June 14, 2023 • 35 mins
The time has come to look back at the career of one of the most important figures of Latinx entertainment history: Ricky Martin! From his beginnings as a young singer in Menudo to taking on soap operas (or as we like to call them, "American novelas"), Ricky has done it all. Lilliana and Joseph are going to journey through la vida loca and the career of the icon that paved the way for it all, including the Latin Explosion.
Lilliana Vázquez and Joseph Carrillo are the hosts of Becoming an Icon with production support by Juan Carlos Arenado, Josie Meléndez, Daniela Sarquis, and Santiago Sierra of Sonoro Media in partnership with iHeart Radio's My Cultura Podcast network. If you want to support the podcast, please rate and review our show.
Follow Lilliana Vázquez on Instagram and Twitter @lillianavazquez
Follow Joseph Carrillo on Instagram @josephcarrillo
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's time for a new icon, one that opened the
door for an entire generation of new Latino artist Ricky Martin,
an artist who started his career when he was just
a teenager and kept finding new ways to push himself
artistically until he had become a global star.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This sounds a lot like Ricky.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Martin, an icon that in one performance so electrified an
industry that every record executive went out looking for a
crossover star.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Uh is this Cinglon? It's Ricky Martin.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I'm talking about none other than Puerto Rico's on Ricky Martin.
You never let me surprise you anymore? Can we talk
about Ricky?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Now?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
How much do you know about the man, the myth,
the legend?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Okay, I know that he was in a boy group
and he is hot. Well that's a number one was
in like American novela? What are those called American novelas?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
You don't know? Wait?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I'm sorry, did you just forget your English? Like Hilaria Baldwin?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Wait? Is this Baldwin?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
This is Joso Speppino moment an American novella. You don't
know how to say that in English?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
No?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
What is that actually called? Because you just say novela.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
A soap opera, A soap opera, Oh my god, a
soap opera. He was in a soap opera and like
a pop star and took over the world.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
And gay a gay icon, not just an icon, a
gay icon. I think you got most of everything. You
casually drifted by boy band, which is really funny because
to me, man Noodle was life as a little girl.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Well it's also life for me when I'm hungover on
Sunday mornings.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Is that when you listen to it, that's when.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I ate Manudal Just kidding, but I did love Vadola
growing up.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Everybody loved Manudula growing up. There is so much more
to his forty year career than most even know. Over
the next few episodes, we're going to tell you how
Ricky did the improbable and use his time in a
boy band to launch an uber successful solo career.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
There aren't many that have for every justin Timberlake, there
are forty Where are they now Google searches.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I'm looking at you, Joey.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Fatone, And yes, of course, naturally, we will talk about
how he helped launch the Latin I hate this word,
the Latin explosion ex explosion. Can we change it please?
The Latin boom, the Latin wave, how about a wave,
the Latin tsunami, anything but explosion. We're also going to
(02:49):
tell you the story of how Ricky found himself and
became a hero to so many in the LGBTQIA plus community,
how his journey has helped push the boundaries of sexuality
in Latin America and made communities so much more inclusive.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Henny, he didn't have to be just one thing, and
we'll get into that.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
We're also going to tell you about his time on stage,
his charitable work, and if I can convince iHeart an
entire season about his time on the American Novella General Hospital.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I love you, Miguel.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
We all do today on becoming an Icon Ricky Martin.
I'm your host, Lilianavasquez.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
And I'm Joseph Carrio, and this is Becoming an Icon.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
A weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on
how today's most famous LATINX stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And given the world some extras.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
At all, sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Because we are.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Going in the only way we know how. With Buena
bea ushigunas Riesas and a lot of opinions, as we
really their greatest achievements on our journey to find out
what makes them so iconic, It all starts with menudo.
(04:18):
Now most of you of a certain age, you mean
people younger than us. Okay, you're choosing violence today. That hurt,
But moving on, Like.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Mike Girl, Lozzo says, truth hurts.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
The entire band was a gimmick cooked up by music
producer at godilodas the as had seen the Jackson five
drive young girls crazy, and he thought, I started a
boy band and then as soon as the boys turn
into men, I'll kick their ass out and replace them.
In Puerto Rico, menudo is slang for loose.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Change clever. It got very clever.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
The band members knew that they could count on screaming
girls and getting kicked out of the band when they're balls.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Dropped by the way. I do think we need to
be more inclusive in the language here. I don't think
that it was just screaming girls.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Joseph screaming fans.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
I'm just gonna say, I'm pretty sure Joseph had some
screaming moments for boy bands, right, for.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, for boy bands, and for no doubt, but that's
another podcast.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Now, do you have favorite boy bands from going on?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Obviously it's going to be something like the End Sync
and Backshit Boys, right, But for me, I actually have
a favorite boy band now and it's the like the
BTS group. I like their music and I like to
listen to it.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I think it's crazy that in our lifetime that has
now almost surpassed four decades. Just kidding, just getting them
minds I lead into, Then you choose a modern day
boy band because for me, the heyday of boy bands
obviously the nineties, but I fell in love with boy
bands in the eighties. NKOTB was for me like just
(06:01):
a continuation of the love that I had for Manudal.
But my first boy band love was obviously Ricky and Manudal,
Like I thought there was nobody cuter on the planet.
That's the first time I remember having a crush having
feelings for boys. I was like, oh, they're so cute.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
But listen to this.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
According to Billboard, US Weekly, seventeen and teen Vogue, Manudal
is right up there with all of those boy bands
we just named, so in saying BSB Backstreet Boys in
case you don't know, Oh my.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
God, you said BSB, and I was gonna correct you, bitch,
because I was gonna say, you mean BTS but BSB.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Are you that initial girl? I didn't think that I
were that button where in the early eighties we called
it flair, not button.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
You had flair.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
I'm dead, But Maneudal is right up there in the
ranks with them, and each of those magazines rank them
is one of the biggest boy of all time.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I mean, if they're good enough for teen Vogue.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
So the band was formed in nineteen seventy seven, but
Ricky didn't join until nineteen eighty three, the year I
was born. He tried out for the band three times,
and the producers told him they loved his singing and dancing,
but that he was too short.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Oh oh, are you feeling triggered?
Speaker 1 (07:24):
No, because, like me, Ricky was persistent af and kept
knocking on that door until they couldn't refuse him.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
That's very you.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
At age twelve, he joined the band and became part
of its golden age. When fans talk about the band,
this is the group that we are talking about. In
just six years, the band released eleven albums.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Eleven albums, one hundi they didn't have Child Liberlaus back then.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
No, that's basically two albums a year. And Ricky said
he loved being part of the band for all the
incredible opportunities the band offered him and to be around
so many amazing people, but he was exhausted by the
crazy schedule and how strict the producers of the band were.
In his debut stage performance, Ricky broke the choreography by
(08:14):
walking around the stage when he was supposed to stay still,
and the band manager lit into him. Afterwards, Ricky latter
said the mistake was such a big deal that from
that moment on never again did I move when I
wasn't supposed to move. That was the discipline of menudo.
You either did things the way you were told or
you were not part of the group.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Well damn bitch, that is like seriously some BTS strict shit.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
By the way, that is a band that we love
here at becoming an icon. Maybe we could make them
honorary icons in our international episodes.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Hey, have you also seen what the BTS army does
online to people that aren't fans of BTS.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
A good call, BTS, we love you.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
While with Manudal Ricky performed alongside Robbie Draco Rosa. Rosa
quickly became one of Ricky's best friends, and the pair
formed a lifelong friendship. Quick side note, because it can't
be fun. Rossa would also star in one of the
worst movies of the eighties, Salsa What. Yeah, it's a
terrible film, but I bet if you were a young
(09:29):
Latino in the eighties, your parents definitely made you watch it.
They're just, you know, weren't a lot of options out
there being made for us.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Okay, I just looked it up and the entire movie
is available on YouTube. I'm going to need a lot
of edibles for this.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
One, really, like not you normally need more.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
I mean, just what's two extra chocolates for this one?
Speaker 1 (09:53):
I also feel if you watch the movie, YouTube pays you. Hey,
Robbie Rosa plays an important role very soon. So Ricky
leaves Manudl at seventeen. Well, he kind of aged out
true either way. He says he wants to focus on
resting and evaluating his career path. Wait, what happened to
(10:14):
Manula Drums? They get embroiled in some drug issues, accusations
of abuse towards the producers and slowly but surely, the
band just kind of fell apart.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Rest in peace Manulo.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Ricky, on the other hand, well, he turns eighteen and
realizes that as a minor, he was never allowed to
control his own bank accounts. Turns out, bitch is rich.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
So Ricky says bye bye bye to Puerto Rico and
moves to New York.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Ricky is accepted into NYU's TISH School of Performing Arts.
Side note here, you guys. TISH is one of the
most competitive and highly regarded performing arts programs in the world.
Either this isn't like going to like some little school
like in your hometown. This is TISH, so bad school.
(11:07):
It is the school. So many incredible alumni have come
out of this program that you and.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
I know, and you automatically become the Tish backwards. I
don't know, I don't know. Shit, you become the shit. It'sish.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
You become this shit when you graduate from TISH is
basically you're literally But anyway, he was accepted into this program,
but days before school was about to start, he goes
to visit a friend in Mexico City to see a
musical rock comedy that she's starring it.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
He didn't want to watch the play, he wanted to
be in it.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
So while in Mexico City, one of the producers of
the play offers him a role, and Ricky drops out
of TISH moves down to Mexico City to start his career. Anew,
what a turn of events for mister Martin. Megusta same
because he followed his passion, which I think is important
and a theme that we can hearing over and over again.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
You know, when you were enlightening me with the Tish commentary,
I was like, of course he fucking went to TISH,
and no, bitch, he didn't. He went to Mexico.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
I mean, think about how different his life and our
lives as lifelong Ricky Martin fans would be if Ricky
had gone to TISH. I'm not saying Ricky wouldn't have
the same success and career, it would just have been
very different. And I also think that a lot of
actors say this, like they go to Juilliard, they go
to TISH, they go to the Yale School of Drama,
(12:35):
they attend, but they don't finish because their passion and
their talent is pulling them elsewhere. I think that's really
what ended up happening here because it wasn't just about
this one role. This one role turned into multiple offers
while he was in Mexico City.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
And also, you know, being in a boy band at
such a young age, you know, he had this like
crazy discipline. He's just saying, I'd never moved out of
place again.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Yeah, exactly. Not only was he insanely talented, but he
was incredibly disciplined. And sometimes I think that's the hard
part to learn. But Ricky had learned this at a
very young age. So here he is skips out on tish.
He's in Mexico and ladies and gentlemen starring in Mama
AMAI Rock Ricky Martin.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Wait, was that really the title of the show? For real?
It was?
Speaker 1 (13:25):
And Ricky was so good that within a couple months
another producer saw the show and offered him a role
on the Mexican felen novela Thank You or the Mexican
soap opera Alcanzarnastrea. Producer see Ricky once, and they're just
throwing roles at him left and right. That's what makes
(13:46):
Ricky larger than life. Alcanca is such a hit that
they make a second season and then a film based
on the show. Of course, a record producer sees these
shows and movies and they offer Ricky a music deal,
and they offer him get this one penny per record sold.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Shut your butts.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Okay, wait, you think that's bad. Ricky took the deal.
He said of the deal, I was so excited about
getting back into the music world that I didn't care
what the conditions were. All of the hard work and
passion I had exerted was finally now starting to come
to fruition, and music came back to my life powerfully
and definitively. Ricky wasn't going to be deterred, and he
(14:30):
worked day and night to produce his debut solo album,
Ricky Martin and you guessed it. It was a hit.
You've probably never heard of any of the songs on
the album, but trust this album went platinum and he
toured all over South America with it.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
He was barely nineteen and he was a star all
over again.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
What were you doing at nineteen?
Speaker 3 (14:54):
I can't even tell you on this podcast, and I'm
dead serious, like it was shit show.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
I wasn't you know, No, No, that's insane. A pop
star twice.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
After touring all over Latin America, Ricky heads to La
to try his hand at acting all over again and
at Joseph what are they called No reay Las soap Operas?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Miguel Morris.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
I loved Miguel.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Of course you did, and that's what makes you beautiful.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
On General Hospital, he plays a Puerto Rican bartender and
singer on the lamb from his lover's criminal mastermind father.
Soon though, his flowing hair becomes irresistible and a steamy
love triangle rages across port Charles Lill's don't hurt him, Sonny,
I love him.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Sonny Lil's You're in the studio with me?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Come back, bitch, Okay, okay, okay, I'm here. Hashtag justice
for Nia. Ricky stars on the show for two weeks,
and he becomes one of the most talked about soap
opera actors ever ever. Ricky, though he doesn't feel comfortable
on the show and has trouble developing chemistry with the cast.
(16:13):
Agents and producers suggest he take an accellent reduction course,
but Ricky says no thanks, and soon he quits the show.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
He makes a brief stop in New York to start
in lem Is, where he is tre miserable.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Ricky breaks my teenage heart and leaves General Hospital for
his one true.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Love, Oh Jim, Daddy's, Zaddies, Otters, Twinks, Polar Bears, Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Okay, stop, you're making it up.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
No, that's a real one. Okay, I'll tell you later.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
All of that comes later in the episodes. He leaves
to restart his music career. We already told you that
Ricky was a major pop star in Latin America after
his first two.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Albums, which they literally paid him pennies for yep.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
So now he was back in the studio. But he
wanted to do something different. Here's the thing. In the nineties,
Latin pop music was dominated by ballads. Luis Miguel Cheyenne,
Juan Risquerre.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
All my Latin pop stars were up in their feelings
in the nineties.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
It was the easiest way for them to find mass appeal,
write a tender love song and let everyone get in
their feelings about it. It is a tried and true
pop tradition. Ricky, though, he wanted to do something different.
Even the biggest songs of Manudal were just pop music
from the States with Spanish lyrics. During his time in Mexico,
Ricky saw how proud Mexicans were of the mariacci So
(17:52):
he said to his friend and now producer Robbie Dracuarrosa,
we have to be proud.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Of who we are.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
They have their thing in Mexico. Let's go with what
we have in Puerto Rico. And the result was Maria,
that's right, Maria, whoa, take me back.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
I didn't really know that.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
That's where he got that in Spo, like seeing Mariachi's
and how because in Puerto Rico, I mean, do you guys,
is there like a like we have Mariacci's, you guys
have reton we got a lot.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Okay, don't say it like we don't have ship? What
is what like we're I mean we are suffering for
other political reasons. But don't look at me like traditional
music like what like you know mariachis isa yeah, okay,
I mean yes, I mean any of the Caribbean sounds.
I also feel that's the thing about being Dominican or
Puerto Rican or Cuban, like there is a sound that's
(18:51):
pervasive and then each island makes it their own. For me,
it's salsa music and band and like gatherings of people.
The thing about the music is it brings people together, right,
Like when I think of mariachi, is like, it's not
like they're out there on the plaza by themselves, right.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
And I'll passo there.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Let me tell you this, okay, But then everybody comes
out to watch and sing along, and it is a
community experience. I feel the same thing with Sasa music.
If someone's playing, people gather around, they dance, they're singing.
It's like kids, it's grown ups, it's everybody. It brings
a community together.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Speaking of bringing the community together, this song fucking brought
everybody together.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Maria is a song about a dangerous woman by the
name Maria or I already know what you're gonna say.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Oh, it's about cocaine.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Okay, Joseph, you saw one movie about a bear who
eats some coke, and now everything in this world is
about cocaine.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Think about it.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
The lyrics translate to this is Maria white as the day,
but it's poison if you fall in love. This is
Maria so hot and cold. If you drink it, it
will surely kill you.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Come on.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
So you're not the first person to say that, And
I agree that the lyrics do suggest a little bit
of a double on tongdre.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Oh, it's about sex too, I like it.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
No, it's a double meaning that Ricky has always flat
out denied, saying I will never exalt drugs. Maria is
a song that talks about Latino women and how addictive
they can be, but does not mention or allude to drugs.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Sure, Ricky, bomb bomb bomb.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
So they finished the song and then they bring in
a Puerto Rican DJ named DJ Flores who changes it
from a flamenco bee into an up tempo dance song,
and it was fire. Ricky loved it. His record label
not so much. When he first played the song for
his label, one record executive shouted, are you crazy? You've
(20:56):
ruined your career. I can't believe you are showing me this.
You're finished. This is going to be your last album.
This is the end of your career. You do ballads
and now you're doing Latin sounds. The album is not
going to work.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Okay, okay, cool it now, mister Ricky executive.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Ricky was devastated, but he knew the song would work,
and his belief changed his entire career. Madia would become
a number one hit in over twenty countries. In nineteen
ninety six, it was named as the song of the
Summer in Spain. In nineteen ninety nine, the Guinness Book
of World Records named it the number one Latin song
(21:35):
of all time. It even went to number one in Australia.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
OSSI's love Some Ricky.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
The whole world did, and soon record executives were lining
up for this sound, including the producers of one of
the biggest events in the world. But we'll get to
that in just a little bit. Madia was released on
Ricky's third studio album, I'm Medio Vivier. Maria was the
stoundout hit, but if you listen to it, you could
see that Ricky is perfecting the sounds in style that
(22:07):
would make him a worldwide superstar, the.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Right mix of ballads, samba, salsa and the Afro Latino rhythms.
It was a mix he would perfect on his next
album welve.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
On am Merio Vivi, Ricky had silenced all the doubters
by believing in himself and in his instincts. So for
the follow up, he got rid of all the extra
producers and went to work with Desmond Child and his
childhood friend Robbie Draco Rosa.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
He told all the other producers bye bye bye.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
You already did that one.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Oh you're right. Hold on a second, he told the producers,
this is the end of the road.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Very nice, Save joseph On. Ricky wanted to embrace the
sounds of Puerto Rico, and he did just that welve.
I know, people, it's everyone's favorite album. It's like the
album that defined Ricky, and everybody has their own favorite song,
including which is like, not one of my favorites, but
(23:06):
that's okay, don't judge me for it. Shape the shade
La Bomba is just like a rhythmic and explosion. I'm
going to use the word infectious because this is how
I think of it. I remember being at like clubs, bars, whatever,
and seeing people that have no business dancing, do you
(23:27):
know what I mean? Like people that you're like, oh,
they have no rhythm. That's so sad for them. And
then La Boomba would come on and it was like
the Holy ghost just like took over their bodies and
they all became Puerto rican For three and a half minutes.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
One million percent they were shaking it. I remember La Bomba,
just because of how freaking gore GISTs that locks.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
It didn't even matter what Ricky sounded like. It didn't
matter if you liked Spanish music or not. If you
caught a glimpse of one frame of Ricky Martin in
the video for La Bomba, you were a Ricky Martin
fan because he is the most beautiful man. Not that
he's not all the time, but in that video, I
am going to say it, that was peak hot for Ricky.
(24:11):
He was damn shiny.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Remember it's nineteen ninety eight, so like there weren't a
lot of like I feel like the guys we were
seeing were a little bit older, like Cheyenne was a
little bit older. Like he was like a hot soccer
player that could see herself and dance.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Yeah, you know what I mean. And that's what I think.
Like when you were seeing him, you're just like, oh.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I just remember how beautiful he looked in this video.
And by the way, fun fact for all of you
Ricky super fans, do you know where that video was shot?
The exterior? And I also believe a lot of the
interiors do you know, do.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
You know I don't tell us tell us that people
need to know.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
It was shot in Miami. Oh, of course at the
Delano Hotel, which anybody that spent any portion of the
late nineties or early two thousands in Miami knows. The
Delano was like the hot spot to be, so I.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Know exactly where you are. Bish.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I was that the Dilano. I had one of the
best nights of my life.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
At the Dilano, I'm not even going. We're not doing that.
We are not doing that.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
We are not parents are listening, children are listening.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Anyway where they dropped six songs that went number one
on the Latin charts.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
As Ricky told CNN, he wanted WEDVI to reaffirm the
internationalization of my career, and I know that it will
help me a lot to destroy the stereotypes that may
exist with my culture. It was a smash and he
had conquered every country in the.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
World except for one.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Joseph, Are you a big soccer fan?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Do you mean football?
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Fine?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Sure? Are you a big football fan? No?
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Not really?
Speaker 1 (26:01):
So why did you you know what?
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Never mind? Never mind?
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Every four years there's a World Cup held in a
different country around the world. It's a soccer tournament, but
it's also a month long celebration.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
And every celebration needs music exactly.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
So in nineteen ninety, the World Cup decided to commission
an official anthem, a pop song that would play everywhere
and be associated with the World Cup. In nineteen ninety
it was an Italian pop song.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Nineteen ninety World Cup was the one that West Germany
won on a late penalty versus Argentina.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Wait so you are a fan?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
No, well not really.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
In nineteen ninety four, the World Cup was held in
the US and the song was by none other than
Daryl Hall of Hallan Oates.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Oh my god, that's a cough drop brand.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Right, this constant disrespect of Hallan notates. I've had enough
of this. Moving on, So the ninety eight World Cup
was quickly approaching and the organized France. We're looking for
an artist to write the official anthem, the number one
song in France in the summer of nineteen ninety six.
Ooh no tress yep. Maria is everywhere and everyone wants
(27:12):
to get some of that sound. So they approach Ricky
and Draco Rosa to write the song, and at first
Ricky isn't so sure.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
He said, I have to.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Admit that the challenge made me a bit nervous, but
the massive growth potential for my career was such that
I decided to accept.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Accept he did.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Rosa and Child went back to the studio and cooked
up what they said was a mix of salsa, Gumbia
and funk over a Brazilian beat that sounds like a dish.
I want to eat.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Of course, football, the World Cup and five time World
Cup champion Brazil go hand in hand el Jogo bonito.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Can you just stop the lies and admit that you
are a football fan?
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I've dabbled.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
I bet The song is an infectious celebration. It keeps
building until you're just out of your seat dancing.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Nicole A.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Sevilo from NBC News described the track as a world
famous mega hit. E wrote that there was not a
minute in the whole year that the song was not
played and emphasized that it was obviously one of the
big must do hits at parties.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
It was a party mother effing jam.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Scott Rocksborough from The Hollywood Reporter wrote, this is the
song that set the musical template for the World Cup
anthems to come. Martin got the world shimming and shaking
to the Cup of Life, and yes.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
I am shimming and shaking right now thinking about the
song because it was one of my favorite songs. I mean,
it could come on right now and I could gem
out like I'm not tired of it at all.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
You could be a death metal devote and the Cup
of Life came on and you were like salsaing in
your combat boots, like it did not matter what musical
genre you preferred, the genre that we preferred that summer.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Was shaking Dad, it was Ricky. Martin was Ricky.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
It was Ricky.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
I was drinking out of that cup.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
I wish that I drank out of that cup. I
wish I'd been I wish I'd attended a World Cup.
And you know what's crazy is that he was becoming
a household name globally here in the United States and
he wasn't even singing in English. I mean, here we
are twenty years later, and you know else, don't don't
(29:32):
you bring that shit up. Listen, I look for any
and all reasons to bring up bad Bunny. All I'm
saying is that here we are twenty years later as
deja vu Puerto Rican stop it icon, but no songs
in English at this point in their career. Yeah, bad Bunny.
He paved the way right and Ricky performed this song everywhere,
(29:56):
and before you knew it, he was one of the
hottest pop stars in the world. And of course here
unless styles who need those?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Mmmmm.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
So when Veeve was nominated for Best Latin Pop Performance
at the forty first Annual Grammys, fans were hoping that
Ricky would.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Perform that performance would go on to change pop history forever.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
But it almost didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
In nineteen ninety nine, the Grammys didn't really care about
Latin music, typical lame. So here's what you have to
know about the Grammys. They're hosted by the Recording Academy
and they were founded in nineteen fifty seven to honor
the best popular songs worldwide. So why do I bring
this up? That is a good question, because in nineteen
(30:42):
fifty seven that wasn't that far from nineteen ninety nine.
The members of the Recording Academy were mainly older and white,
which is why so many of the shows back then
seemed like more of a funeral than a celebration, and
why the Academy was so resistant to honoring any new
music trends rock, heavy metal, rap. The Academy was really
(31:06):
slow to recognize these genres as being worthy of recognition
and the stage and those were all in English exactly,
so imagine how resistant they were to songs in a
language that they didn't even understand. To be fair, they
did start the Latin Academy in nineteen ninety seven. They're
the ones that hand out all the Latin Grammys.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
But in nineteen ninety nine, these old white folks didn't
want to see Ricky shake his bond bond on stage.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Which is when Tommy Montola stepped in.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Oh yeah, I know.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
We have major issues with Tommy, but in this one
isolated incident, he was right. He knew that Ricky was
a sensation, and he pushed the Academy hard to allow
Ricky on that stage. During an interview with Billboard, Matola
told the magazine about it, there was tremendous resistance from
the Grammys. They did not want a quote unknown to perform,
(32:03):
yet he had already sold ten million copies of welve worldwide.
To me, that was absolutely unacceptable. The Grammys finally cave.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Damn right, they did. My boy brought stilts onto that stage.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
That performance was pure music magic. I have a feeling
that you and I are not the only ones that
remember that song. I mean we talked about this back
in our j Low episodes. But how impactful do you
think that performance was to every Grammy show going forward?
Speaker 3 (32:38):
I think that people just couldn't take it. It was
like too much you It's nothing you've ever seen.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
It was nothing they had ever seen. As Latinos were like, y'all,
this is happening at the Goatna Sada, like my aunts
do this like for us? He brought I think, the
essence and the spirit of our culture to the stage.
I don't know who followed that performance that night, because
I think I tuned it all out. But sucks for
them who wants to follow Ricky After the performance? I mean,
(33:06):
there was like big band coming through the aisles, like
all these people in tuxedos that were mainly white were like.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
What is happening here?
Speaker 3 (33:15):
The over stimulation in that room. I would have loved
to have been there, just people just being like are
we being invaded?
Speaker 1 (33:23):
I love that you say that, And you know, it
just felt to me like a party and it was
the secret sauce that the Grammys had been missing for years,
Because after that you really started to see these much
more elaborate performances stage presence. I mean, they finally realized
that they had the world's greatest musicians there once a
(33:44):
year put on a damn show. Think about Carti's performance
at the Grammys. If Ricky had not done this performance
back then, we would never have had Carti shaking that
ass on top of a baby grand piano with thirty
dancers behind her. Thank you, Ricky, I.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Mean, with his performance that night, Ricky had arrived.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
If you've been following along closely, Joseph Is found a
way to work six different boy band titles into the script.
Any that you didn't get to work in.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
I never found a way to make mum Bop work.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Yeah, that one's not easy. I bet it had you
burn it up.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Jonas brother is well done.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Yeah, if you give me just one night, ninety eight
degrees on the next becoming an Icon, we.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Take you from Grammy Night nineteen ninety nine.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Through the Latin Explosion, Yes, the Latin Wave of the
late nineties, Ricky's career and the career of the stars.
Ricky helped launch Becoming an Icon is presented by Sonodl
and Iheart's Michael Duda podcast Network. Listen to Becoming an
(35:02):
Icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you
get your podcast
It's time for a new icon, one that opened the
door for an entire generation of new Latino artist Ricky Martin,
an artist who started his career when he was just
a teenager and kept finding new ways to push himself
artistically until he had become a global star.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This sounds a lot like Ricky.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Martin, an icon that in one performance so electrified an
industry that every record executive went out looking for a
crossover star.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Uh is this Cinglon? It's Ricky Martin.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I'm talking about none other than Puerto Rico's on Ricky Martin.
You never let me surprise you anymore? Can we talk
about Ricky?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Now?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
How much do you know about the man, the myth,
the legend?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Okay, I know that he was in a boy group
and he is hot. Well that's a number one was
in like American novela? What are those called American novelas?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
You don't know? Wait?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I'm sorry, did you just forget your English? Like Hilaria Baldwin?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Wait? Is this Baldwin?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
This is Joso Speppino moment an American novella. You don't
know how to say that in English?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
No?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
What is that actually called? Because you just say novela.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
A soap opera, A soap opera, Oh my god, a
soap opera. He was in a soap opera and like
a pop star and took over the world.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
And gay a gay icon, not just an icon, a
gay icon. I think you got most of everything. You
casually drifted by boy band, which is really funny because
to me, man Noodle was life as a little girl.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Well it's also life for me when I'm hungover on
Sunday mornings.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Is that when you listen to it, that's when.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I ate Manudal Just kidding, but I did love Vadola
growing up.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Everybody loved Manudula growing up. There is so much more
to his forty year career than most even know. Over
the next few episodes, we're going to tell you how
Ricky did the improbable and use his time in a
boy band to launch an uber successful solo career.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
There aren't many that have for every justin Timberlake, there
are forty Where are they now Google searches.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I'm looking at you, Joey.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Fatone, And yes, of course, naturally, we will talk about
how he helped launch the Latin I hate this word,
the Latin explosion ex explosion. Can we change it please?
The Latin boom, the Latin wave, how about a wave,
the Latin tsunami, anything but explosion. We're also going to
(02:49):
tell you the story of how Ricky found himself and
became a hero to so many in the LGBTQIA plus community,
how his journey has helped push the boundaries of sexuality
in Latin America and made communities so much more inclusive.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Henny, he didn't have to be just one thing, and
we'll get into that.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
We're also going to tell you about his time on stage,
his charitable work, and if I can convince iHeart an
entire season about his time on the American Novella General Hospital.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I love you, Miguel.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
We all do today on becoming an Icon Ricky Martin.
I'm your host, Lilianavasquez.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
And I'm Joseph Carrio, and this is Becoming an Icon.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
A weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on
how today's most famous LATINX stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And given the world some extras.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
At all, sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Because we are.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Going in the only way we know how. With Buena
bea ushigunas Riesas and a lot of opinions, as we
really their greatest achievements on our journey to find out
what makes them so iconic, It all starts with menudo.
(04:18):
Now most of you of a certain age, you mean
people younger than us. Okay, you're choosing violence today. That hurt,
But moving on, Like.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Mike Girl, Lozzo says, truth hurts.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
The entire band was a gimmick cooked up by music
producer at godilodas the as had seen the Jackson five
drive young girls crazy, and he thought, I started a
boy band and then as soon as the boys turn
into men, I'll kick their ass out and replace them.
In Puerto Rico, menudo is slang for loose.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Change clever. It got very clever.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
The band members knew that they could count on screaming
girls and getting kicked out of the band when they're balls.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Dropped by the way. I do think we need to
be more inclusive in the language here. I don't think
that it was just screaming girls.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Joseph screaming fans.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
I'm just gonna say, I'm pretty sure Joseph had some
screaming moments for boy bands, right, for.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, for boy bands, and for no doubt, but that's
another podcast.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Now, do you have favorite boy bands from going on?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Obviously it's going to be something like the End Sync
and Backshit Boys, right, But for me, I actually have
a favorite boy band now and it's the like the
BTS group. I like their music and I like to
listen to it.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I think it's crazy that in our lifetime that has
now almost surpassed four decades. Just kidding, just getting them
minds I lead into, Then you choose a modern day
boy band because for me, the heyday of boy bands
obviously the nineties, but I fell in love with boy
bands in the eighties. NKOTB was for me like just
(06:01):
a continuation of the love that I had for Manudal.
But my first boy band love was obviously Ricky and Manudal,
Like I thought there was nobody cuter on the planet.
That's the first time I remember having a crush having
feelings for boys. I was like, oh, they're so cute.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
But listen to this.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
According to Billboard, US Weekly, seventeen and teen Vogue, Manudal
is right up there with all of those boy bands
we just named, so in saying BSB Backstreet Boys in
case you don't know, Oh my.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
God, you said BSB, and I was gonna correct you, bitch,
because I was gonna say, you mean BTS but BSB.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Are you that initial girl? I didn't think that I
were that button where in the early eighties we called
it flair, not button.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
You had flair.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
I'm dead, But Maneudal is right up there in the
ranks with them, and each of those magazines rank them
is one of the biggest boy of all time.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I mean, if they're good enough for teen Vogue.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
So the band was formed in nineteen seventy seven, but
Ricky didn't join until nineteen eighty three, the year I
was born. He tried out for the band three times,
and the producers told him they loved his singing and dancing,
but that he was too short.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Oh oh, are you feeling triggered?
Speaker 1 (07:24):
No, because, like me, Ricky was persistent af and kept
knocking on that door until they couldn't refuse him.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
That's very you.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
At age twelve, he joined the band and became part
of its golden age. When fans talk about the band,
this is the group that we are talking about. In
just six years, the band released eleven albums.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Eleven albums, one hundi they didn't have Child Liberlaus back then.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
No, that's basically two albums a year. And Ricky said
he loved being part of the band for all the
incredible opportunities the band offered him and to be around
so many amazing people, but he was exhausted by the
crazy schedule and how strict the producers of the band were.
In his debut stage performance, Ricky broke the choreography by
(08:14):
walking around the stage when he was supposed to stay still,
and the band manager lit into him. Afterwards, Ricky latter
said the mistake was such a big deal that from
that moment on never again did I move when I
wasn't supposed to move. That was the discipline of menudo.
You either did things the way you were told or
you were not part of the group.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Well damn bitch, that is like seriously some BTS strict shit.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
By the way, that is a band that we love
here at becoming an icon. Maybe we could make them
honorary icons in our international episodes.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Hey, have you also seen what the BTS army does
online to people that aren't fans of BTS.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
A good call, BTS, we love you.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
While with Manudal Ricky performed alongside Robbie Draco Rosa. Rosa
quickly became one of Ricky's best friends, and the pair
formed a lifelong friendship. Quick side note, because it can't
be fun. Rossa would also star in one of the
worst movies of the eighties, Salsa What. Yeah, it's a
terrible film, but I bet if you were a young
(09:29):
Latino in the eighties, your parents definitely made you watch it.
They're just, you know, weren't a lot of options out
there being made for us.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Okay, I just looked it up and the entire movie
is available on YouTube. I'm going to need a lot
of edibles for this.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
One, really, like not you normally need more.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
I mean, just what's two extra chocolates for this one?
Speaker 1 (09:53):
I also feel if you watch the movie, YouTube pays you. Hey,
Robbie Rosa plays an important role very soon. So Ricky
leaves Manudl at seventeen. Well, he kind of aged out
true either way. He says he wants to focus on
resting and evaluating his career path. Wait, what happened to
(10:14):
Manula Drums? They get embroiled in some drug issues, accusations
of abuse towards the producers and slowly but surely, the
band just kind of fell apart.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Rest in peace Manulo.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Ricky, on the other hand, well, he turns eighteen and
realizes that as a minor, he was never allowed to
control his own bank accounts. Turns out, bitch is rich.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
So Ricky says bye bye bye to Puerto Rico and
moves to New York.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Ricky is accepted into NYU's TISH School of Performing Arts.
Side note here, you guys. TISH is one of the
most competitive and highly regarded performing arts programs in the world.
Either this isn't like going to like some little school
like in your hometown. This is TISH, so bad school.
(11:07):
It is the school. So many incredible alumni have come
out of this program that you and.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
I know, and you automatically become the Tish backwards. I
don't know, I don't know. Shit, you become the shit. It'sish.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
You become this shit when you graduate from TISH is
basically you're literally But anyway, he was accepted into this program,
but days before school was about to start, he goes
to visit a friend in Mexico City to see a
musical rock comedy that she's starring it.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
He didn't want to watch the play, he wanted to
be in it.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
So while in Mexico City, one of the producers of
the play offers him a role, and Ricky drops out
of TISH moves down to Mexico City to start his career. Anew,
what a turn of events for mister Martin. Megusta same
because he followed his passion, which I think is important
and a theme that we can hearing over and over again.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
You know, when you were enlightening me with the Tish commentary,
I was like, of course he fucking went to TISH,
and no, bitch, he didn't. He went to Mexico.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
I mean, think about how different his life and our
lives as lifelong Ricky Martin fans would be if Ricky
had gone to TISH. I'm not saying Ricky wouldn't have
the same success and career, it would just have been
very different. And I also think that a lot of
actors say this, like they go to Juilliard, they go
to TISH, they go to the Yale School of Drama,
(12:35):
they attend, but they don't finish because their passion and
their talent is pulling them elsewhere. I think that's really
what ended up happening here because it wasn't just about
this one role. This one role turned into multiple offers
while he was in Mexico City.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
And also, you know, being in a boy band at
such a young age, you know, he had this like
crazy discipline. He's just saying, I'd never moved out of
place again.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Yeah, exactly. Not only was he insanely talented, but he
was incredibly disciplined. And sometimes I think that's the hard
part to learn. But Ricky had learned this at a
very young age. So here he is skips out on tish.
He's in Mexico and ladies and gentlemen starring in Mama
AMAI Rock Ricky Martin.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Wait, was that really the title of the show? For real?
It was?
Speaker 1 (13:25):
And Ricky was so good that within a couple months
another producer saw the show and offered him a role
on the Mexican felen novela Thank You or the Mexican
soap opera Alcanzarnastrea. Producer see Ricky once, and they're just
throwing roles at him left and right. That's what makes
(13:46):
Ricky larger than life. Alcanca is such a hit that
they make a second season and then a film based
on the show. Of course, a record producer sees these
shows and movies and they offer Ricky a music deal,
and they offer him get this one penny per record sold.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Shut your butts.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Okay, wait, you think that's bad. Ricky took the deal.
He said of the deal, I was so excited about
getting back into the music world that I didn't care
what the conditions were. All of the hard work and
passion I had exerted was finally now starting to come
to fruition, and music came back to my life powerfully
and definitively. Ricky wasn't going to be deterred, and he
(14:30):
worked day and night to produce his debut solo album,
Ricky Martin and you guessed it. It was a hit.
You've probably never heard of any of the songs on
the album, but trust this album went platinum and he
toured all over South America with it.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
He was barely nineteen and he was a star all
over again.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
What were you doing at nineteen?
Speaker 3 (14:54):
I can't even tell you on this podcast, and I'm
dead serious, like it was shit show.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
I wasn't you know, No, No, that's insane. A pop
star twice.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
After touring all over Latin America, Ricky heads to La
to try his hand at acting all over again and
at Joseph what are they called No reay Las soap Operas?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Miguel Morris.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
I loved Miguel.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Of course you did, and that's what makes you beautiful.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
On General Hospital, he plays a Puerto Rican bartender and
singer on the lamb from his lover's criminal mastermind father.
Soon though, his flowing hair becomes irresistible and a steamy
love triangle rages across port Charles Lill's don't hurt him, Sonny,
I love him.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Sonny Lil's You're in the studio with me?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Come back, bitch, Okay, okay, okay, I'm here. Hashtag justice
for Nia. Ricky stars on the show for two weeks,
and he becomes one of the most talked about soap
opera actors ever ever. Ricky, though he doesn't feel comfortable
on the show and has trouble developing chemistry with the cast.
(16:13):
Agents and producers suggest he take an accellent reduction course,
but Ricky says no thanks, and soon he quits the show.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
He makes a brief stop in New York to start
in lem Is, where he is tre miserable.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Ricky breaks my teenage heart and leaves General Hospital for
his one true.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Love, Oh Jim, Daddy's, Zaddies, Otters, Twinks, Polar Bears, Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Okay, stop, you're making it up.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
No, that's a real one. Okay, I'll tell you later.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
All of that comes later in the episodes. He leaves
to restart his music career. We already told you that
Ricky was a major pop star in Latin America after
his first two.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Albums, which they literally paid him pennies for yep.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
So now he was back in the studio. But he
wanted to do something different. Here's the thing. In the nineties,
Latin pop music was dominated by ballads. Luis Miguel Cheyenne,
Juan Risquerre.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
All my Latin pop stars were up in their feelings
in the nineties.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
It was the easiest way for them to find mass appeal,
write a tender love song and let everyone get in
their feelings about it. It is a tried and true
pop tradition. Ricky, though, he wanted to do something different.
Even the biggest songs of Manudal were just pop music
from the States with Spanish lyrics. During his time in Mexico,
Ricky saw how proud Mexicans were of the mariacci So
(17:52):
he said to his friend and now producer Robbie Dracuarrosa,
we have to be proud.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Of who we are.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
They have their thing in Mexico. Let's go with what
we have in Puerto Rico. And the result was Maria,
that's right, Maria, whoa, take me back.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
I didn't really know that.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
That's where he got that in Spo, like seeing Mariachi's
and how because in Puerto Rico, I mean, do you guys,
is there like a like we have Mariacci's, you guys
have reton we got a lot.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Okay, don't say it like we don't have ship? What
is what like we're I mean we are suffering for
other political reasons. But don't look at me like traditional
music like what like you know mariachis isa yeah, okay,
I mean yes, I mean any of the Caribbean sounds.
I also feel that's the thing about being Dominican or
Puerto Rican or Cuban, like there is a sound that's
(18:51):
pervasive and then each island makes it their own. For me,
it's salsa music and band and like gatherings of people.
The thing about the music is it brings people together, right,
Like when I think of mariachi, is like, it's not
like they're out there on the plaza by themselves, right.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
And I'll passo there.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Let me tell you this, okay, But then everybody comes
out to watch and sing along, and it is a
community experience. I feel the same thing with Sasa music.
If someone's playing, people gather around, they dance, they're singing.
It's like kids, it's grown ups, it's everybody. It brings
a community together.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Speaking of bringing the community together, this song fucking brought
everybody together.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Maria is a song about a dangerous woman by the
name Maria or I already know what you're gonna say.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Oh, it's about cocaine.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Okay, Joseph, you saw one movie about a bear who
eats some coke, and now everything in this world is
about cocaine.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Think about it.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
The lyrics translate to this is Maria white as the day,
but it's poison if you fall in love. This is
Maria so hot and cold. If you drink it, it
will surely kill you.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Come on.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
So you're not the first person to say that, And
I agree that the lyrics do suggest a little bit
of a double on tongdre.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Oh, it's about sex too, I like it.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
No, it's a double meaning that Ricky has always flat
out denied, saying I will never exalt drugs. Maria is
a song that talks about Latino women and how addictive
they can be, but does not mention or allude to drugs.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Sure, Ricky, bomb bomb bomb.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
So they finished the song and then they bring in
a Puerto Rican DJ named DJ Flores who changes it
from a flamenco bee into an up tempo dance song,
and it was fire. Ricky loved it. His record label
not so much. When he first played the song for
his label, one record executive shouted, are you crazy? You've
(20:56):
ruined your career. I can't believe you are showing me this.
You're finished. This is going to be your last album.
This is the end of your career. You do ballads
and now you're doing Latin sounds. The album is not
going to work.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Okay, okay, cool it now, mister Ricky executive.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Ricky was devastated, but he knew the song would work,
and his belief changed his entire career. Madia would become
a number one hit in over twenty countries. In nineteen
ninety six, it was named as the song of the
Summer in Spain. In nineteen ninety nine, the Guinness Book
of World Records named it the number one Latin song
(21:35):
of all time. It even went to number one in Australia.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
OSSI's love Some Ricky.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
The whole world did, and soon record executives were lining
up for this sound, including the producers of one of
the biggest events in the world. But we'll get to
that in just a little bit. Madia was released on
Ricky's third studio album, I'm Medio Vivier. Maria was the
stoundout hit, but if you listen to it, you could
see that Ricky is perfecting the sounds in style that
(22:07):
would make him a worldwide superstar, the.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Right mix of ballads, samba, salsa and the Afro Latino rhythms.
It was a mix he would perfect on his next
album welve.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
On am Merio Vivi, Ricky had silenced all the doubters
by believing in himself and in his instincts. So for
the follow up, he got rid of all the extra
producers and went to work with Desmond Child and his
childhood friend Robbie Draco Rosa.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
He told all the other producers bye bye bye.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
You already did that one.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Oh you're right. Hold on a second, he told the producers,
this is the end of the road.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Very nice, Save joseph On. Ricky wanted to embrace the
sounds of Puerto Rico, and he did just that welve.
I know, people, it's everyone's favorite album. It's like the
album that defined Ricky, and everybody has their own favorite song,
including which is like, not one of my favorites, but
(23:06):
that's okay, don't judge me for it. Shape the shade
La Bomba is just like a rhythmic and explosion. I'm
going to use the word infectious because this is how
I think of it. I remember being at like clubs, bars, whatever,
and seeing people that have no business dancing, do you
(23:27):
know what I mean? Like people that you're like, oh,
they have no rhythm. That's so sad for them. And
then La Boomba would come on and it was like
the Holy ghost just like took over their bodies and
they all became Puerto rican For three and a half minutes.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
One million percent they were shaking it. I remember La Bomba,
just because of how freaking gore GISTs that locks.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
It didn't even matter what Ricky sounded like. It didn't
matter if you liked Spanish music or not. If you
caught a glimpse of one frame of Ricky Martin in
the video for La Bomba, you were a Ricky Martin
fan because he is the most beautiful man. Not that
he's not all the time, but in that video, I
am going to say it, that was peak hot for Ricky.
(24:11):
He was damn shiny.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Remember it's nineteen ninety eight, so like there weren't a
lot of like I feel like the guys we were
seeing were a little bit older, like Cheyenne was a
little bit older. Like he was like a hot soccer
player that could see herself and dance.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Yeah, you know what I mean. And that's what I think.
Like when you were seeing him, you're just like, oh.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I just remember how beautiful he looked in this video.
And by the way, fun fact for all of you
Ricky super fans, do you know where that video was shot?
The exterior? And I also believe a lot of the
interiors do you know, do.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
You know I don't tell us tell us that people
need to know.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
It was shot in Miami. Oh, of course at the
Delano Hotel, which anybody that spent any portion of the
late nineties or early two thousands in Miami knows. The
Delano was like the hot spot to be, so I.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Know exactly where you are. Bish.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I was that the Dilano. I had one of the
best nights of my life.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
At the Dilano, I'm not even going. We're not doing that.
We are not doing that.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
We are not parents are listening, children are listening.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Anyway where they dropped six songs that went number one
on the Latin charts.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
As Ricky told CNN, he wanted WEDVI to reaffirm the
internationalization of my career, and I know that it will
help me a lot to destroy the stereotypes that may
exist with my culture. It was a smash and he
had conquered every country in the.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
World except for one.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Joseph, Are you a big soccer fan?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Do you mean football?
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Fine?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Sure? Are you a big football fan? No?
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Not really?
Speaker 1 (26:01):
So why did you you know what?
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Never mind? Never mind?
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Every four years there's a World Cup held in a
different country around the world. It's a soccer tournament, but
it's also a month long celebration.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
And every celebration needs music exactly.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
So in nineteen ninety, the World Cup decided to commission
an official anthem, a pop song that would play everywhere
and be associated with the World Cup. In nineteen ninety
it was an Italian pop song.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Nineteen ninety World Cup was the one that West Germany
won on a late penalty versus Argentina.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Wait so you are a fan?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
No, well not really.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
In nineteen ninety four, the World Cup was held in
the US and the song was by none other than
Daryl Hall of Hallan Oates.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Oh my god, that's a cough drop brand.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Right, this constant disrespect of Hallan notates. I've had enough
of this. Moving on, So the ninety eight World Cup
was quickly approaching and the organized France. We're looking for
an artist to write the official anthem, the number one
song in France in the summer of nineteen ninety six.
Ooh no tress yep. Maria is everywhere and everyone wants
(27:12):
to get some of that sound. So they approach Ricky
and Draco Rosa to write the song, and at first
Ricky isn't so sure.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
He said, I have to.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Admit that the challenge made me a bit nervous, but
the massive growth potential for my career was such that
I decided to accept.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Accept he did.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Rosa and Child went back to the studio and cooked
up what they said was a mix of salsa, Gumbia
and funk over a Brazilian beat that sounds like a dish.
I want to eat.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Of course, football, the World Cup and five time World
Cup champion Brazil go hand in hand el Jogo bonito.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Can you just stop the lies and admit that you
are a football fan?
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I've dabbled.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
I bet The song is an infectious celebration. It keeps
building until you're just out of your seat dancing.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Nicole A.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Sevilo from NBC News described the track as a world
famous mega hit. E wrote that there was not a
minute in the whole year that the song was not
played and emphasized that it was obviously one of the
big must do hits at parties.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
It was a party mother effing jam.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Scott Rocksborough from The Hollywood Reporter wrote, this is the
song that set the musical template for the World Cup
anthems to come. Martin got the world shimming and shaking
to the Cup of Life, and yes.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
I am shimming and shaking right now thinking about the
song because it was one of my favorite songs. I mean,
it could come on right now and I could gem
out like I'm not tired of it at all.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
You could be a death metal devote and the Cup
of Life came on and you were like salsaing in
your combat boots, like it did not matter what musical
genre you preferred, the genre that we preferred that summer.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Was shaking Dad, it was Ricky. Martin was Ricky.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
It was Ricky.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
I was drinking out of that cup.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
I wish that I drank out of that cup. I
wish I'd been I wish I'd attended a World Cup.
And you know what's crazy is that he was becoming
a household name globally here in the United States and
he wasn't even singing in English. I mean, here we
are twenty years later, and you know else, don't don't
(29:32):
you bring that shit up. Listen, I look for any
and all reasons to bring up bad Bunny. All I'm
saying is that here we are twenty years later as
deja vu Puerto Rican stop it icon, but no songs
in English at this point in their career. Yeah, bad Bunny.
He paved the way right and Ricky performed this song everywhere,
(29:56):
and before you knew it, he was one of the
hottest pop stars in the world. And of course here
unless styles who need those?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Mmmmm.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
So when Veeve was nominated for Best Latin Pop Performance
at the forty first Annual Grammys, fans were hoping that
Ricky would.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Perform that performance would go on to change pop history forever.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
But it almost didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
In nineteen ninety nine, the Grammys didn't really care about
Latin music, typical lame. So here's what you have to
know about the Grammys. They're hosted by the Recording Academy
and they were founded in nineteen fifty seven to honor
the best popular songs worldwide. So why do I bring
this up? That is a good question, because in nineteen
(30:42):
fifty seven that wasn't that far from nineteen ninety nine.
The members of the Recording Academy were mainly older and white,
which is why so many of the shows back then
seemed like more of a funeral than a celebration, and
why the Academy was so resistant to honoring any new
music trends rock, heavy metal, rap. The Academy was really
(31:06):
slow to recognize these genres as being worthy of recognition
and the stage and those were all in English exactly,
so imagine how resistant they were to songs in a
language that they didn't even understand. To be fair, they
did start the Latin Academy in nineteen ninety seven. They're
the ones that hand out all the Latin Grammys.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
But in nineteen ninety nine, these old white folks didn't
want to see Ricky shake his bond bond on stage.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Which is when Tommy Montola stepped in.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Oh yeah, I know.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
We have major issues with Tommy, but in this one
isolated incident, he was right. He knew that Ricky was
a sensation, and he pushed the Academy hard to allow
Ricky on that stage. During an interview with Billboard, Matola
told the magazine about it, there was tremendous resistance from
the Grammys. They did not want a quote unknown to perform,
(32:03):
yet he had already sold ten million copies of welve worldwide.
To me, that was absolutely unacceptable. The Grammys finally cave.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Damn right, they did. My boy brought stilts onto that stage.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
That performance was pure music magic. I have a feeling
that you and I are not the only ones that
remember that song. I mean we talked about this back
in our j Low episodes. But how impactful do you
think that performance was to every Grammy show going forward?
Speaker 3 (32:38):
I think that people just couldn't take it. It was
like too much you It's nothing you've ever seen.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
It was nothing they had ever seen. As Latinos were like, y'all,
this is happening at the Goatna Sada, like my aunts
do this like for us? He brought I think, the
essence and the spirit of our culture to the stage.
I don't know who followed that performance that night, because
I think I tuned it all out. But sucks for
them who wants to follow Ricky After the performance? I mean,
(33:06):
there was like big band coming through the aisles, like
all these people in tuxedos that were mainly white were like.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
What is happening here?
Speaker 3 (33:15):
The over stimulation in that room. I would have loved
to have been there, just people just being like are
we being invaded?
Speaker 1 (33:23):
I love that you say that, And you know, it
just felt to me like a party and it was
the secret sauce that the Grammys had been missing for years,
Because after that you really started to see these much
more elaborate performances stage presence. I mean, they finally realized
that they had the world's greatest musicians there once a
(33:44):
year put on a damn show. Think about Carti's performance
at the Grammys. If Ricky had not done this performance
back then, we would never have had Carti shaking that
ass on top of a baby grand piano with thirty
dancers behind her. Thank you, Ricky, I.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Mean, with his performance that night, Ricky had arrived.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
If you've been following along closely, Joseph Is found a
way to work six different boy band titles into the script.
Any that you didn't get to work in.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
I never found a way to make mum Bop work.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Yeah, that one's not easy. I bet it had you
burn it up.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Jonas brother is well done.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Yeah, if you give me just one night, ninety eight
degrees on the next becoming an Icon, we.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Take you from Grammy Night nineteen ninety nine.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Through the Latin Explosion, Yes, the Latin Wave of the
late nineties, Ricky's career and the career of the stars.
Ricky helped launch Becoming an Icon is presented by Sonodl
and Iheart's Michael Duda podcast Network. Listen to Becoming an
(35:02):
Icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you
get your podcast
Hosts And Creators
Lilliana Vazquez
Joseph Carrillo
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