossing over for two years now and I've been to places where Spanish is not spoken and Spanish is not even heard of. I had the opportunity to perform in India, in Thailand, Korea, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Israel -- Spanish is not spoken there. And it was a big success. I'm singing in English because I want to communicate. I'll let you know what I'm going through right now with English. It's kind of ridiculous. I've sung in so many languages. Once again, I am not going to stop singing in Spanish. But English is the international language. When it comes to music, the Anglo countries, they rule many nations in the world that are very important for the music business, for the record industry. And once again, if China is important, if we have to do it in Chinese, we'll do it in Chinese. Language should not be an issue."