Dissection of the Julio Iglesias myth: 5 keys to his global success


Rosalía’s adventures invite comparisons, but the truth is that no Spanish artist has come close, for now, on a global scale, to the titanic projection of Julio Iglesias. Fact that causes fascination to Hans Laguna, author of a different book about the artist: an essay with sociological derivatives around the keys of the phenomenon, with emphasis on the 80s, those of his ‘conquest of America’.

‘Hey!’ (Against ed.) further illustrates how a figure from the ‘indie’ sphere, Hans Laguna (Toni Llàcer), producer and bass player of Nacho Vegas (and a degree in Philosophy and a doctorate in Sociology), is seduced by the ‘mainstream’ heartthrob par excellence, captivated by “the construction of the world ‘celebrity’” and thus identifying with the idea of ​​“repentant avant-garde” by Marina Garces. Matter that gives to rivers of ink, and that Carl Wilson already explored in his highly commented ‘Shitty Music’ (Blackie Books, 2015), according to which social prejudice explains why some musics have more prestige than others.

In the past week, Julio Iglesias (with whom Laguna has not spoken to write this book) posted a comment on Instagram. “So many, so many lies, so many speculations about my life, and what few successes & rdquor ;, began, and vaguely added that “the essence of the truth has not been told & rdquor ;. Does the author of this book feel alluded to? “I think Julio is annoyed that they write about him without being consulted, but he will have the opportunity to speak out if he wishes. I’m curious about what he can say & rdquor ;, clears the author, who sent copies of his work to the singer’s manager, Juan Velasco. “And I know that he is pleased that someone has taken the trouble to study his career seriously & rdquor ;.

Singing well without a great voice

At the beginning of everything is the voice, and there, a secular buzz has accused the alleged deficiencies of Julio Iglesias as a singer. He himself has assured (to this newspaper) that he came to sing “like the ass & rdquor ;. Statement that Laguna refutes tooth and nail: in his opinion, in his “small voice & rdquor; there is a “dominance of the vocal folds & rdquor ;.

We have to go back to the dawn of recorded music to locate a development of vocal art in which it is no longer necessary to have a powerful voice and where it is possible to explore subtle resources. Singing “inside”, as Julio says, who excels in techniques such as “vocal frying & rdquor; and “the airy voice & rdquor ;, specifies Laguna, with which he transmits “a particular languor and vulnerability & rdquor ;. Opportune effect to sing “stories of sentimental failure & rdquor ;, his specialty.

Victim of the “bad woman”

There, one of his great works, the book points out, is the elaboration of the portrait of the lonely man, perhaps entertained by sweet handouts to cope with the most painful breakup. “Four hundred loves to supply just one & rdquor ;, summarized the magazine ‘Garbo’. The cause of the abandonment was none other than Isabel Preysler, then projected as “the bad guy in the movie & rdquor ;. The theme ‘Hey’ extracted gold from the situation: “the one who loved the most is always happier / and that was always me & rdquor ;.

That portrait was completed, according to the author, by the entrance of Chábeli Iglesias on the cover of the album ‘From girl to woman’ (1981). For Laguna, the song, in which he sees some “disturbing verse & rdquor; (“Your gaze was looking for mine / you were playing at being a woman”), it could be a way of “purging guilt” that Julio felt like a father & rdquor ;.

In his conquest of America, decisive allies were the agencies Rogers & Cowan and William Morris, which together with the record company CBS (today Sony Music), were in charge of “creating expectation & rdquor; around the character, according to the rule of “create a rumor & rdquor ;. From there, the campaign ‘July who?’, accompanied by two hundred letters to influential figures.

Following another maxim, that of coining a witty nickname, he went into action “the Spanish Sinatra”. Pulling on tactics they’ve used from the Beatles to Rosalía, Julio played ‘glocalization’ by singing in multiple languages ​​(although “I could sing in a Chadian dialect and the women would scream & rdquor ;, observed ‘Variety’), starred in successful duets to open the market (Willie Nelson, Diana Ross) and provided a permanent trickle of news events that, in the absence of Instagram, had the complicity of tabloids and weeklies.

The first sounded incursion in the ‘Anglo’ market was the version of ‘Begin the beguine’, number one in the UK in 1981. Cole Porter, in the key of orchestrated disco music, at a time when the effect of ‘Saturday Night Fever’ “was already in the doldrums”. For this reason, Julio Iglesias targets an audience “unrelated to the ‘trendy’, more mature and conservative”, printing “a newly outmoded sense of contemporaneity & rdquor ;. And playing with the memory of recent hits: ‘Drive’, by The Cars, in ‘Neither have you nor forget you’ (1986), or ‘Streets of Philadelphia’ in ‘La highway’ (1995).

Success in the United States was the result of “talent, marketing and the moment”, Stephen Holden summed up his day in the ‘New York Times’, and this third point is accepted by Hans Laguna when he places the impact of the album ‘1100 Bel Air Place ‘ (1984) at a propitious time, when it was not mandatory to sing in perfect English to capture the conservative public and it was timely to reconnect with the pre-rock culture of romantic ballads.

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Julio thus captured the Yankees because they were eager for a return to “romance and class.” And he did, he slipped sometime, because he didn’t need it. “But an artist has to aspire to the maximum & rdquor ;, stressed. United States, as “the top of the last step”: “the summit of the final step”.


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