Ricky Martin: Are You In It For Love

There's no denying that Ricky Martin changed the game for Latino artists.

Without Ricky, Latin music wouldn't be what it is today.

He paved the way for so many He.

Said, yosoi Latino isoi gay is.

With that one sentence, he went from a Latino icon to a Latino gay icon. This sentence wouldn't likely have the same effect today as it did back then. But remember this was twenty ten. Wait, Joseph, do you remember when Barbara Walters tried to get him to come out in two thousand during that interview.

Listen rest in Peace?

But she was shady, so shady, and the rest of his career was so much greater back then.

Well, not much different, but okay, true, true, Well, we have seen change with artists like Bad Bunny leading the charge for a new generation.

We still have so much work to do when it comes dismantling the many biases that are pervasive in Latino culture, but we do have Ricky to think for part of that early progress.

Ricky had reached a point in his career where he was doing extremely well, but something was missing.

Authenticity.

Yes, yes, yes.

On today's episode of Becoming an Icon, we're going to take you from Ricky's hit Begata to present day Ricky. We're looking back on his MTV Unpluged performance, his collab with a little known TV producer named Ryan Murphy, and his journey to becoming the activist he is. Today, I'm your host Lilianavasquez.

And I'm Joseph Carrio and this is Becoming an Icon.

A weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on how today's most famous LATINX stars have shaped pop culture.

And given the world some extress at all.

Sit back and get comfortable.

Because we are going in the.

Only way we know how, with who and a lot of opinions as we relive their greatest achievements on our journey to find out what makes them so iconic. You know what's kind of amazing.

To me how much we know about space and the Adaman, but how little we know about the sea and the millions of creatures that inhabit it.

Okay, yes, orry all that too, but for the moment, come back to me and focus on earthly beings, specifically mister Martin and how consistent he's been throughout his life. That too, sure, So After Life, his third English album, Ricky was looking for a connection and a sort of intimacy with his fans. So what did he do?

I know what I wish he did, But MTV unplugged the raw sounds, the moodiness, the vibes with so nighties.

Ricky is the first singer to use unplugged as a chance for reinvention. Lauren Hill and Shakira did it, and now it was Ricky's turn.

It was a chance for everyone to see Ricky unmasked who he truly was and underneath those tank tops and tight leather pants.

It would strip back the overproduced tracks and leave nothing but Ricky and his soul.

I mean he danced a bon bay blena bare foot. I'm trembling. So. The set was.

Performed in Miami in August of two thousand and six, featuring some of his iconic ballads as well as songs taken from traditional Puerto Rican rhythms. Now during the performance, two songs stood out and would become some of his biggest hits to this day. The songs do ric guerdo translated to your Memory and beg et it get closer?

Oh I love this one gets my hips moving. Can someone get us a tambourine.

These two songs were polar opposites, but both were inspired by Puerto Rico's and musical influences. Priguerdo takes more from Puerto Rican Aginaldo Hibato finishing with an aginaldo or rocovignon.

I don't know what any of that means, but that song gave me all the fields I know.

And Pegatta, on the other hand, is purely a Puerto Rican blena.

I don't know what that is either, but that song made me want to shake something Madre by Lando.

To It often features guitars at guadro and even bongos.

Do those farmers wear headbands and cargo pants?

I was waiting for you to bring up his look. How would you describe it to our audience?

Oh my gosh, Well, one I would say it's bringing sexy back, Like if someone was wearing that now, I still think that it would still be attractive. I mean, cargo pants maybe not so much, but I'm.

Sorry, hold please, hold please. I'm putting on my style exper hat and taking off my podcasting hat to correct you on that, because there's literally no hotter thing in fashion right now than cargo pants for both men.

And women.

So you stand corrected by me.

Okay, fine, it's still hot. That's why I said the nineties are back. He can bring sexy back now if he wants. And the headband is so soccer it's so like Latin hot. It was. It was everything.

I love that you just claimed headbands has only hot on Latin men and women. Nobody else can be hot in a headband. It's just latinos. Yeah, whatever, And we are you letting the no shoes slide?

Like no, no, no, I wasn't, but I just knew that you were going to say something about it because he was freaking barefoot, Like what guys.

So, just to bring you into that moment, we have Ricky Martin Brushy tattooed in a sleeveless vest type sleeveless shirt, a headband his.

Deep v's is it a deep V? It was kind of like middle chest Like they don't really make those anymore. Well, I have them.

I don't know where you would buy a middle chest deep beee either.

Hey, I'm not going to tell you my stores.

Let's take our listeners to the movement. So there was the Latino hot headband, a very deep the sleeveless tea, the cargo vent slung like loosely around his hips, and then no.

Shoes and then no shoes. It was giving casually in a jolie, you know what I mean. It was casual. Also, I do want to say, what do you think is stopping men from dressing like this again? And the way that he moved, I mean, lor have mercy.

You know what's stopping them is that they would be compared to Ricky in that look, and he's going to win it forever and ever and ever, like there's no competition. Nobody can do that look hotter than Ricky Martin.

His performance was so good it felt like he was back. The way he was really truly moving his hips, and just the way his hand language was happening, you could just tell he was just really in it.

I agree with you one thousand percent the intimacy that that stage and that venue and that medium allows him. I felt watching it from home like we were on vac with like our older cousin Ricky at his beachos ending Golen and we were like just doing a jam session, like out on the deck, and then we got Linny and then it turned into a full living room fiesta.

It made everyone the woon. Also saying the word swoon just also takes it back to the nineties very on.

Brad, swoon might be post for a comeback, but let's use it.

Are we bringing back swoon?

I challenge you to use it one more time in this episode.

Put your butt game on Now.

This song allowed us to see a softer and more paced Ricky with deeply emotional lyrics, and the official Unplugged album was number one on the Top Latin Albums. It also won two Latin Grammy Awards and was nominated for Album of the Year. Ricky Martin then went on to bring all the success and love back to his homeland. He went on tour again on the Black and White Tour in two thousand and seven, which had four sold out shows at Elcholi.

Good Old Echoli, Ricky Martin paving the way for Bad Benny to cause chaos in twenty twenty two, How Far We've Come.

He then released his first Italian song, Non siamo soli We are not Alone, which was a duet with Italian singer Erros Rama Zoti.

Excuse me, why wasn't Ricky on season two of White Lotus? I need to speak to the manager.

But with Ricky, as soon as he finds himself musically, he finds himself tempted by another calling.

What oh he told you about that? I guess it's not Dale anymore. So yeah, Ricky and I are.

I'm just ignoring you.

I'm moving on.

Let's just say he went back to his first love aka Not Joseph. In February twenty twelve, he had a guest role on Glee as Spanish teacher David Martinez.

Oh my god, stop remember when Glee was a thing.

As soon as he wrapped the show, he took on the role of Jay in the Broadway revival of the musical A Vida.

Now that was a look. The facial hair he had going on again, what's stopping men from looking like this?

Clearly that look was working on more than just to you. The theater's box office sales broke records six times. People were lining up to say this once in a lifetime performance. Ricky had found the career he'd always longed for. He was making music for himself. Music had expressed his tast and his culture, and he didn't need to chase fame or publicity.

And he was acting, which he loves more than me.

He was doing what he wanted to professionally, but he felt unfulfilled personally. He longed to be a father, but he wanted to be able to be honest with his children, so he made the decision to be honest with the world. Despite all the success and strides made in the name of Latino representation.

Ricky was not all that happy.

I mean, can you ever really be happy if you can't be yourself.

It's one thing to feel so alone because of the price of fame, you don't really know who to trust, But it's another thing to not be able to share yourself with who you really want to.

Love exactly, and Ricky was a very affectionate person by nature. He was drawn to other people from a very young age. According to an interview with Rolling Stone in nineteen ninety nine, Martin experienced his first kiss at age thirteen.

Well he was dating women on and off throughout his career.

One in particular, Alejandra Guzman, left him heartbroken. At the time, Guzman was separated from her husband, and according to Ricky's memoir Me, they began dating, but then Guzman got back with her husband and pretended Martin was her assistant.

A damn Gina that is low Alejandra.

Later that year, Martin briefly dated gabrie La Sabatini, an Argentine tennis player. But it all changed when Ricky was on general hospital, he met.

Someone and started dating him, and.

Boldened by this new relationship, he decided it was time to come out to his mother. Ricky recalls his mom being very supportive at the time, saying to him, I love you, my son, I'm so happy for you. Bring it on. I'm right behind you. The relationship of fizzles, and a heartbroken Ricky locked his feelings even deeper inside and went back to dating women, ah clame. He recalls, I already felt it was hard to be a Latino in Hollywood. What could have been more difficult than being

So Martin went back to what was safe relationships with women.

Okay, Joseph, I needed your input here. As a gay man who's come out in a Latino family, what are your thoughts on hearing about Ricky going back and forth between men and women.

Well, one, I'm going to say, he got his gay in a Latino family, and his mom being there to support him is really, really, really huge. That's a big deal, and that really does feel like all the support you need for the most part, because you rely on home.

Back then, it couldn't have been easy. When you hear that his mom was so accepting of his identity and his sexuality, how does that make you feel.

I'm not going to say that it's easier to do it now. I don't necessarily think that for the people that are still really not accepting of themselves is what I'm going to say. But it's definitely there are more openly gay people that it does feel a little safer to come out.

Ricky couldn't be honest with the world, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from realizing one of his greatest desires becoming an icon. Oh, becoming a parent. Side note that should be a podcast, because Lord knows, we transcend every day just to survive.

Okay, what I was back to this show, becoming a par at yourself. Ricky, with seemingly no partner in his near future, googled how to be a single parent.

I wonder if he was clearing that search history when he brought dates home, because that could be a little scary for some partners.

Dayline keeps giving life lessons, always clear the search history.

Wait a second, Joseph, can we stop computers? I am dying to know.

Let's him keep it move of being correct well.

His research delivered in August two thousand and eight through Suriusy Martin became a father to twin boys, Mattel and Valentino.

I have never imagined myself being a dad, so I cannot wrap my brain around what it is so like, you have a baby. What is that maternal desire like to want to have a baby. Why do you feel like you need to be a parent?

Well, I think I think it's different for everybody, so I can only speak to my experience. You know, I'm different in the sense that there was a version of my life that could be joyful and rich and fulfilled without children, Like I was fully accepting of that, but I knew that having a child would also be something that could bring me so much joy, so much love,

Becoming a father seemed to have been the security and reassurance Martin needed to be comfortable with himself in private and in public, because two years later, in March twenty ten, he came out via message on his website stating I'm proud to say that I'm a fortunate homosexual man, very blessed to be who I am, But the.

Lines weren't always so clear for him. He would often ask, am I gay? Am I bisexual? Am I confused? What am I? Explaining? Sexuality is one complicated thing. It's not black and white. It's filled with colors. When I was dating women, I was in love with women. It felt right, it felt beautiful. During an interview with FAMA, Martin mentioned, I know that I like both men and women. I'm against sexual labels. We're simply human beings with emotional and

Girl, Men are my thing too, Bitch life, what's good? RIGHI was now out and about and ready to get on the apps.

This was twenty ten, so I'm pretty sure the apps were not out just yet, you know what I mean. His first relationship after coming out was with the Puerto Rican economist named Carlos Gonzalez abeam.

Oh yeah, glasses bond markets, macro never micro economics. I'm getting all hot and bothered.

Wait, I didn't know finance bros where you're tight.

Uh they're not.

Okay, well they're not Ricky's type either, and all that steamy talk about the FED didn't work. So when that relationship fizzled.

He bowed up with Juan, Yes, bitch, you heard me right, Juan yoursef so close to Joseph, so close? I know, funny how that is? Huh? Ricky closet to a photo of the two and captioned it, obviously we're starting a band. Oh soon.

The Syrian Swedish painter and Martin were a pair, and they made their red carpet debut as a couple at the am Far Inspiration Gallup.

Okay, hold up, bitch. So wait, there was actually one app involved, Instagram. They met on Instagram hashtag not sponsored. According to Martin, they were talking for like six months without hearing each other's voice. He later decided to take their online flirtation i RL and flew to London to meet Joseph in person.

Now they're married.

I get cute. After all those heartbreaks, he found his happily ever after.

The couple then welcomed more children into their life, this time as a couple with Lucia Martin Joseph and Wren Martin Yosef. Since coming out, Martin has become a very vocal advocac for queer rights worldwide.

But Ricky has been honest about his journey and even admitted to having some good old internalized homophobia.

Now, both Joseph and I were obviously raised in Latino households. I was raised Catholic early on. Joseph wasn't. But I think it doesn't even matter what religion we were raised. I believe culturally I was definitely raised to think that being gay was wrong, Like, who are you telling?

And I was gay? So and you know where you grew up and where I grew up is very different, I feel like, and I'll pass it. It was very everyone is super Mexican and Latino that I felt the wrath of God.

Well, at least your family wanted you to think that you were going to feel the wrath of God. I mean, that's what they did to us. They made us think that being one way was bad and by way. It didn't stop at homophobia, Like you couldn't even have premarital sex or you were going straight on the.

Express train to jail, Straight to jail, you know that meme.

As Latinos, so much of the ideas that we have around sexuality is informed by how we were raised. And I'm so happy that we're doing so much to dismantle that.

Now Ricky is older, like not to black my boo that I love, but he's older, so that older generation. He's thinking about his mom and now look at him, he's a gay icon.

Pink News actually labeled him a strong advocate of LGBT rights who expressed support for equal marriage since coming out. During the Ricky Renuncia protest in Puerto Rico, he was spotted with Bad Bunny and Residente. He instantly became the poster child for the protest as he was seen waving the Pride flag on top of the moving vehicle during the march.

Talk about living la vida loca. I mean he was giving total rockstar moves and Martin's.

Coming out was a game changer for Latin Pride billboards, Lucas Via wrote. With Martin's announcement, gay artists who had long kept their sexual identity as a secret finally had a beacon of hope. If Martin could come out with his career unscathed, there was hope for other artists in Latin music to start doing the same. He added that since then, a growing number of Latin artists either come out after years in the spotlight, or many have simply

Every one of my days starts with men of them. I thought you only d it on Sundays, Loki, I buy it on Sundays and eat it the rest of the week.

So it's only fitting that he went back to mentoring a new generation of boy bands. He started by mentoring contestants on The Voice Australia in twenty thirteen, which was really just prep work for Labanda. Labanda was a singing competition that began airing on Univision in twenty fifteen that was focused on finding the next members of the world's next great boy band.

They were basically trying to find the next Latino One Direction or bts Ah.

By the way, we love bts on becoming an icon.

We are here for that. However, Ricky was an executive producer and judge alongside at the sns I Love Him and louder Baucini.

Can we talk about how thirsty Lauda was that entire season, The way she was looking at those boys that can't be legal.

Oh angry yys lil's. Don't even get me started on those effing rumors.

Listen. Her words may have been about the singing, but her eyes were all Viva met Jessa. After getting ogled for an entire season, five young men were crowned and CNCO was born.

CNCO oh rot like sinko. Wait, they just dropped the ie. So at CNCO nice work.

Ricky Martin went on to become their very own Simon Cow and produce their debut album, Premtasita along with Puerto Rican reggae Doneto. In twenty ten, le La Goobo from Billboard compared the group with Manudo, noting not since Manudo had a Latin boy band, melted ours or made a dance quite like CNCO. Pop quiz Pop Quiz, Pop quiz, Joseph, can you name a CNCO song?

One more? No?

Okay, So between the two of us, we can name two CNCO songs and it doesn't matter because the boys, well they're kind of cute, right.

They were totally cute and I could totally see what loud Out was thinking.

Okay, moving on before we get a lawsuit. Jumping from Labanda to a new project, he reunited with his new bff, Ryan Murphy.

He's BFFs with Ryan Murphy two.

As we all know, when it comes to Murphy projects, it has to be gay and there has to be crime.

So basically, Beka do crime.

Ricky scored the role of Antonio Demico Gianni's real life boo, who, by the way, wasn't all too happy with the show.

Well, you know, nobody really likes being portrayed in a bad light.

You're not wrong, and hithaway, that's why we are not selling becoming an Icon rights to Ryan Murphy.

The fuck yeah, we will write that check Ry Yan. We hear it at cash Maining.

Ricky knew this was the best way to ride that wave back into television.

I love how he was creating another manuval and then he was like, let me go give the people an award worthy performance. You think you'd be tired of taking care of four kids, but no, he runs a caffeine and a dream. I'm sure how do you do it loth.

I mean I don't, but I will say that when you have kids, you're just like a better multitasker. I'm not gonna lie. I feel like my capacity before kids was like at a seven, even though I felt like it was a ten, And now that I have a baby, I'm like, oh no, no, my capacity's a ten and I run at a ten. It's not easy, but you know what, Let's also be honest and keep it real because that's what we do here. He has help, Like he's not watching his four kids every day from like

Ricky hasn't had many dull moments in his career. Sure there were personal lows, but work wise, he has always found a way to stay on top.

On the next becoming an icon.

There's so much we didn't get to cover or uncover in Ricky's career.

So many songs we didn't even get to discuss, but don't worry. Next episode, we're going to catch you up on all of Ricky's life, all of.

It mm hmmmm. We're leaving no.

Crumbs, and we'll bring a very special guest on this episode to discuss it all. Becoming an Icon is presented by Sonoo and Iheart'smichael Kuda podcast Network. Listen to Becoming an Icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast