A mature Martin plays unplugged event on campus

The University of Miami’s very own BankUnited Center hosted the 19th installment of MTV Latin America’s MTV Unplugged on August 17 with Latin pop artist Ricky Martin. The concert is set to air on MTV Latin America, MTV Tr3s and MTV Puerto Rico on November 1, and it will also be released by Sony BMG on CD and DVD.

From the start of the show, it was evident that Martin has reinvented his image and developed maturity as an artist since his famed success on American charts in the late 1990’s with hits such as “Livin’ La Vida Loca.” Martin explained that he feels a closer intimacy to his music now than he has in the past, making this a great opportunity to perform Unplugged.

“For the last couple of months I’ve been looking for simplicity. And believe it or not, Unplugged is simplicity but at the same time it is full of details, but it felt amazing; it felt really comfortable because I felt protected by the band that I was working with. I felt protected with the audience. It was a very very intimate place; challenging,” Martin said.

Martin also decided to record this album live as an alternative to a recording studio. He wanted to share his music with his fans, but did not want to endure the grueling schedule of a formal recording.

By performing Unplugged, the music flowed out of him naturally. It was a lot less rehearsed and choreographed than his typical concert.

Proceeds from this Unplugged album will go to support children’s charities and several artists, such as Shakira, have won Grammy and Latin Grammy awards for their Unplugged albums.

In his press conference, Martin announced that he is in the process of planning a Latin American tour. Though he is working to achieve an intimate setting, he realizes this will be difficult in order to reach all of his fans in his home of Puerto Rico, where the tour is set to launch.

In regards to his Unplugged performance, Martin said, “I just want to focus on the things that I felt tonight and I felt anxiety; I felt joy; I felt certainty for a moment. So the most challenging thing would be to control your emotions but to know where they’re coming from and why and then let go. Detachment is a pain in the ass and it’s really painful, but I guess just working with detachment I guess I was able to really express my emotions in my music and in my lyrics.”

Paige Feigenbaum can be contacted at p.feigenbaum@umiami.edu.