After his successful tour of Latin America Vanessa Martin He returned to Spain to focus on the national tour and to promote his eighth studio album. joys and sins (2022), which came out at the end of November. The Malaga-born singer started writing out of relief: heartbreak was her first muse, but then came passion, equality, introspection and social issues. But not only thematically Martín has a varied songbook at hand. This latest album, for example, was recorded between Madrid and Miami with different producers (Julio Reyes, Tato de la Torre and Vitto & Renzo) and hints at its audience across the pond, such as collaborations with Mexican duo Jesse & Joy. But without losing his roots. He will demonstrate it tonight at the Plaza de Toros de Murcia.
Where did the idea for “Pleasures and Sins” come from? What’s your favorite sin?
My favorite sin is to live and not be afraid of life or what it throws at me. They say that man’s primary pleasures are food, learning, and sex. All my life I have sought pleasure in different ways, not only in these three directions, but also in travel, in enjoying with family, in the desire to develop myself in all senses and on all levels… Sin, like me understanding it means denying one’s identity, living, evolving and being a better person. With that in mind, I wanted to convey that message through my music and in particular through the songs contained on this record. They deal with everything from passion to parting, love in all its dimensions, not only as a couple but also towards themselves.
It seems that this album is about dichotomies. What material are these new ones made of? Songs? Did you suggest thinking about what is pleasure and what is sin?
All songs carry an inner reflection, some experiences. Obviously not all of these are my own as life doesn’t give me that much but I believe these are very natural human experiences and they all carry an emotional charge, intensity, intimacy and the search for balance. And it’s handy that life changes, it happens, and you have to accept it and move on.
This time you tried to work with several professionals at the same time between Madrid and Miami. It is very different producers who have provided for richness and diversity. What common thread connects the songs?
The album was recorded between Miami and Madrid and the guide was my own songs, the way I understand music, my way of interpreting it… I was there with every single one of them [de los productores] I poured my essence and communicated with what I wanted to convey on a record and in a super rich and very professional, very modern and contemporary way they gave it a strength, a topicality and sounds that are a lot more evolved, modern and between all they have created an incredible balance. When we were finished – some of them didn’t know each other – everyone was grateful to be able to sign the same album with other important professional colleagues and everyone got the gist and finally settled on Pleasures and Sins; Everyone has given their best and the result is a very varied album, very rich, with a lot of power and a lot of intimacy at the same time. And people take it very well.
Did it cost you a lot to close the album’s repertoire? How did you choose the last dozen?
Look, this record was the record I had to write the fewest songs for, because when we sat down at Warner to choose the repertoire, after we listened to songs for a while, the AR Alfonso Pérez told me: “Vanesa, me.” I can’t listen anymore because I like them all. Make a record from here and we’ll see the next one when we release it. I had 27 or 28 songs and when we got to 17, 18, Alfonso said to me, “We stopped. Go to Miami, enjoy and bring me the record.” That’s how it went.
How was Álgebra, a simple ballad initially played on the piano, received?
It’s a very special song, one of the heavyweights in my opinion joys and sinsand was recorded in one take. What you hear is a single take: Julio Reyes at the piano, me in the fishbowl and singing, both of us with our backs to each other, we didn’t even see each other – improvising like that – and it was very magical; we both ended with tears in our eyes and a hug. In fact, he asked me to leave the greeting at the end and the footsteps that can be heard at the end of the song because that moment was very magical. It’s a very bare song that doesn’t need more and that will sound exactly as it is in the live performances (on May 27th in the Murcia bullring).
another song marchborn from the blending of a Chacarera with some Tanguillos from Cádiz.
Yes, so much travel influences you. Argentina is a country that has given me a lot: it shows me fidelity and unconditional love, and through traveling and listening to music from so many places comes one. The chacarera, typical of Argentina and these places, has a lot to do with the tanguillo, because when you finally start analyzing the three by four or the six by eight, you realize that some call it “chacarera”, others “tanguillo” . others… x, but when you combine them, they have a lot in common (if you do it right, of course).
I think this song started with a bet.
The song itself originated from a letter I had to write for the TikTok platform due to an ongoing promotion over the month of March. Warner calls me and says to me, “If you like it, you must write a letter mentioning the month of March, or change the word to whatever letter you have and say March.” I ended up going to my house for fun to write that first verse of march as you hear it on the CD. I posted it on TikTok and suddenly it was revolutionary. It’s been thousands and thousands of views, and then two hours later I get a call from Warner and they’re like, “Hey, you need to finish the song, it’s on the record, it’s revolutionizing TikTok.” Well, I finished it.
Do you have a fatal contract with a muse? what removes you
The fatal contract is life. I am passionate; I always believe that life is escaping, I always try to live the moment as if it’s almost the last and I really appreciate everything that happens to me. I value my roots, where I come from (Malaga, my family) and everything that this job allows me to live and that makes me uneasy, I want to improve, have fun and I don’t want the job to eat me up. but to enjoy it.
“Damn magnet for difficult things, for difficult moments.” In the end, what binds us? The hardest?
In particular, I’m more in favor of engaging with the complex than with the simple. I like simple things, mind you, a lot, the simplest and most basic joys, but when it comes to getting hooked or drawing attention to something, I like complexity more, deep, difficult conversations with arguments, and I get bored when everything is banal, simple or too primary.
Do you think this is a record that is very open about not being afraid, not being humble or biased?
Yes, one hundred percent. Throughout my repertoire and in all my songs, I am committed to human values, individual freedom, rights and gender equality. All of that is in the songs, from where I position myself as a woman to where I live through the freedom of my lyrics.
What has working with children taught you? The Voice Children?
Very much. Children are great teachers. That spontaneity, generosity, innocence that we should never lose, and courage when we face a live program with a band (well, the kids aren’t live, but we recorded it as a fake live show). When you see that they are not afraid of anything and they appear on the set, which is the biggest in Europe, that of La Voz here in Spain, and these live musicians who play with them, and suddenly there they are so calm and singing It gives you a lot of tenderness and a lot of illusion. Innocence should never be lost, but… well, it’s inevitable. Everyone has their inner work to do.
