by The Colombian Manuel Turizo He is not yet 25 years old and is already a global institution in urban music. He has the touch, the key, the grace: he walks through the air towards success with the songs he writes, the bachata songs that come out of his fingers and mouth as if it were natural to release them like that, so magically. “I’m driving through the streets where you kissed me, listening to the songs that you dedicated to me one day… I would tell you to come back, but that’s not what you ask for: I better ask God to take care of me”: he sings and More than 37 million monthly listeners listen to him. It gives you vertigo.
He was 17 years old when, without any pretense, he wrote with his brother Julián A lady like you and the ball exploded: since then he has not stopped working like a miura, respecting the philosophy that he learned from his humble family, remembering that the first thing is always “to have a plate of food on the table.” He prefers his house to the Bahamas, he prefers to be with his people than “outing”: he is not a clubber, what a funny paradox. He composes because he senses the pain and melancholy of others, although he has more than enough star power.
Q.- What was Manuel Turizo like as a child? On that album, 2000you wanted to tell us a little about that… what kind of child were you?
A.- He needed a lot, he was a little rebellious, very active… I loved animals. He wasn’t completely normal, suddenly he didn’t fit in one hundred percent, he was always contrary. When you are little they want to make you behave like what others call “normal”, society castrates a lot, and then it was complicated for me, but now I do what I want. I no longer have to explain myself to anyone, I don’t depend on anyone, I don’t have to receive anyone’s approval. I stand up for myself and do what I want.
Turizo.
Turizo.
Q.- How does Manuel Turizo forget about someone? You told us “I blocked you on Insta but otherwise I see your stories”… I don’t know if I should listen to you.
A.- (Laughs). If you really love someone, you won’t forget them even if you stop seeing their Instagram, just time passes. You get over it a little bit, depending on how much you loved the person, how long you were there and what kind of relationship you had, sometimes it’s easier and other times it’s not. There is no written manual.
I am a total scorner, mentally scorned, even though I am not: it helps me a lot to create. It’s easy for me to talk about those stories even though I’m not really feeling them in my life. Even I wonder where the inspiration to write those things comes from, but I suppose it is the most common thing that human beings experience… happiness, love, pleasure. We are all looking for the same thing, although we find it in different places.
Q.- What has been the greatest love you have had, the one that has marked you the most?
A.- My mother and my girlfriend, who I have been with for eight years.
Q.- A lot!
A.- Yes, since I was 16. It’s nice. It’s nice to have someone indispensable who loves you for who you are, one hundred percent, and who doesn’t try to be anything or expect you to be anything: she doesn’t expect anything from me, only me. It is a special, different love. Then there are the people who follow me, who have great affection for what I do, for my public image, and I adore them, but I am where I am thanks to the support of people like my mother and my girlfriend.
Q.- “I would tell you to come back, but that is not asked” is something very wise, very valuable. You are proud? Is it a lie that “he who follows it gets it”? In love it is better to know how to withdraw, to know not to insist, to know not to beg for attention or affection…?
A.- I’m soooo proud! If I have to say something to whoever I have to say it to, I say it in the end, I don’t keep things to myself. I tell you to your face. I’m not going to drag myself for anything or anyone. I’m not going to throw myself on the ground and I don’t recommend anyone do so, not even for love. You have to live life and let everything flow, everything happens for a reason, believe me.
“I don’t crawl for anything or anyone: let no one do it, not even for love. Everything happens for a reason”
Q.- What is your life philosophy?
A.- Never forget to take care of my personal life. I am very attentive to the people who love me and I feel that they care about me and in return I take great care of them. I talk to you about my personal relationships, my family…
Q.- What is that family like? How are you like your mother and how are you like your father?
A.- We are a small family, my brothers, my dad and my mom… who have been divorced. He has too noble a spirit, he shines a lot because of his nobility. And my mother is overwhelming, she walks into a place and you realize it. I have learned a lot from them, also in my professional life. His philosophy is mine. It could be summed up in a phrase that a friend of mine put in stories that I said “bitch…”.
“In reality, no one knows what they are doing, absolutely no one, not even people with titles or important professions… not even people in positions of power, no one knows, there are simply people who make mistakes publicly and keep trying until they get it right, and others who do nothing for fear of making a mistake.” I do things. I have ideas in my mind and I pursue them, but no one knows what the path is like.
Q.- How do you see yourself in fifteen years?
A.- With my children and making music. But maybe it’s not going to be the main thing in my life at that moment. I care about my career and what I want to achieve, I care about my personal ego and continuing to live rich.
Q.- “We were three in a relationship of two.” Have you been deceived, have you been deceived? Do you believe in open relationships?
A.- Yes, I have cheated and they have cheated on me, I cuckolded and they cheated on me… and about open relationships: the truth is that when I have fallen in love very, very much, an open relationship does not fit in my head, I become possessive, “it’s for me.” “It’s for me.” I think it goes like this. Maybe in other types of relationships where the attachment is not so strong, yes, okay, you do what you want, I don’t care, we have a great time together and that’s it. But when I have fallen in love, no. It is not the same philosophy.
Manuel Turizo.
Q.- Are you more of a Shakira or Piqué fan? Do you believe in spite songs or revenge songs, like she has done?
A.- I love spite music, honestly. The songs that make you release emotions. I like them a lot, and between Shakira and Piqué, well, I’ll stick with it: I belong to Shakira, I’m not a footballer… and the man must have made a mistake… we all make mistakes in this life, but there are mistakes worse than others. We are humans. Life is not perfect.
Q.- You have said in a song that you are more spiteful than romantic.
A.- Yes, each person has a different talent, there are people who rapping make you feel something incredible when talking about love, or people who make you very hot with their disco songs… they have it super clear. I have the gift of transmitting melancholic spite or whatever you want to call it, people like it and connect. It seems like I live in depression all year round, but that’s not the case. (laughs).
“It seems like I live in depression all year round, but that’s not the case”
Q.- Has reggaeton stopped being sexist? Maluma experienced many accusations of this style… do you think things are changing? Now can reggaeton women talk about sex the same as men? I think about the case of Becky G., who was censored.
A.- I believe that everyone is free to sing what they want, woman or man. Society does not have to tell anyone what to sing, or whether it is right or wrong. For many years the urban genre has been a little sexist, yes, but everyone is free to speak as they want and sing what they want and the rest to listen to it or not. For example, many more women have supported me than men. I feel that there is no need to spend time on these controversies: if I like it, I listen to it, and if I don’t, I don’t.
Q.- Are you rich? What did you buy with your first salary?
A.- With my first salary I bought clothes, but when I received a bigger amount of money I bought a house, then another for my mother, and then a car.
Q.- How does one keep it from going to one’s head?
A.- I don’t know how I do it. Suddenly I feel that it is very relative. You will say: “Listen, Manuel is calm, he is a good person…”. And yes, I am a very calm person and I stay below water, I am not interested in being on the street or living a life of luxury or madness. I’m not interested in going to the club, I’m not interested in going out partying. Everyone enjoys success in their own way, I have done everything on my own merit and I have the right to enjoy it as long as it does not harm anyone.
