Johnny Lozada: “If Menudo existed now, I would sing songs like Bad Bunny’s”

In the 1980s, Menudo was more than just a fashion band. They were a real Latin phenomenon. His first presentation in Lima, held in El Amaut in 1981, drew hundreds of fans outside Jorge Chávez International Airport, as he recalled. Michael Kansel in an interview with RPP News. “We landed and the crowd came out onto the runway,” he said of that first contact with “often mania.”

After more than 40 years, the Puerto Rican singer has repeatedly returned to our capital. But on October 29 this year, he will do it together with his colleagues. Ricky Melendez D Johnny Lozada offer a concert on the Esplanade Holguin de Surco. A show that is part of a tour called “Get on My Motorcycle” after this reference song of Latin American pop music, which also gave its name to the series about the band, released on the Prime Video platform in 2020.

With occasional successes on the radio, in addition to a couple of films, the youth quintet founded by Edgardo Diaz has had different stages in its history, with a talent pool that has been updated as age has taken its toll. By light the stars walked like Ricky Martin or René Farré (Sworn into La Voz Senior today). However, the trio of singers who will perform these days in Lima belong to the first generations of the group, those who were part of the glory years.

He is currently in his fifties Johnny Lozada D Michael Kansel connected via Zoom from their homes in Miami (USA) to talk about what it still means to them light. They also mentioned the renewal of their audience over the decades and the rise of Latin in the music industry, which certainly had no shortage of nods to Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican icon of the time.

Those years of “Menudomania”

Nine years have passed since Menudo last performed in Peru. In fact, our country is usually a must when they go on tour. What places do they usually return to every time they set foot on Peruvian soil?

Johnny Lozada (JL): Every time we come to Peru, we go to visit friends. Peru is a place where we have been going since we were 13 and we have very good friends there. We usually go to Lima to sing.

Miguel Cancel (MC): Johnny talks about friendship, and it’s true, because the audience means a lot of friendships to us. Whatever the country, the public is part of these friendships. And in Peru, I had the opportunity to go to the 2019 Pan American Games with my son, because he swims for the Puerto Rico team, and I was able to enjoy your wonderful and unique cuisine. This is the best. And then I was able to go to Machu Picchu, share this time and be filled with all these energies.

“Get on My Motorcycle” is the title of his tour, and I think it’s related to the 80’s menudo, that unstoppable phenomenon. But now that the water has calmed down, how do you see those boom times in the distance?

DL: hilarious Many people ask us what we live differently and if we don’t want to be normal. Well, it was ok for me. It’s about how you look at things. It was a great time, I had fun, I thought it was Jo Jo mixed with Superman and Spiderman. It was fun.

MS: Now that I’ve matured a bit, I’ve got something very relevant in Peru in my head. The airport. We landed and the crowd surged onto the runway. And the young man loves it. Singing is one of my passions and being able to sing all over the world is a blessing. But to get there and see the reaction of the crowd inside the runway, the crowd that surrounded the commercial plane, packed full of people wondering what’s going on here… There was so much love, care, and she wanted you to know in this crowd.. It’s one of many other things, and to be able to live it, again, every time now that we fifty year olds have the opportunity to visit these countries, because it becomes like it all happened yesterday.

The series “Get on my motorcycle” and the “essence” of Menudo

The series, released on Prime Video, helped us better understand Menudo’s golden years, as well as the complex episodes that cast a shadow over the band. How involved were you in this project?

DL: I was in the project, I was one of those who testified. And it’s good that the participants who agreed to this got the opportunity to express their emotions and what they felt in their lives. we were 36 [miembros] and each of us could live differently, not all of us lived the same way, as seen in the documentary. I really like that some Puerto Ricans did it, young, enterprising, and at a certain point they wanted to give the world what happened in Menudo, not from a mocking or disturbing point of view, but from the point of view of participants who experienced It. It’s not about what is written in the magazine, but about what happened here. This gives it great credibility.

As you said, Menudo has gained a few members over time, a lot of new talent. But what do you think, has it retained its essence, despite the changes?

DL: Often this developed along with what was happening. If Menudo existed right now, they would be singing songs like Bad Bunny. Often this has evolved along with the youth, and the youth has changed to where we are now. Music leads the youth. As a person from the 80s, I can listen to whatever I want. But on a musical and commercial level, today the world has changed a lot. I repeat: if Menudo continued, today I would sing: “Say hello to Titi, we are going to take a selfie.” It’s generational. They blame Bad Bunny, but who’s listening?

As veterans of the music industry, have you been surprised by the current rise in urban music?

DL: Urban music has become the pop music of today. We have a representative in Puerto Rico, in this case Bad Bunny, the number one artist in the world. It makes me realize that youth, once again, marks trends in music, whatever it may be. Be a little rougher, be a little more romantic.

MS: I can’t compare one music to another. In the 80s, all genres of music were good. It was impressive. From pop to ballads to heavy metal, great. Then the genres were defined. We’ve reached the urban music moment because it’s number one. Consumers buy and search. And music is also evolving, and the artist must continue to evolve, if you are in the world of music, you cannot be alone in this booth.

Well, the worldwide escalation of Bad Bunny also speaks to the escalation of a certain Latin culture. Don’t you think that Menudo has set certain precedents? Do you think groups like yours paved the way for the advancement of Hispanics in the world?

DL: I’d like to think so, but I’ve always been a humble person and stay a little shorter. I can say that we were pioneers at a time when music was needed. There was music for adults, for children, but not for young people. In this aspect, I give credit to the pioneer of the group, who decided to change members in order to maintain the front of the youth group, because children at this age grow up a lot.

Menudo and its new audience

There is no doubt that its drag is maintained. As soon as they announced their concert, their fan clubs in Peru took it upon themselves to remind us of the validity of menumania. But do you see new generations in your shows?

MS: Yes! We sometimes sit down to talk because there are three generations. There are grandmothers who at that time were mothers who took their daughters or sons to concerts. Then the mother takes the children to concerts. And then there are people from another generation who have nothing to do with us, who are also knocking on the door of what we do.

DL: I think people forget that this music is made for young people. If your mom plays it every Sunday, and you listen to it and you like it, then this music is made especially for you. At some point, by hook or by crook, you become a victim. Party of the forties, fifties always ends with a song from us.

EER 4×07 DRAGON’S HOUSE: We didn’t expect anything, but it gives us everything

The Game of Thrones prequel brought back the romance of waiting every Sunday night. Laura Amasifuen, Diego Pajares Herrada and David Honores commentate on 9 episodes of the first season as a kind of preview of the season finale this Sunday. Go and listen, no more.