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