Sound Loaded" is Ricky Martin's second English-language CD and was recorded while touring for his first
By Mark Scheerer
CNN Showbiz Today Correspondent
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Ricky Martin -- ebullient, boyish, blonder -- on Tuesday released "Sound Loaded" (Columbia), his second English-language CD.
Hard to believe, but it was just February 1999 when Martin released his self-titled debut CD and performed "The Cup Of Life" on the Grammys telecast. It touched off his soaring ascent to pop music's pinnacle.
"Sound Loaded" was recorded while Martin was touring behind the success of that first CD.
He spoke recently with CNN about sexy women, success and yoga.
CNN: Is your new album loaded with sound, or is that a computer term?
Ricky Martin: When I gave my album a name -- when I started talking to people about "Sound Loaded" -- they said, "Is it about computers?" ... It is about listening to all those different sounds and having the opportunity to exchange ideas with, you know, people from different parts of the world, and just making all these different sounds part of my sound. ... It's all about educating.
It's all about letting people know it doesn't matter what part of the world you are from. ... It's about feeling good with yourself. It's about trusting your emotions and your instincts -- things that I talk about in my album.
CNN: So much has happened in such a short amount of time. Your head must be spinning.
Martin: My head is spinning sometimes. If it wasn't spinning, I think I would need professional help. At this point, I do my meditations everyday because that is the only way that I can survive all this euphoria.
... Yoga came into my life (with) such perfect timing. It came into my life right before the Grammys. ... I learned it in India and I am ready to go back.
CNN: Have you performed in India?
Martin: I have. I did a concert in India two years ago for 55,000 people, and it was just fascinating because of the culture. It was a big stadium and yet all you could see (were) men ... because the ladies, they sit in the last rows. ... It was a little weird.
CNN: Is that the most exotic place that you have played?
Martin: It was Beijing (China), actually. ... People are not allowed to express themselves. People are not allowed to dance at the concert. And I said, "I am not leaving this arena until I see everyone dancing." Well, they did not leave me. They did not let me leave the stage, because they wanted more.
CNN: You get the most beautiful people to dance in your videos. How do you do that?
Martin: They are all from Miami (Florida), the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. No casting director; it was a very good friend, (and) I told him, "Go out there and find people." And you know, it was very easy for him. ... "Would you like to spend a weekend in the Bahamas shooting a video?" Nobody said no to that.
CNN: Why are "dangerous women" the subject of so many of your songs?
Martin: To be spontaneous is something that really excites me, and that is what I mean when I talk about these women that drive me crazy. They drive me crazy because I can be having dinner in a fancy restaurant and all of a sudden she stands up in the middle of the table and she starts dancing. Who doesn't like that?
And a lot of people feel a little bit embarrassed: "God, what is going on here?" But if you focus for a little while you really enjoy it, you know.
Amazon.com
Sound Loaded, Ricky Martin's follow-up to his self-titled 1999 triumph, is a marvel as much of cross-country technological wizardry as of a multicultural pop sensibility. "She Bangs," its first single, was made in seven locations from Miami to Hollywood; all the work results in a gratifying everything-and-the-kitchen-sink uptempo extravaganza. (The details include a sampled nod to Fishbone, an apparent influence on 1999's "Livin' la Vida Loca," and the delightful malapropism "She looks like a flower but she stings like a bee.") If the rest of the disc never quite matches that high, neither does its quality sink much; if anything, Sound Loaded may be a bigger cut-for-cut success than its predecessor. The winners are mostly similar dancefloor rockers, but the ballads generally skirt the edge of treacle. Spanish versions of "She Bangs," "Come to Me," and "Loaded" are additions to the dozen cuts in English. --Rickey Wright
It's true! Ricky Martin's live shows, complete with hot dance moves and cool sounds, are certified wham-bammers.
When they dim the lights, you scream your lungs out. Clear? One more time, lights dim, you scream? Got that? Good. But the crowd that gathered in the Hongkong Coliseum for Ricky Martin Live In Concert on 9 Oct, didn't need much prompting. They had the routine down pat. Each time the house lights were turned down, they screamed. No matter that it was only to screen a Pacific Cyberwoods commercial. Or if it was just a video of Ricky in a car chase. Their collective motto seemed to be: Scream first, think later.
So when in a flash, Ricky segues from tape to stage in a baby-blue Cabriolet (with a scantily-clad dancer in tow), they screamed. And the screaming went on for the rest of the night. If he shook his bon bon, they screamed. If he re-emerged in a different-coloured shirt, they screamed. If he danced saucily with a female dancer, they screamed. If he danced saucily with a male dancer ... well, no. That didn't happen. But I'm sure they'd scream too if he did. So would the next morning's headlines.
Kicking off the show with his rousing party anthem, "Livin' La Vida Loca", the smiling hunkster, his energetic dancers, and the spot-on 10-piece band couldn't turn down the heat in the stadium if their Lambada depended on it. And like Ricky's chart history, it was his thumping Latin numbers that really won the night. His ballads - even the moderately popular, "She's All I Ever Had", featuring his lead guitarist on the Indian sitar - were a stark contrast to the ribald rhumbas, the only other exception being Ricky's surprise duet with Coco Lee on "Private Emotion".
Gliding onto the stage with immaculate grace, Coco sounded good, looked even better, and did the Asians proud with her cross-cultural stage sass. Even if her American accent was thicker than Ricky's hot Puerto Rican blood.
While the boys in the band kept the pulse steady with their stellar synchronicity and the dancers kept the action up with their vivid jiggling, Ricky was no stage slacker either. Whether showing off his coaxing conga whups on "She Bangs" (the first single from his upcoming release, "Sound Loaded"), moving like he was possessed by the dance demon, or just standing there looking like a magazine cover, he lived up every bit of the stage life. And the crowd loved every minute of it. You could tell by the screaming.
8 steps to enjoying the Ricky Martin, HK Coliseum experience
1) FIND YOUR SEAT
My seat number, according to my ticket, is R 44 24 91 HIRE HDIS. Confused? Don't be. Follow these simple instructions and you'll be at your seat in a jiffy. Step 1: walk aimlessly for about 3 minutes. Step 2: stop and look confused (furrowed eyebrows help a lot). Step 3: approach an usher, hold up your ticket stub and muster: Chor bin dou arh?{/i} ("Where to sit" in Cantonese). When he takes you there, the appropriate response is [i]mmm koi ("Thank you")
2) WEAR SOMETHING WARM
I suspect that the HK Coliseum uses the same air-conditioning system God uses for the polar regions. In daikin-speak, that's about 18.4 billion BTU of wintry air spewing from a mega multi-split system. So pack a warm sweater, and also, take a leak before you plonk down on your seat for the next 2 1/2 hours.
3) STAY AWAY FROM THE ICE-CREAM MAN
Don't ask me why but at 14 degrees Celsius below freezing point, there's a guy peddling a pail of brain-freezing, gum-numbing ice-cream. Stranger than that is the fact that some people are actually eating the stuff. Crazy weirdos. I wonder if they've got chocolate Cornetto ...
4) ACROPHOBIA ALERT!
The angle of the seating arrangements in this place is loosely modelled after the structural design of, I think, the Grand Canyon. If you bought the cheapest tickets, you'd find yourself right at the top of things, where the lofty view is slightly dizzying and Ricky Martin is reduced to roughly the size of a brown M&M. So remain seated and have your seatbelts fastened, until such time when you have to do the wave. Even then, I'd recommend a mini wave, not the wild flailing kind.
5) OGLE THE DANCERS
The moment these swarthy and sinewy bodies come on, you can safely take that sweater off. Between the half dozen gyrating dancers onstage, they generate enough heat to melt that pail of Cornettos. And these guys can really shake their bon bons, particularly this one female dancer dressed in a skimpy black bikini set (brrrr ....). She shakes her tight tush so fast she looks like a freakin' rattlesnake!
6) LISTEN TO THE BAND
These 10 guys are marvelous musicians and bloody incredible entertainers as well. They play like every note is their last; they sing backup like they were Take Six; and they dance (yes, they dance!) like they were on Solid Gold. They really oughta have their own show!
7) PONDER THAT GIANT CONVEYOR BELT
Possibly on loan from the Chek Lap Kok International Airport, two conveyor belts line the sides of the stage. Not only does it ferry the dancers and musicians around the stage (all that jiving wears them out and they need all the help they can get), it's also part of Ricky's dance routine. Nice touch, but methinks it;s really for the dancers who haven't gotten the hang of Michael Jackson's moonwalk.
8) LOOK OUT FOR ...
Strange fan 1
When Ricky introduces Coco Lee, an ill-informed Caucasian screams; who the hell is Coco Lee?! After a while, this same middle-aged man leaves in a huff. I think he might've bought the wrong tickets and was actually hoping to see Dean Martin instead.
Strange fan 2
Then there was this other guy who, instead of waving his arms from side to side like normal audiences do, mimics every one of Ricky's hand movements. But when Ricky does it, it's cool. When this guy does it, it's muscle spasm.
RICK SPEAK - When Ricky talks, women (and some men as well) listen. And here's what we heard at the post-concert media event.
THE ROMANTIC
"Well, I dream in Spanish!"
(When asked what language he thinks in - even though he sings in both English and Spanish.)
THE SEXUAL
"Sex is great and very natural. I say let's live and get rid of the taboos!"
(We can't be sure of the exact question since it was asked in Spanish, but we believe that it might have something to do with sex.)
THE HAIRCUT
"There's no haircut. I'm just trying to let it grow."
(When a member of the Thai press posed the crytic question about who decided on Martin's new moppish 'do.)
THE 'MEAT' SLIP
"I love Korean meat ... er ... food"
(When questioned by the Korean press on how he felt about marrying a Korean girl.)
THE DOWNRIGHT BIZARRE
"Huh?"
(When asked - in bad English - about the most memorable party he's ever attended in his life.)
THE WISECRACK
"Hmmmm ... let me think about it."
(When a giggly schoolgirl - hopefully a fan and not a press member - asked if he enjoyed making that scene in the "She Bangs" video with all those sexy dancers caressing him.)
THE SPIRITUAL
"I try to connect my heart and my mind, so the soul is in my mind ... it helps me come back down in harmony with the Universe."
(When asked if he was a 'thinking' or 'feeling' kinda guy.)
THE HONORABLE SINGAPORE MENTION
"I heard that they changed the Constitution after my concert."
(When asked how he felt about strict regulations against concert jiving in certain Southeast Asian countries.)
Tinsletown pulled out all the stops this week for the annual Barbara and Martin Davis "Carousel of Hope" gala which raises funds for the fight against Juvenille Diabetes. The event raised over $6,000,000 dollars, $1.5 million of which came from the Davis' whose daughter, Dana, has suffered from the disease since age seven. Ricky Martin was the headliner of the event, the final act in a show which included R&B star Toni Braxton and 14-year-old classical artist Charlotte Church.
Ricky performed in front of a crowd that included Elizabeth Taylor and her date, Michael Jackson, Joan Collins, Sidney Poitier, Janet Leigh, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Priscilla Presley, Christian Slater, Rob Lowe, Raquel Welch, Mark Wahlberg, Donna Mills, Goldie Hawn, Bo Derek, Meg Ryan, and Kevin Costner.
By all accounts, Ricky stole the show and had everyone up on their feet and dancing, including Michael Jackson who was brought on stage by Barbara briefly to share the spotlight with Ricky. Ricky, and his entire troupe, flew in from Australia to perform free of charge at the gala.
