Comisarías

Hi everyone, Maria Garcia here. I have some big news that I can't wait to share with you. I'm back with a new podcast. And this time it's a storytelling video podcast. It's called "Muy Excited" with Maria Garcia and it's a new production from Futuro Studios and I Heart's My Cultura Podcast Network. Every week I tell you the story of a cultural moment of the past or present and tell you what I believe it means. There's some really juicy storytelling, some revealing cultural analysis, and a lot of really fun moments. I'm going to reflect on questions like, "Why do some of us yearn for Shakira's Black Hair to Make a Comeback?" Why did the power couple of my dreams, Mariah Carey and Luis Miguel, not work out? And here's one of our first episodes of "Muy Excited." It's about the one and only Ricky Martin and how he has long served as a barometer of Latino belonging in the US. Remember that you can watch "Muy Excited" with Maria Garcia on YouTube and if you like what you hear, subscribe to this show. You can find a link in the show notes. Okay, here's our first episode of "Muy Excited" with Maria Garcia. I want to tell you about a moment earlier this year. I was at my friend Ruby's house. We were gathered to watch the Benito Bowl. Apparently there's some sort of sporting event happening at the same time. But we were sad for Benito Antonio Martinez, Okasio, okay? Well, we weren't exactly sad because all of us adults were standing in a semi-circle entranced by the magic of bad bunny's performance. That start in the sugar cane fields, all the Latino vendors, the actual wedding, it was the joy, the nourishment we needed at the time. And then we see him dressed in all white, his voice firm and smooth. It is the one and only, Ricky Martin. Singing arguably one of the most political anti-colonial anthems of bad bunny's catalog, "Lukele Pasocha-Wai", a cry against statehood for Puerto Rico. And I am in awe of this moment. I know immediately the potency of the symbolism here. Here is the artist who most represents with some people called the Latin boom in the late 90s. The moment in history when US audiences were suddenly like, "Oh gosh darn, look at these fiery Latins, they exist!" And now, about two and a half decades later, Ricky Martin stands before us, not performing in English to a white audience for recognition or acceptance. No, he stands before us singing a song of resistance in Spanish. And I stand there, acutely aware that I would remember this moment for decades to come. That this was a touch-shown moment not only for the long-stored arc of Ricky's career, but for the complicated narrative of Latino belonging in the United States. And then, my trance is interrupted. By the choir of boys behind me. "Who's that?" yells my 11-year-old son and his two best friends. And then, all three of his moms turn around and yell, "What do you mean? That's Ricky Martin!" And the three preteens say, "Who's Ricky Martin?" And then, "I realize I have failed my child." He has grown up knowing about Juan Gabriel, Tego Calderón, Selena, Prince Kate Bush, and so many musical icons who paved away. But I have done him a disservice. By not teaching him about the man who had to live a vida loca, so bad Bunny could do lo que le da la gana. And I'm going to be honest, I feel that I have also failed myself. Because I've written a lot about the late 90s Latin boom, which that term is silly, and we're going to talk about how even Ricky knew it was a weird concept way back when. But anyway, I have written a lot about this historic moment, but I have very on-brand centered the divas of the moment, J. Lochaquira, the OG predecessor, Selena. And I have mentioned Ricky, but I have never gone deep on what he meant. But yeah, no more. I'm going to do right by my son, by all of y'all out there who may not know or who may have forgotten, just how much this man did for the culture. Because let me tell you, whether you are Latino or queer or just someone who is trying to live more authentically, you have something to glean from Ricky Martin's life and legacy. This man was out here figuring things out on his own, surviving child stardom. I want to talk to you because you are the cutest thing I have seen. Being fetishized by American media. You think all the Puerto Rican elders and you can understand why? Scrutinized obsessively about his sexuality. And with you, there have been the rumors that question I'll talk about your sexual orientation. You must be aware of it, isn't it? Of course. And ultimately, he stayed true to himself to his roots to his integrity. So let's fucking go. This one's for Ricky Martin. This is muy excited. The show where we explore cultural moments of the past and present. Today, the meaning of Ricky Martin's evolution. [Music] Enrique, Ricky Martin Morales was born on December 24, 1971, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His mother was an accountant, his father, a psychologist, and by the early 80s, he stars in commercials for Orange Crush, Soda. [Music] And for Burger King. [Music] I encourage you to watch this episode on YouTube so you can see how sweet he looks. In 1984, when Ricky is 12 years old, he joins Boyband Menudo. He is teeny tiny when he joins the Boyband, which is like a Latin American Jackson 5. We cannot gloss over Menudo. They were huge. Their fandom was very beetle-mania-esque, with mostly young girls screaming frenetically anytime they were close to the Boyband. Menudo was such a cultural phenomenon that the band is seared into people's most formative memories. Here's my friend and Labriga Editor Laura Perez in Puerto Rico, who remembers when Ricky was introduced in the band. I was three years old and I remember vividly not only watching him but what I felt. How it felt, it was so exciting and how I thought he was the most beautiful boy. You can see the frenzy when the band, including newly integrated little Ricky, was a guest on one of Oprah's early TV shows. Ricky's hair is perfectly coiled with layered strands framing his little face, and he looks dough-eyed, earnest, maybe a little nervous. His English still a bit halting. "And then the disco party." "You want your disco party?" "Oh, a disco party." Now 12-year-old Ricky doesn't just join a Boyband when he joins Menudo though. He joins a strict, very regimented machine, with a strategy on youth. Every member of Menudo was cycled out once they were 16 or 17 when their voices changed or they got facial hair. Menudo was a chronic youth group, but with the responsibilities and pressures of adults. Many years after Ricky's tenure in Menudo, other band members will say the band was riddled with abuse and untenable pressure. But Ricky has never said anything negative about Menudo on record. In fact, in the late 90s, he tells Rosie O'Donnell, Menudo provided him with "preparation." "Menudo was great. I mean, five years of intense discipline, of working a lot. You know, if I had to start a little over again, I would do it because I guess I'm where I'm at today, because of the discipline that I got being in a band like this." So this is his entire adolescence. He sings in Spanish, in English, in French, in Portuguese. He turns on the charm, and he is great at it. Other band members have said Ricky was like the golden boy of Menudo. And this is his life until 17 years old when he inevitably ages out of the boyband. A couple years later, Later, he puts out his first solo record in Spanish, self-titled, "Briki Martín". We're gonna include this video in our show notes so you can take a look at Ricky with his perfectly wavy beach locks with an adonis physique, shirtless, with only a sleeveless open black vest hanging over his shoulders and a big silver Gothic cross on his clistening chest. He's wearing wide-like black jeans with a big belt buckle and he is swaying those hips, smiling at the crowd. Honey, he is giving hot vampire music, okay? Like the vampire-less thought would want to spend eternity with this man. Look, there's a lot to say about Ricky Martin's character at his kind heart and his long career, and we're gonna get to all of that. But babe, we gotta take a moment to just state the obvious. This man is absolutely gorgeous. Not to be weird, there are beautiful people out there and then there are beautiful people. And he is beautiful in capital letters. Con mucho respeto, with love and admiration for my queer heart. You know, for me, Ricky was always in the background. And I grew up knowing he was massively successful and beautiful, but I feel like they took him for granted. You know, I was too obsessed with the divas. Just, you know, not realizing how gay I was. But when I spent hours going through archival videos of him for this episode, I was like, oh my goodness, this is a once in a generation of beauty. This is the kind of man who'd wait to find bust and sculptures of had he lived in Greciantimes. So I could not do an episode on Ricky Martin without a proper acknowledgement of his beauty. Anyway, Ricky's first album is a major success in 1991. It's one of the highest debuts for a Latin artist under Sony. And at this point, he's on a roll. His second album, Sky Rockets, to the top of the Latin charts. And he soon named top new Latin artist at the 1993 Billboard Music Awards. He then ventures into acting, does a sitcom role in English. Here, I brought you this. I'm feeling like a-- And then, no big deal. He lands a regular character on General Hospital, one of the biggest soaps in the United States. He plays a singer named Miguel Mores. I just found out a friend of mine has eights. He used to sat in me deeply. By the way, Ricky later says he hated going to the General Hospital set. He doesn't feel comfortable. Remember, this is 1994, 1996. Our man is often the only Latino in the room. I imagine it's lonely. So he returns to his love of music. And he releases his third album, with a chart-topper Maria. For all of you young ones watching, who may think, oh, this is Senora music, babe, let me school you a little, OK? First of all, Senora's are cool, OK? Second, this song fused together flamenco, salsa, dance, and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. Was there, at the time, an industry push to use some of these sounds and Latin music? Yes. But I also think our primo Ricky Martin was out here evolving the pop song formula. This song is everywhere. And I think seeing Ricky become an international hit, while being so legible as a Latino, meant a lot to people. Here's Futuro, senior producer and hardcore Ricky Martin fan, Jeannie Montalvo, who was growing up in Georgia when this song came out. Go ahead, I just remember that song blew my mind, because I was discovering my Latinidad. Also, as a teenager, having grown up in the most non-Latino place on the planet. And God, that song just meant everything to me. Maria also solidified Ricky Martin, not just as a beloved Latin American star, but a global pop king in the making. And then because he can, and he's a man of many talents, he's like, OK, I'm going to try Broadway now. And he plays a lead role, Marius Pontmer-C, in Lemmy, Zerab. After Les Mis is when things get really cooking. Ricky returns to the studio for his fourth album, "Vuelve," which lands him a Grammy nomination. And I'm not talking about a Latin Grammy. This was before the Latin Grammys ever existed. I'm talking mainstream English Grammys. Ricky Martin is set to perform at the award in 1999, actually. He's going to sing "The Cup of Life," his FIFA World Cup song, which, by the way, has been hailed as the best World Cup anthem of all time. And he absolutely devours. Oh, I can't play the song here, but I have a video about it. On my Instagram, Maria is muy excited with underscores between every word. This is a historic performance. The music industry, including the Grammys themselves, officially recognize this moment as the defining event that ushers in what people call the so-called Latin boom. I really can't overstate what a momentous performance this is. I asked Fuduro, senior producer and Ricky Martin Loyal, fan, Jeannie Montalvo, again, to describe what it was like watching this on TV. Like, I remember standing in my living room, watching as these like, "Eto tambores!" Like, came down the aisles at the Gringo Grammys. This was before the Latin Grammys. The last year before the Latin Grammys were inaugurated. And like, people were so excited. So naturally, we get to the era of Ricky Martin, you probably remember. When he was live in La Vida loca and becomes the first Latino to debut a song at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, he draws the largest crowd in the history of the today show up to that point. He's been called the Puerto Rican Elvis, and you can understand why. He crowds. All reminisce on the boats that gather when Elvis first lingered on how to stay on the piece and come to leave with the Beatles. Ricky appears on the cover of Time Magazine and Rolling Stone and also New York Magazine, interview magazine, people, team people, and entertainment magazine. And Ricky Mania is real. Here he is on the Rosio Donald Show, the day his English album releases. I've recorded many languages, but come on, English is so important. And let me tell you something. America is in love with you. Right. That's important. I want you to remember that. Ricky saying how essential it is to sing in English. But let's get something clear. Even at the height of English Ricky Mania, he is adamant. He'll never abandon Spanish. Here's Ricky with J. Leno. I will not stop singing in Spanish. Right. It's my mother's phone. But on now that he is considered a pop star in the United States, well, American journalists start prying into some rumors about Ricky. You know, you could stop these rumors. You could say as many artists have, yes, I am gay. We'll be right back with, guess what? Another cringey interview from the 2000s. And also the not cringey way, Ricky Martin responds and rises. You want to talk about poetry? Yeah, we do, Henry Winkler. I'm journalist Faith Saley. I'm poet Maggie Smith. And we are the co-hosts of You Could Make This Beautiful, where we talk to actors. Oh my god. Poetry emergency. We're going to get the check. You know what I mean? You could make this beautiful, wherever you get your podcasts. and inspire. Tell your organization's story with a custom podcast from city space productions, the Creative Studio from WBUR's Business Partnership Steam. Become a thought leader. We're a crew new talent. Reach new audiences. Whatever your goal we can help. Discover how the magic is made at WBUR.org/CreativeStudio. It is the year 2000. A year we love on the show. And Ricky Martin releases his second English album, Sound Loaded with a hit lead single, She Banks. We need a moment to talk about this video. The premise is hot, horny, underwater club. And it starts with some really fine, octopus men. No, literally half naked men with CGI octopus tentacles. Most everyone in the video is half naked actually, kind of twerking their some girl on girl grinding. Almost everyone has a certain look on their face, lip half raised looking a little feral. At one point Ricky is laying down with his shirt open with various hands rubbing his body, his blue jeans unbuttoned, and he's making all kinds of faces. I can't play you the music in this episode because of copyright laws, but if you follow me on Instagram I have a real showing you this risky video and explaining why I think it's the predecessor of a certain bad bunny song. I'm at Maria is we excited on Instagram with underscores between each word. Anyway the conventional thinking of this time is that artists have to cross over to the English market. Know what in this era or at least that I can remember really challenged this notion in a big way and you know it's very clear that Ricky is treated by US media as a sort of hot Latin lover trope. But you know when I see she bangs I don't see a Latino artist necessarily pandering to a trope. I think that would be a lazy take. Is there maybe some artistic engineering around his image like does his team maybe play up his strengths i.e. he's beautiful and sexy and an amazing dancer and creating this really exciting fusion music. Yes. Does US media then take all this and play into a trope? Also yes. Billboard magazine called him a hot tamale which tamales are Mexican and also the singular of tamales is tamal a grammatical hill I will die on a personal pet peeve of mine. But anyway grammatically incorrect cliches aside the coverage around Ricky feels charged at this time in most notably a now infamous interview also from 2000. And with you there have been the rumors that question I talk about your sexual orientation you must be aware of big news of course. When Barbara Walters tries to make him come out. You know you could stop these rumors. You could say as many artists have yes I am gay or you could say no I'm not or you could leave it as you are ambiguous. I don't want to put you in the spot but I get to put it in your power and I'm bringing it up Ricky because you know I know I understand and you're even being named. For giving me the opportunity to express the rumors. But Barbara for some reason I just don't feel like it. I love that answer. I just don't feel like it. That should be enough and it feels like it was an answer that was ahead of its time. Why would he come out on her terms in an ambush moment and I love that he centers his feelings. I don't feel like it. You mantra babe I don't feel like it. Period. You know now coming out is kind of antiquated in some circles. Thank goodness a lot of queer people nowadays don't need to come out because well they were never in. Never living in a heteronormative straight reality. But babe in 2000 the entire public world was a heteronormative straight reality and coming out was a big deal it was risky and could hurt your livelihood. Not to mention the emotional scarring of someone trying to force you on national television to come out. Ricky wrote this in his memoir quote it was a topic I constantly struggled with one that caused me a lot of pain and anxiety and every time someone wrote in an article that I was a homosexual or each time this was asked of me in an interview and not very subtly it pushed me further away from my truth. The rumors and questions only increased my insecurity and myself rejection. They reminded me of all the reasons why I was uncomfortable in my own skin. At times I felt I hated myself because it was always presented under such a negative lens as something scandalous and bad it reinforced my desire to deny. Oh Ricky we love you. Coming off of Ricky Mania and his massive success in the US Ricky releases a couple more albums when in Spanish another in English. In 2008 he becomes a dad welcoming two baby boys he talks about loving being a dad and it really suits him because there's always been something really tender and caring about Ricky. We really see this in 2010 inspired by his children and the legacy he wants to leave for them. He comes out through a statement on his website. It's a long statement so I can't read it all but I really encourage you to it's quite touching and earnest. Let me read you some excerpts quote to keep living as I did up until today would be to indirectly diminish the glow that my kids were born with. Enough is enough this has to change. This was not supposed to happen five or ten years ago it's supposed to happen now. I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I'm very blessed to be who I am. I am blessed to be who I am. Wow you are Ricky we all are. What a pioneer. The next year in 2011 Ricky releases Musica Alma Sexo which is a critical hit. A few years later he stars as a coach on the voice Australia. He releases another album in 2015 which wins a Grammy for Best Latin Pop album. He gets married then divorce, does some acting and in 2019 when Puerto Rico's governor was exposed for homophobic text messages including about Ricky himself. Ricky Martin flew home and was one of a few cultural figures who joined hundreds of thousands of protesters forcing the governor to resign. Here he is protesting in a clip from Bloomberg News. I want to contrast this moment in 2019 when he's protesting with a point he makes in his memoir he writes quote I think that one of the reasons why I found it so hard to accept myself was because in my profession I have often been considered to be a Latin idol, a pop star and for some a sex symbol. I don't know if it has to do with the fact that I'm Latin or it has to do with the global image of the quote Latin lover but I always had the feeling that certain things were expected of me among which was the fact that I was supposed to seduce and allow myself to be seduced by women. Maybe if there had been another artist, another Latin idol who had come before me I might have been less afraid but the reality is that I didn't have a role model and that in my mind helped make the whole thing entirely inconceivable. End quote. I bring up this quote because the so-called Latin boom was both a touchstone for Latinos but also harmful. I believe that the way Ricky Martin was framed prevented him from being the full-dimensional person he is and he had to write the script on his own how to come out and to come out with a message of self love and celebration how to come back to singing in Spanish to his original audience to his artistic roots even after the crossover success. How to be very publicly Latino without pandering to the reductive notions of Latinidad of the time and look did he always do perfect? No. How do I feel? How do you feel Ricky? Crazy. But I believe Ricky Martin's legacy changed the game. I'm not trying to be cute when I say bad bunny is able to be as free as unapologetic as he is because of the iterative and very real progress Ricky Martin made. Remember when Ricky Martin said this? I've recorded many many languages but come on English is so important. Isn't it kind of stunning that we went from that to bad bunny in just two plus decades saying this about singing in English? That clip by the way is from an interview with the New York Times' pop cast. I don't think we could have gone straight to bad bunny's defiance. Ricky Martin had to set the stage not just as an artist but also as a queer person. I think of how Juan Gavriel couldn't really come out a generation before and then Ricky Martin did but with a lot of controversy leading up to it and now artists like young Miko can be as queer as they want on stage. People don't necessarily have to come out all the time anymore, because queer elders like Ricky once had the courage to do so. Or, for example, Jenna Ortega can be as goth and as eccentric as she wants. Latinos are less and less beholden to the fiery mommy or hot Latin lover trope. I believe Ricky Martin played a key role in that cultural evolution. Art has lineage, awareness has lineage, and Ricky Martin in my opinion is an important elder in both of those lineages. Maybe a Zaddy elder. But really, I think a hundred years from now, Latinos will use Ricky Martin's long career arc to understand belonging and history in this country. Or actually, I think we can take it beyond that. I think Ricky Martin's legacy as our producer Brittany Cronin pointed out to me, shows the evolution of Latinos and queer people beyond belonging in the US. And the key to understanding this is in Ricky's performance of Locale Pasoahawai at the Super Bowl. This is arguably the most high profile anti-colonial anthem of our time. It's a cry against statehood, it's a rally for resistance, and I want to talk about the specific section Ricky sings. No suelten la bandera ni olvidé en el Lelo Lai, que no quiero que hagan contigo lo que le Pasoahawai, he sings. The Lelo Lai is a traditional vocal improvisation sung by Hiwaros. The song is employing Puerto Ricans to hold on to cultural specificity, to collective memory, to identity as resistance. Embar bunny in the song is not asking to belong in or to the United States in any way. In fact, Locale Pasoahawai is the opposite. It is saying, we do not want to belong. We want to hold on to what is ours. And how powerful to have Ricky Martin sing this verse. The artist who the industry in a way forced to belong to the American mainstream, insisting on framing him within these tropes of latinidad, hot, straight, Latin lover, that flattened his dimensionality. But no more. What a joy it is to see him break free from those stereotypes. And because he has, he has given all of us, including my son, who will know who Ricky is, permission to do the same. And in this way, we all owe Ricky Martin. That was episode one of Muay Excited. If you enjoyed it, you can find the next episode available right now in the show feed. It's about the storied history of the magical Chihuahua dogs from indigenous Mexico to Paris Hilton's purse. I'm sure you're not going to look at these puppies in the same way ever again after you listen to that episode. And if you want to watch our episodes, which I really, really encourage you to, there's so much fun, just click on the link in the description or search for Muay Excited with Maria Garcia on YouTube. See you there, babes.