Track by track (by Alejandro Sanz)
Mi Peter Punk
Alejandro Sanz opens the album with a full declaration of principles, supported by all his band, with lyrics full of puns, perfectly reflecting what he is living now that he has turned 40. “This song explains that time passes in a different way for different people. Time goes by, but this doesn’t mean that we have to abandon our goals and dreams, that we have to stop being rebel or even naughty. If you grow up but you don’t want to, you can become Peter Punk.”
Desde cuando
“This is my romantic side. This song’s leitmotiv is the following: I have spent my whole life looking for you and now that I have found you are unable to even tell me your name. This is one of the songs with a bigger influence of my album “Más.” In songs like this I revisit much of the essence of that recording; maybe it is something unconscious, or maybe conscience overwhelms me, because the kind of experiences I am living now are very similar to those I lived then. This is the most “Italian” of the songs, the great ballad to sing live.”
Looking for paradise
“It was written between Tommy Torres (the producer of “Paraíso Express”), Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz and me. I think it is going to surprise many people, because it is a duet made with an artist that does not usually sing duets, and also because it is a song made in Spanish and English, but you don’t need to speak English nor Spanish to understand it. It is a very positive song both musically and lyrically. We speak directly to the listeners, inviting them to search for their paradise within, when we have a tendency to look for it outside ourselves.”
Yo hice llorar hasta a los ángeles
“It is a bulería where I ask for forgiveness, above all, to myself. Composing is a like undressing yourself in a way, and like showing your weaknesses. As I said some time, songs are not only to take revenge, but also to reconsider things. As I did in many other previous songs, I talk of God. I’ve always said that I am a believer, and I have a relationship with him. Inside me I have a space for users and an administrator, and it’s God who has the password and he drops by because that space in my head and in my heart belongs to him.”
Sin que se note
“It is very important not to be noticed when you look at someone. Because, as soon as you feel that someone’s looking at you, you change your position, you make faces. Musically, this is what I call an elegant rock. It reminds me somehow of the arrangements made by Elton John for his album with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. It has something of symphonic rock, a song with a great production which sounds gigantic: I love it!”
Lola Soledad
“A female friend asked me if this song was dedicated to Lola Flores. It might have been. The world is full of people like “Lola Soledad”. They are women full of nerve, accustomed to life, women who have gone through difficult times, women who are always interesting. I wanted to talk about that cheeky and brave sort of woman and pay her tribute. It is a unique song, with lots of character and a style of its own.”
Pero esta tarde no te vas
“I like these lyrics specially, because it lists the virtues of someone that you know that will never be yours, because she is free and doesn’t want to get tied to your life, and doesn’t want you to get tied to hers. During the whole song, he knows it, he knows that she’s about to leave, but the last line: ‘yo sé que eres fugaz / pero esta tarde no te vas’ (‘I know you are fleeting/ but you won’t leave me this evening’) he shows his strength, he shows that he is sure that, after giving her so much, she owns him at least one evening. The song is full of pain, it grows up, and takes you until you embark in it and let yourself go.”
Mala
“I should say this is a copla reggae of sorts. In the end, the narrator tells us that we men like to be ill-treated, and he recognises: ‘I can’t leave you / I want you to be even more mean’. The song ends being almost a psychedelic rock. It is also a very peculiar song, different from everything I have done to date. I look forward to know it better.”
Tú no tienes la culpa
“This is the album’s ballad. I think the piano is played beautifully. The song tries not to blame anybody, not even oneself. That’s why it says: ‘you are not to blame…/ me neither’. I am this way, this is my life, these are my circumstances. I know that when you are by me, the rest of your life disappears. When I say ‘You turn coming back into a beautiful thing’ I always remember something I heard from Manuel Molina: ‘we artists are people who leave... and later come back’.”
Nuestro amor será leyenda
“This song tells the story of a distant love, but such a strong one that not even distance can kill it, although they say that distance means oblivion. It is a midtempo, happy and emotional at the same time, as the rest of the album. The title is very exaggerated because I am exaggerated when I love, and I wanted to add that kind of seasoning of distance. Both the tune and the construction somehow reminds me of “Quisiera ser”.”
