Manuel Turizo is the rising Latin hitmaker worth having on your radar.

The Colombian-born singer first made waves when his 2016 single Una Lady Como Tú became an international hit and earned him a Kids Choice Award nomination. Turizo has since managed to keep up and remained prominent on the music scene, releasing two studio albums – ADN and Dopamina – less than two years apart. His diverse sound proves he is a multidimensional artist, ranging from Latin pop, trap, R&B, reggaeton, and vallenato. 

Turizo’s consistent run of hits not only secured him an iHeart Music Award for Best New Latin Artist, and 33 million monthly Spotify listeners, making him the 68th most listened-to act in the world, but has also caught the attention of many high-profile stars (Maluma, Ozuna, Will.i.am, and Rauw Alejandro) who have been keen to collaborate with him early on. Just last month, Turizo was invited by Chris Martin to sing his multi-platinum-selling song La Bachata in front of an audience of 55,000 during Coldplay’s Music Of The Spheres World Tour.

His most recent single, Éxtasis, features Argentine singer Maria Becerra and is already making a lot of noise and will be taking from Turizo’s upcoming third studio album, 2000. In an interview with 1883, we learn about Turizo’s new project, the inspiration behind Éxtasis and where he is keeping his growing collection of plaques. 

Tell us about your new single, Éxtasis. What inspired it?

Éxtasis will be part of my third album. The style of the album will be a mix of genres that have influenced me and that I have listened to my entire life. I’ve always wanted to create an afro beats song, so that’s exactly what we decided to do with Éxtasis. And, for a while, I’ve wanted to work with Maria and make a collaboration together. I showed her the song and she loved it, and we jumped on it right away.

The song features María Becerra. How did you two come together to create this track? Did you always envision it as a collab from the start?

When I was creating the song, I thought the following right away: “This song would be super cool to do with Maria, I think her voice would be great and sexy on this track.” As soon as we started working on it and had our first references, we sent it to her immediately.

What do you look for in other artists when seeking collaborations in general?

I first have to admire their work. Each artist has something unique to offer, I feel like it has a lot to do with the songs that you present to the artist. For example, I admire certain artists on the way they write, and others for how their voices contrast nicely with mine. Every person makes me think of something different.

Éxtasis follows your most recent single, La Bachata, which is already one of your biggest hits to date. Did you ever anticipate that song would propel so quickly?

To be honest, I did not feel like it grew so quickly. It took over 3 months to grow and I thank god that it’s still growing. I believe it will grow even months from now. I don’t like creating music for the moment. I create music for people to remember and keep with them always. Yes, musicians create music hoping others will connect with it, but not every song will be a hit. But, when you create each song as if they are already a hit, people will always surprise you with which ones they connected with the most. That’s why I make sure I am in love and obsessed with everything I create.

These two songs will be taken from your forthcoming third studio album, 2000. How does it differ or compare to your previous albums?

2000 is made up of different types of music, one right after the other. If you want to compare it to my past albums like ADN, it was more like what they call urban. That was the sound that people identified me with when I was starting off my career. We created music that the people referenced towards me. On the second album, it was more urban with reggaeton and very little afrobeat. Very much reggaeton in terms of La Nota, Mala Costumbre and Caliente with Will.i.am and El Alfa. On this new album, we have a little of everything. We did EDM, bachata, afro beats, R&B, we did house, electronica, ballads, and we even did a mix of Mexican and pop. We did so much that I had to capture all the music that inspired me as a kid.

The album title was very likely inspired by the year you were born. However, is there any other reason why you decided to title it 2000?

It’s an album that was inspired by all the different types of music I listened to as a child. And, every time people will learn a bit more about the musical identity of Manuel. Maybe people will jump fast on how “Oh no he does this and this!” But, not all artists do something specific. We like different things, styles, and sounds. In this album, I really wanted to capture my fans and the public that those are all the different things that Manuel likes.

How many collaborations can fans expect? Do you think there will be any that will surprise listeners?

There is only one more and that’s it! This wasn’t an album that I was thinking too much about collaborations. I believe that nowadays people are really into collaborations or asking what collaborations I have. But, this album is all about Manuel Turizo. I want to show and offer the music ideas that I had with my team, and the people closest to me. Sometimes I feel like it’s cool to collaborate, but, we artists are here to show our artistic identity, and what we have to offer as musicians with our teams. There will not be any other collaborations other than the one with Maria, which was decided very organically, and one more with BL, which is a great friend of mine and we have so much chemistry creating music together. 

Even though your career is only just getting started, it appears to have been in the fast lane for some time now. What is a pinch-me moment that you can’t believe has already happened so early on?

At the beginning of my career, I felt like I had a beautiful and blessed start-up. Since I decided to do this professionally and came out to the public, people were really supportive of my music and connected with it. For some artists, it takes a while to build up their career and for people to feel connected to their work. I thank god that for me on my first song people really connected with me and until this day my first hits are the biggest ones yet. For example, I reached countries that I wouldn’t have ever imagined. You always dream about working and doing what you love, but you never imagine where you will go. The idea of living off something you love to do, seeing the world while achieving it, and then starting touring in countries is something I would have never imagined. Being able to collaborate with artists that I have been a fan of like Wisin y Yandel, Nicky Jam, Ozuna, and Coldplay who even invited me to perform at their concert. Those have all been pinch-me moments.

You have been racking up the hits, which means you must have a lot of plaques. Where are you currently keeping them all?

My plaques and awards I always send them to my mom. I honestly don’t like having those acknowledgements in my house for others to see. Yes, they are beautiful, but I know she loves them and would like to have them. I would never want those up on the walls of my house. My home is where I am the normal young guy who can be whoever he wants in this world. So, I always give them to my mother as I know she will take good care of them.

Music and fashion are two industries you have ventured into. Have you considered acting as another profession?

Everything that has to do with entertainment, I love and enjoy. Because at the end of the day, I am an entertainer. Everything that has to do with show business, I love. I enjoy fashion, acting, and everything that involves it. Even though I am not a dancer, if I had to, I would do it and enjoy it. Everything I can contribute to the entertainment world catches my attention. I am connected to all of that through art.

Your last album, Dopamina, was so well received. How did you feel about the reception of the album? Did you feel there was any pressure to create something as big as your debut?

The pressure was to create something equally or bigger than my first album. I had pressure to create my second album, Dopamina, because I had gone a year without doing absolutely any music. It was one of the years of the pandemic, where I was in the process of making the album, and when everything happened, I had nothing planned. Music nowadays is very fast. You miss one year and in reality, people might possibly forget who you are. They flip the page and continue on with their lives and what’s happening in the world. They start to focus on what’s moving, hot, and viral. That brings a little more pressure and anxiety. I lost an entire year, I did no music, I did nothing for a year and I really had the fear that people had no interest in my music or forgot about Manuel Turizo. That was a big fear I had.

When fans get to hear your new album, what do you hope they will take away from it?

I feel like everyone is going to see more of who Manuel is in terms of music. People are very quick to say music sounds like a specific genre and I feel like I do not have a specific genre. My music is more friendly, has good vibes, and is global which everyone can enjoy. I can say certain music is good, but others might think differently. If I come out with music and I make sure I like it, for me that’s already good music. That is what I want to offer my fans. My idea since I began my career was not to repeat the same types of music, always incorporate something new and different. Of course, with time I can later go back and do something similar. But I don’t want to be stuck in something I already did in the past just because it worked. I see it in the complete opposite way, each day I can offer something new and fresh. I like that people can not guess or assume what songs I am working on or going to release.

What is the main goal you want to achieve with 2000?

For my fans and people to like it. My original goal, I already accomplished it, which was for me to love the album. Because first, we do music to satisfy ourselves and then our own ambition. We hope that the same personal ambition will please our fans and connect with them too. The only thing I am missing is for the public to like It. Yes, I can say “I hope this album is one of my biggest ones yet or get the biggest hit of my career off this album!” But, in the long run for me, everything goes back to if my fans love it and if people connect to the album.

Éxtasis with Maria Becerra is out now, follow Manuel Turizo via @manuelturizo

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