Álvaro Soler’s is a combination, as he says, “very strange”: a Barcelonan who reached number one in Italy and Switzerland with a song in Spanish recorded in Berlin. Perhaps that is why they have fallen “a lot of different definitions”, something that does not worry him, because -he says- he knows who he is.
“You do not know how many times I am compared to Enrique Iglesias,” says the Spanish artist in an interview with Efe during his visit to Mexico, where he has had the first contact with the Latin American public.
Working in the European market, it has been inevitable to receive different labels, because among “the music they listen to” there are not so many Spanish artists.
Among these labels, they have boxed him up as the “‘latin lover’ who makes summer songs”, for the catchy songs “El mismo sol” – his first single, which he later recorded with Jennifer López- and “Sofía”.
“At least I know who I am, nothing happens because of what they say,” says the 26-year-old singer.
Soler, a German father and a Spanish mother, is the perfect example that “no one is a prophet in his land”, even though he is also known in his own native country.
“If we were in this moment at this point, with three singles that have gone very well, without entering (in Spain), I would think ‘I do not understand’,” he says.
But “luckily”, his music has also arrived there, so he is satisfied and says that, despite what it has cost, “I would not choose another way” to break through if I could go backwards.
His first and only album to date is “Eterno Agosto”, in which several songs convey positive messages that, he says, are in line with his personality.
“I prefer to always think positive, I believe that all things have a positive side and it is important to move forward and solve problems,” he says.
Even his well-known song “Sofia”, which speaks of a love break, has an animated melody and “good humor”. “It’s like a contrast that I like to have in anything,” he says.
In Mexico, Soler offered an acoustic concert at the Voila in Mexico City and participated as a special guest at the concert at the National Auditorium of Colombians Morat, with whom he released the song “Yo contigo, tú conmigo”, included in the band soundtrack of the movie “My favorite villain 3”.
Arriving in this country “is interesting, it’s nice to start over, not everything is done and I love working with different cultures,” argues the winner of a European Border Breakers Awards 2016, awarded by the European Union to recognize the success of emerging artists .
A multicultural coexistence is already used since childhood, because when he was ten years old he moved to Tokyo with his family. There, in a school music group in which he participated and in which there was an incessant movement of people, he learned that music can facilitate an instant “connection”.
“You see people you do not even know, and you can do that, ‘click’, and have a special connection, (…) it’s very interesting,” reflects Soler.
What fascinated him about Mexico – besides the food and the pyramids of Teotihuacán – is the public’s love for the live shows: “When I arrived at the airport there were a lot of concert posters that were all on the same day, and you say how can it be? “he says.
For the moment, his priority is “keep writing”. “You already play new material for the fans”, he acknowledges.
As for the Latin American dream, everything will be seen: “We have to go little by little, the first contact was this, so very well, let’s hope that people liked it,” says the singer.
