Batanga Autos
 
   |  Add Batanga to your favorites
preload image preload image preload image preload image preload image preload image
Recommend Batanga music
Add videos and music to your web site or to your MySpace page
How Far Can He Take it?

by Ramiro Burr

Enrique Iglesias has sold over 35 million records and scored a record 16 consecutive No. 1 hit singles. What’s next?

Just like his dad, pop singer Enrique Iglesias says he has a million miles still go in his career.

Julio Iglesias, Sr. has sold kazillions of records and toured the world more times than anyone can count, and the old man says he’s still got more to accomplish.

Son Enrique Iglesias, who launched his career in 1996, is equally modest.

In the span of eight years the younger Iglesias has sold more than 35 million records and scored a record 16 consecutive No. 1 hit singles. Along the way he’s crossed over into the English-language pop market, earned two Grammys, three American Music and eight Premio Lo Nuestro awards.

And now he’s touring Australia for the first time.

So, does he feel he’s peaked?

“Think about it. I’m 27. When my dad was at the peak of his career, he must have been 40,” Iglesias said. “When he hit like world-wide, including the U.S., I think it was `1100 Bel Air Place’ (1984 CD)’. The other day I was talking about that, and yeah, he had a lot of success, but I’m talking about, like, him being known on every corner of the world.”

For the younger Iglesias, Australia is just another stop on the way to the top, a place yet to be defined.

“You know I’ve never been there (Australia). There are still places that I want to visit. Actually Australia is one of those places that I’ve always wanted to go to. Even not to sing, just to go visit.

“But I’m the kind of person that there’s always something you can do. It’s just how far you want to take it and how great you are and I think a lot of times because of fear you don’t try new things, which I think is a mistake. Hopefully I’ll be able to just keep on pushing myself. I still believe that I have a lot of music in me that I want to disperse.”

Iglesias’ latest CD is “Seven,” a 13-track English-language pop album that peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard 200 charts. The single “Addicted “ landed at No. 1 in late December.

With the help of top producers Alex Ander and Rob Davis, Iglesias tackles rock-lite dance tunes “Not in love,” “The way you touch me,” and “You Rock Me.” Nothing spectacular but there’s enough juice to get the temperatures rising among Iglesias’ fans.

“`The way you touch me’, was actually about trying to think what’s a good song I could open up a show with, and Greg and I were sitting down and thinking we need something cool that sounds big and we started coming up with that melody.”

Nonetheless, it’s on the ballads that Iglesias shines best. “Addicted” and “Wish you were Here (with me)” allow him to deliver that Iglesias signature – low-moaning wails in songs that describe the pain and desperation along life’s dark paths.

“For me, it’s a record that is personal and honest and I expressed exactly what I felt,” he said. “I just think it’s a good album.

“I worked with Greg Alexander, who I always wanted to work with. He did New Radicals, remember? We knew each other and we had talked a bunch of times and I really like his songwriting, so I wanted to write music with him.

“He’s completely different. His chord progressions are completely different from the chord progressions that I like, so it took some time in the beginning so we could have a happy medium that he liked and I liked. But that’s what was cool about it. We’re just so different in musical style. But at the same time, we both grew up listening to the same music.”

Asked about the much media-reported “Latin boom”, Iglesias bristles:

“It get’s me upset when people say Latin boom. It’s just artists doing pop music. It’s not like your going to walk to every corner and see people dancing salsa. You’re not going to go to Oklahoma to the local bar that was playing country music are suddenly [they’ll] be playing merengue.

“When they say “Latin boom” I say, “¿Qué boom?” It’s (Latin music) been here the whole time. What the hell are you talking about? There are many, many Spanish-speaking people in the U.S., that are legal. Then why is it suddenly a boom? It’s always been here. And a lot of these kids, say, J-Lo, say Marc (Anthony), say Ricky (Martin), these kids are kids like me that grew up here and were very Americanized. There’s so much ignorance when it comes down to Latin music that it kind of bothered me.”

Like his father, Iglesias sees his career as a long and winding road with no end.

“It’s always a challenge to keep going on. You know what happens, you put out an album, you think it’s your best album, then time goes by.

“No matter if it hits or it doesn’t hit, whatever the hell. You feel like your life changes, especially when you write music, you think `I can write deeper stuff, I can write better stuff, I can be better musically,’ which doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to, but you feel that way.

“It really comes down to that. And I guess there are artists that just have a lot more ambition than other artists and you just have to keep on going and keep on going. Sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn’t pay off.”


Enrique Iglesias.




» Listen to ENRIQUE on Batanga's POP station

» Subscribe to Club Batanga to watch videos and more!










"I’m the kind of person that there’s always something you can do."

-- Enrique Iglesias.