Thalía is back in Miami with lots of love for her fans. Mexican pop star talks about her latest album, her fans and what it’s like to dance with President Obama.
Whether you know Thalía as the Queen of Latin Pop or the Queen of Telenovelas, you’re struck by the Mexican singer’s infectious smile, incredible spirit and uplifting joy of life. But fans in South Florida haven’t had the chance to soak up her radiance live in concert for three years. That all changes Friday night as Thalía brings her Latina Love Tour to the stage at downtown Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in support of her 15th album, ‘Latina’ and its single ‘Desde esa noche’.
The album’s 11 new songs, produced by salsa master Sergio George, who has worked with Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez, among many others, embrace her Mexican roots and also incorporate influences from Cuba, Puerto Rico and Colombia.
Thalía, who in 2000 married powerhouse music mogul Tommy Mottola, who is widely credited with creating pop music’s Latin Explosion talked to Miami about the tour, her love for her fans, her fashion line, dancing with President Obama, and why she’d love to sing with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler.
What can your fans expect from this show?
A lot of complicity, a lot of happiness, freedom, it’s like a big party with friends and family. It’s a beautiful, beautiful experience, especially for me, to have them in front of me and to sing each and every song that we create together with so much passion.
It sounds almost like a family get-together with you and your fans.
You know what? It’s totally like that, like a family, love-affair experience, it’s just like a clan, a reunion, and having a big, huge, humongous party. And this tour will be more in the world of my newest album, ‘Latina’ and a review of my oldies, from the first albums, including one of the most important, called ‘Love’. So it’s a mixture of the old and the new, and all the hope and the love for the future to come.
How much of ‘Latina’ will we hear, and what were you going for with the album?
This tour, I want you to feel good and to feel happy and light. This was my intention when I prepared and organized the set list, and I talked to my band and the engineers and the lighting people. I just want everybody to have a happy experience, something that makes them feel lighter when they leave. Because I think right now in life and the world, everywhere you turn, everything is very negative, a lot of sadness in the news around us. So I wanna keep my music with a little ray of light and hope and happiness.
You’re known as both the Queen of Latin Pop and the Queen of Telenovelas. Is there one you identify most with?
Two crowns! [Laughs] I don’t have the space in one head for two crowns! But with this question, the answer came immediately with the image of Lady Diana saying, “I just wanna be the Queen in the hearts of my people”. But as long as you are in a special corner where someone thinks about you with love and hears your songs and has a feeling in their heart, then that’s my biggest reward in my life.
Miami is one of six stops on this tour. What is special about Miami to you?
I’m so excited about going there and singing, it’s really an experience I can’t wait to have for many reasons. First of all, I love Miami, I love the city. There’s a fusion of many Latin cultures there, it’s like Latin America in the United States. And it feels like home. And another reason is people in Miami just love to party and love to have fun, and feel a release from the day and go and dance. And we’re gonna have that together with this show, face to face, singing, dancing, sweating and jumping together.
People en Español named you one of the 25 most powerful Latinas. Do you feel a sense of responsibility toward the community because of that?
I feel a responsibility in general, because once you are in a place where you can expose your feelings, your ideas, your emotions to people, then you have a responsibility to say something that will help someone, or empower someone, or make someone feel that they can overcome obstacles. And I think that through example, you can be very influential in someone’s life, and that’s the responsibility we have. And I think it’s beautiful to be part of that, a world full of possibilities.
What inspired you to go into fashion?
You know, what? I always loved fashion, ever since I had a Barbie when I was a little girl, and I always remember that I would undress the doll and look at the clothes, and then cut it, and then add little fabrics and colors, and then glue glitter and then I’d dress her again in my style. I always wanted to do something different with fashion, and now that I have this huge opportunity in Macy’s with a collection that has shoes, accessories, clothing. I think it’s a big privilege, a big dream that I’m achieving. Not for me, but just for the Latin woman, to have a nice presence in a very iconic store like Macy’s.
With all of your different endeavors, what are you most proud of?
Oh my God. Of course, from a personal aspect, being a mother. My kids are my life, my eyes, my smile, everything. And in a professional aspect, I just want to be an example of possibilities, that everything you dream could be achievable. Every desire in your soul and in your heart if you study, if you get prepared, and you learn and you get out there and fight for it, you really can achieve your dreams.
Name three musicians – alive or dead – that you’d love to work with.
Number one, I think Sade, because I love her music and her voice. The other one would be Steven Tyler because I love Aerosmith, and I have a very crazy rock’n’roll side inside of me. And then, I always liked the idea of singing with Vicente Fernández, some kind of beautiful ranchera ballad, or mariachi ballad. So those are my top three. Totally different, all three!
You were invited to the White House, and you met President Obama, and you asked him to dance. What made you do that?
I just get crazy. I don’t know… sometimes I just go with my impulses and instincts. And that was an impulse. I was there, and the security team told me you’re just allowed to stand on the stage, and then from there you go back to the Green Room. But when they tell me that I have limitations, I think subconsciously I push myself to break them, and that’s why I came down and asked Michelle [Obama] if I could dance with her husband. And it brought a lot of smiles to people’s faces, and I think it was very cool.