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Luis Fonsi Reflects On 25 Years Of Making Music — Wearing His Rolex Day-Date
The clichéd (but true) sentiment, “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey,” is famously attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. But just because Luis Fonsi didn’t come up with said phrase doesn’t mean it rings any less true for him. It’s so accurate, in fact, that it became the entire ethos of his 12th studio album, El Viaje (a.k.a. The Journey), a retrospective, commemorative look at his 25th year as a recording artist, paying homage to his wild, quarter-century ride.
“Twenty-five years flew by without me even realizing,” the 46-year-old, boyishly handsome musician confesses from his Miami home on this sultry summer evening. “It’s been a fun journey — hence the title of the new album. Technically, [‘el viaje’] means ‘the trip’, but it’s more than that. It really is about the journey, how much I’ve grown, evolved, and learned about not only the music side, but the me side, too; the personal trial and error that life brings. And when you hit a milestone anniversary, it forces you to press the pause button, look back, soak it all in, and say, I’ve been part of some special moments in the music industry, so let’s soak enjoy it.”
Bal Harbour Shops), T-Shirt: Brunello Cucinelli
And so, El Viaje is, essentially, Fonsi’s personal love letter to his career. On it, he pays tribute to the countries and cities that have opened their doors to him and that have been decisive in his path to greatness. Every song refers to a city that left an indelible mark on him, including “Roma,” a duet with Laura Pausini; “Santa Marta,” with the great Carlos Vives; and the number one charting hit single, “Pasa La Página – Panamá.”
“Every song is a city or a different place, and that started as an accident, because the first few songs I wrote were names of cities. And once I had two, I was like, what if I just do a full album where every song is a city?” he recalls now, noting that in as much as El Viaje is a tribute album, he tried not to take himself — or the content — too seriously. “It’s not so literal — some of them are party songs, some are very romantic songs, and some are very personal songs, but somehow, they make their way through that city, because of the style of the music, the rhythm, or just because of how it made me feel. But when you see the track list, you’ll see all these places that have meant a lot to me, that have been a part of my journey. This was my way of saying ‘thanks.’”
His way of celebrating this milestone — as a musician would — is with a tour. The 25 Años Tour kicked off in February with a sold-out concert of 16,000 people at Madrid’s WiZink Center, continued throughout Europe and the States, and is dated through November of this year, though he shares that the tour will actually end where it all began — with a series of shows at home in Puerto Rico — sometime in 2025.
Touring is not for the faint of heart — this one alone requires Fonsi to be on the road for months — but it still brings him joy, performing in this way, 25 years into his career. “It’s a lot of traveling, but I love it. I haven’t gotten to that stage of my life where it starts to get old. I love visiting new places, I love going back to places I’ve been before. I love playing in newer, bigger venues, because 25 years in, that means I’m still growing; that I’ve gone from this arena to an even bigger arena. I don’t take it for granted that my audience is still growing, too. There’s a lot of music out there, a lot of artists that they could see instead. So, I’m enjoying the fact that people are really connected to my music and to my journey.”
And what a journey it’s been. One, he says, that never had a set ‘end goal,’ never just one ‘destination.’ For Fonsi, it has been about hitting personal goals, leaping from strength to strength, and achieving his personal best. Along the way, while enjoying the ride, he was able to rack up multiple gold, platinum, and diamond records, five Grammy nominations, five Latin Grammy awards, 12 Latin Billboard awards, five Billboard awards, 17 Premios Juventud, two American Music awards, and seven Guinness World Records titles thanks to his chart-topping song “Despacito.”
Other major moments included the certified double diamond No. 1 debut of his ninth album, Vida, on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart. Four of the singles from Vida, including “Despacito,” with Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber; “Échame La Culpa,” with Demi Lovato; “Calypso,” with Stefflon Don; and “Impossible,” with Ozuna, reached number one on the radio charts. After Vida, he continued to release hit singles such as “Date La Vuelta,” with Nicky Jam and Sebastián Yatra; “Vacío,” with Rauw Alejandro; “Bésame,” with Myke Towers; “Nuestra Balada;” “Vacaciones,” with Manuel Turizo; and “Ley de Gravedad,” the title track for his 10th studio album. He also made an impactful appearance during the 94th Academy Awards in 2022 alongside Megan Thee Stallion, Becky G, and the cast of the Encanto movie to perform the viral hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” for the first time on live television. And the list goes on.
So, without a doubt, Emerson’s poetic turn of phrase certainly applies to him. He’s had one hell of a ride, one beyond his wildest imagination. “It’s clichéd and overused, but I use [the phrase] quite a bit,” Fonsi confides sheepishly, noting that he continues to use it because it is true and also applies to all aspects of his life. “In this industry that I’m in, I do often wonder what the destination is. When I look at it from a personal point of view, my destination is my family, right? That’s what makes me happy. My destination is a happy, healthy, normal home. And that’s what I strive to always maintain. A happy wife, happy kids growing up in a healthy, normal, loving environment. That’s how I grew up and that’s how I want them to grow up.”
And professionally? “When I first started — almost 26 years ago now — my destination, my goal, was a record deal. Then I got it, and my goal changed. It was like, well, I want to be played on the radio. Then it was a hit song. Little by little, those hits came. Then it was playing at a specific venue, or one day filling up this theater or this arena. And then it was a Grammy. So, little by little, you always keep extending that finish line, because that’s how life is; we always want more. But I certainly don’t want to say that I’ve done it all, because I haven’t. So right now, to me, my destination is really just about enjoying the process, writing really personal songs, engaging the audience, loving the places where I’m playing, and enjoying the heck out of it all. When I was younger, I was so focused. I was so zoomed in on getting to that destination that I forgot to really enjoy the journey, you know? I wasn’t mature enough to really look around and say, hey, I’m doing something really cool right now.”
“Cool” is an understatement here. Fonsi has been on quite the fantastic voyage since recording his debut album, Comenzaré (I Will Begin), in 1997. He’s performed for Pope John Paul II and for then-president Barack Obama (at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in 2009, no less); collaborated with Daddy Yankee on the aforementioned record-breaking track, “Despacito”; became an ambassador to his native Puerto Rico; became an actor, with a starring turn on Broadway in 2013’s Forever Tango as well as in a slew of telenovelas on the small screen; and even wrote a children’s book earlier this year (written in both English and Spanish, which is no mean feat). It’s hard to believe that this Florida State University a cappella club alum is the star before me today, a sweet and humble, preternaturally youthful gent that has completely avoided getting caught up in the hype of his own success.
Yet, because his success has opened doors to these various ventures, in some ways, he feels like his journey is just beginning. Outside of his extremely established musical career, he’ll soon be starring in and executive producing his first feature film, the rom-com Say A Little Prayer, and has joined Sound of Freedom producer Sean Wolfington’s latest documentary, City of Dreams, as an executive producer. He will also continue to act as a mentor on La Voz, the Spanish version of The Voice, as he’s done for the past five seasons.
And though he’s just released his latest album and is in the midst of a major tour, he (and I) can’t help but to ask: what’s next? How will he, to echo the name of his most recent hit single, “Pasa La Página,” turn the page?
“I often ask myself what the next chapter is going to be, because it feels like I’m just starting this chapter,” he admits. “I just put out an album that I’ve been working on for two years that had a really powerful theme. I’m just starting the tour, which is going to take me through [part of next year]. So, whatever that chapter is, it’s still a way out — but I’m always thinking ahead. I’d like to record a full album in Nashville, for example. I want to go there and make not a country album, but stick to my Latin-pop wheelhouse and make a very songwriter-driven album with basic guitar, bass, piano, and drums. I want to block out two months and just write it, record it, and release it, which is something that I’ve never done because I’m constantly touring. I always just break out little windows and say, OK, I’m going to do a bit of songwriting now; a week of songwriting here, back on tour there, then I piece it all together typically. But to get a bunch of amazing musicians in a room, recording, and not even having to wait a beat? Like, as soon as it’s ready, boom, putting it out there? That’s everything.”
This wouldn’t be Fonsi’s first time recording in Music City — he produced both “San Juan,” an homage to his hometown, and “Andalucía,” a love song for his wife of 10 years, model Águeda López, but it would be the most impactful in that it would be dedicated, uninterrupted time with session musicians, in one incredible place.
“I want those guitar arrangements, I want that slide guitar, I want that subtle twang that just takes me to a happy place, I want songs that are songwriter heavy,” he declares. “And that’s what I love about Nashville — the stories, all told through music. Every time I’m there, I get so inspired, even just as a tourist. I’ll hit the big-name bars, the little dive bars, and I’ll just soak it all in. Although my genre is a little bit different, it connects somehow. I’ve always said that Latin ballads and country music have a lot in common. It’s not about the beat, it’s not about how the bass and the snare sounds — it’s about the emotion and the storytelling.”
He adds, “When I first started singing, when I went to college a long time ago and studied music, country music was probably what I heard the most. When I picked up a guitar, I would always try to figure out the chords, the melodic harmonic sequence of the songwriting — that’s how I became a songwriter. It’s been a big influence for me, which is why I know that at some point, I’ll just want to go, disconnect from the world, and write, record, and release my next album there. But I mean, right now I’m just so focused on this tour and on the films that I’m about to release that it’s still too far away to turn the page.”
He smiles. “See what I did there?”
Luis Alfonso Rodríguez López-Cepero, aka Luis Fonsi, may be one of the biggest artists in the world, but you’d never know it from his demeanor. For starters, he’s just straight up nice. He’s thoughtful, unassuming, and humble. He doesn’t love photo shoots, but he gamely douses himself in the on-site waterfall at our shoot site, a $19.5 million residence within the Snapper Creek Lakes Club in Coral Gables, Florida. And instead of complaining about getting soaking wet, he politely declares, “It was actually quite refreshing!”
In my experience, the biggest stars — the ones with the most power — are those who keep it real, who haven’t looked at others as ‘less than’ as their bank accounts and fame increase. And that is absolutely the case here, especially when Fonsi tells me that, without fail, he still goes on vacation once a year with the friends he made in middle and high school back in Orlando; he relocated to the “Theme Park Capital of the World” from Puerto Rico at age 10. [Last year, they hit the Las Vegas Strip.]
It was at Dr. Phillips High School that he found his life-long crew, who include members of his first a cappella group, The Big Guys (one of the members — and thus, one of his best friends to this day — was Joey Fatone, who later joined *NSYNC).
“I have a strong connection with my high school friends; they’re my brothers for life,” he says. “They were such a big part of my adjustment from Puerto Rico to the US. When I first moved here, I knew very little English, and I was very shy and introverted. Music, as clichéd as it sounds, was my shield. But I started singing with the group and getting noticed in school, and it gave me the confidence to come out of my shell. You know how high school is — it’s all about cliques — athletes, the cool kids, and the dorky music and theater kids — which is what I was. But through these songs and the group, I was able to sort of cross over into the cool kids. I was able to eat at the table with the cool kids, because I was the singing kid. I just sang my way through high school.”
High school could have been even more difficult for several reasons. To start, Fonsi’s mother, Delia López-Cepero, enrolled him in school at an early age, so he was always much younger than the kids around him. When he registered at Florida State University in 1995 on a full scholarship, he was just 16 [not because he was a genius, he says, but because “I think my mom just wanted me out of the house!”]. Secondly, was also the kid that never heard the music he listened to — his aforementioned shield — playing anywhere.
“If you go to Orlando now, the Latin culture is huge. But when I moved there, it was 1989, and you didn’t feel that Latin presence. There was only one radio station that played Latin music, and it was an AM radio station. I remember that because when I first put out my album 25 years ago, I always had to scan the AM radio station to see if my songs were getting played. And the first time I heard my first song get played, I was in Orlando, still living with my parents, and it was on AM radio. Now there are more Spanish radio stations than there are English ones in Orlando. I call it the beautiful Latin invasion.”
Bal Harbour Shops), T-Shirt: Brunello Cucinelli
Fonsi is being self-effacing here, because he was extremely influential in creating said invasion — and even more impressively, he did it his way. He was a 17-year-old sophomore at Florida State University when he was offered his first recording contract — a big contract, by Sony — which he turned down because the content they wanted him to create felt inauthentic to him. But the point is, his belief in himself, in his future, was that great. [That he had this sort of direction — and gumption — at 17 is even more mind-boggling.]
Fonsi should be proud of himself, and, admittedly, he is. “I’m proud that I was able to just really create my own path,” he concedes. “When you’re first starting out, everybody has an opinion; everybody thinks they know what’s going to work and what is not. I first got offered a record contract to do a salsa album, but as much as I love salsa music, I don’t consider myself a salsa singer, and I didn’t feel that I was really going to give it my all. Out of respect for real salsa singers, I decided not to take it. I knew in my heart that it wasn’t going to work. So, I turned down my very first opportunity. I wanted to do my own songwriting, wanted to do more pop, more ballads, and they just didn’t see it at that time.”
He returned to college, finished his years at FSU, and was surprised to receive a call from Eddie Fernandez, the A&R for Universal Music Latin, who had been present at his first meetings with Sony. By an act of divine intervention, he was offered a contract shortly thereafter — and remains with that very same label 25 years later, which makes him a bona fide unicorn in the music industry.
As he reminisces, he shares, “I’m just proud that I was the right amount of stubborn, that I said, this is my lane and I’m going to stay here. I knew that I had to evolve, I knew that I had to try new things, I knew that I had to listen to everybody around me, but at the end of the day, I also knew to trust my gut and my heart, and if it didn’t feel right, it probably wasn’t right. Finding that balance is important, and I think to this day, I’ve followed my heart and made some smart choices,” he notes.
He chose to continuously evolve his sound; his first few albums were romantic, and as the years passed, he subtly added more Latin flair. “Despacito” was the first song with an urban vibe, and it was dismissed by many as too big a departure from his regular sound. “People were like, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ They doubted it. But ultimately, I said, “Yeah, because it feels right. It feels very natural. It’s a great song that’s going to make people dance, and I want to sing it every day of my life. Let’s go for it.’ And in the end, it became a song that changed my life and definitely changed Latin music forever. I took a chance. I went head in, headfirst. I was like, I don’t care. What’s the worst that can happen? And it paid off. In my career, I’m lucky that I’ve just been able to do what feels right — and so far, so good.”
Which brings us full-circle to his journey and where, specifically, he is right now in both his life and career — which, as we’ve established, is not the final destination. If he had to choose a song that embodies his current situation, it would be “No Me Doy por Vencido,” the lead single from his seventh studio album, 2008’s Palabras del Silencio, which also became Billboard’s Song of the Decade from 2000 to 2010. “It loosely translates to ‘I will never give up’,” he explains. “It’s a powerful love song. But little by little, the song took on a life of its own and just became an anthem of hope for me — not just in love, but in life. For example, I became a spokesperson for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and we used this in [their ‘Thanks and Giving campaign]. Like, ‘I believe in myself, I’m here, and I’m going to power through this’ — and that’s what the song is about. It came back to me and slapped me in the face from a different angle, different from when I sat down to write it initially. And the song was really successful; it became the Billboard Song of the Decade from 2000 to 2010. [And so] that’s also a motto for me: I won’t give up. I’m stubborn, you know? I’ll always figure out a way to solve this puzzle and get what I want, which is something powerful.”
Fonsi also deems his family to be powerfully important, though juggling fatherhood as well as his career has become harder as his children — Mikaela, 12, and Rocco, seven — grow. “Right now, there are a lot of beautiful opportunities popping up, and I feel as though I have to take advantage of them, but at the same time, I have two little kids who I sometimes don’t see for two weeks, and they’re different little people when I come home. I don’t want to miss out on anything, because they need me big time, and I want to be there for everything. So, it’s a constant juggle of being here, leaving, saying no to a show, or an event, or an award show, because I want to be with them. That is more powerful, and that’s more fulfilling than any award I could get. It took me a while to realize that, because when we’re younger, we’re a bit more selfish — it’s all about our personal journey, and our personal success story. Now it’s like, who cares? It’s about them, and it’s about the legacy that I want to leave behind.”
Which begs the question, as we near the end of our discussion about his journey, as to what that legacy will be. His answer is both simple and complex. “When I think of my legacy, I try to see it through my kids’ eyes. To me, that’s more important than the legacy that I can leave for my audience. It’s how they are going to remember me when I’m not on stage, when I’m older, or when I’m not on this earth anymore. I’m just trying to show them the basics of love, respect, and work. They see how hard I work; they see how much I love it; and they see how passionate I am about everything I do; how respectful I am to everybody around me. I want them to see that I’m doing it for them. Some people have a nine to five, but I’m not one of them. I’ve worked my butt off since I was a little kid to be here. I want to tell them, I’ve studied, and I want you guys to do the same. I want you to prepare yourself so you can fulfill your dreams. And I don’t know if they’re quite getting it, if I’m making them feel better, but I’m making myself feel better. I just want them to know that I’m doing this because I love it and that nobody has given me anything; I’ve earned everything I’ve gotten in this beautiful career. It’s been based on hard work, dedication, and passion. [I want them to see that I] tocar el cielo sin levantar los pies del suelo — touch the sky without lifting [my] feet off the ground.”
Fonsi smiles. “You always want to reach for the stars; you want to go as high as you can, but you never want to lose your humility.”
Mission accomplished.
BY LAURA SCHREFFLER
PHOTOGRAPHY ALBERTO GONZALEZ
STYLING ELYSZE HELD
GROOMING MARCOS CARRASQUILLO
SHOT ON LOCATION AT SNAPPER CREEK LAKES CLUB, CORAL GABLES, FL.
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