How does Luis Fonsi savor his Despacito success? Slowly

CEBU, Philippines - The global phenomenon “Despacito” may be overwhelming to many, but not to Luis Fonsi — even when it has transformed him into a 24/7 globe-trotter. The Puerto Rican sensation considers it a real blessing that the megahit arrived two decades into his career.

“It is a lot, but I’m trying just to enjoy every day and be very grateful and I’m blessed that it came 20 years in,” the singer-songwriter said.

Many people around the world are just learning his name, but “I’m not new to this,” he said. “I know how to really enjoy it. I’m very grounded, I’m very grateful and I love music. Ever since I was a little kid I wanted to be a musician — I didn’t want to be famous; I wanted to be a musician.”

Fresh from the European leg of his “Love and Dance World Tour,” Fonsi said it was fun to sing in front of so many new audience members. The tour next takes him to Latin America and to the US.

With dates through the summer of 2018, it’s the biggest tour he’s done, thanks to “Despacito.”

“This took me to Turkey, to Cyprus, to Egypt, Sweden...Just to see so many people that are really there because they know one of my songs, it’s huge, and they were singing along to that one song and enjoying the rest of my repertoire,” he said. “It keeps me very humble and is very refreshing to have to sort of prove myself to this new audience who is going like ‘Who is this Luis Fonsi?’ ‘Who is this Mr. Despacito?’...It keeps it really interesting.”

Some things have changed for the Latin artist, who was better known before as a balladeer. But some things have not: “The way I go about doing my daily things, the way I treat people, the way I go about respecting the stage and writing songs, those things will never change,” he said.

“What changes is that ‘Despacito’ has opened a lot of doors for me, so now I’m able to collaborate with artists that maybe before wouldn’t pay so much attention.’’

He recently joined DNCE and Nicki Minaj on a remix of “Kissing Strangers” and said “some amazing collaborations are coming up, literally as we speak.” He said that his next song will be released in about two months and that it would “surprise some people.”

Traveling the world with the biggest hit of the year has been fun, but it doesn’t come without a high price to the father of two: Mikaela, 5, and Rocco, born last December just a few days before “Despacito” was released.

“That is the only negative about my job, the only thing that I’d say ‘Ugh!’” Fonsi admitted. “I can go a week without sleeping. But not being with my kids, you know. I have a seven-month-old and every day he learns something new and I’m missing out a lot.”

On the other hand, he said, it keeps him very focused: “Everything I do, I do it for them — and that sounds a little bit like a song, but is true,” he said, laughing.

Although “Despacito” has been a hit, MTV didn’t nominate the song for its Video Music Awards, despite it being the most watched video in history, with more than three billion views. Fonsi said “it would have been great to be nominated,” but he is not disappointed.

He feels like he’s already won, anyway. “The biggest award that I can get is the fact that we made history with this video,” he said. “With all due respect to every single award, that to me is the best award in the world.”

“Despacito” is easily the song of the summer with its success stretching beyond Spanish-speaking audiences to make it the year’s most recognized song in the US and elsewhere.

It has topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 13 weeks and counting, set a record as the most streamed song on Spotify and is the first YouTube video to reach three billion views. The song also has opened the door for other Spanish tracks to get airplay on American radio.

“The beauty behind ‘Despacito’ is that it was never meant to be a crossover song. I just wanted to write a great song that people would automatically connect to, and dance to, and really enjoy, so it was so nice to see how the whole world just connected to it,” Fonsi said.

“It wasn’t really forced. It’s sort of an accident if you will,” he said. “There’s something magical in that melody and in the production and people in Russia, Australia, UK, France, US  and South America — everyone’s just dancing.”

“Despacito” is the first mostly Spanish song to top the Hot 100 since Los del Rio’s “Macarena” in 1996. The smooth jam about slowly falling in love has become a pop culture phenomenon since its release in January, selling more than 7.7 million tracks. It has spent 27 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin songs charts, and while some believe Justin Bieber helped make the song a hit when he jumped on its remix, it’s quite the opposite.

“Technically, the reason why Justin Bieber discovered the song was because it was so popular already,” said Rocio Guerra, Spotify’s head of Latin culture.

The remix spent 14 weeks on top of Spotify’s global chart until weeks ago when it was supplanted by J. Balvin’s “Mi Gente” — another Spanish song finding success on US  radio and the pop charts.

“I don’t think this is just something that happened overnight. It’s something the Latin music industry and creative community, we’ve been working so long toward this direction,” Guerra said.

She said that Spotify has spent the last two years pushing Latin music in regions outside Latin America.

And there’s proof it is working. Daddy Yankee became the first Latin artist to reach No. 1 on Spotify in June, taking the spot from Ed Sheeran.

The Latin beat can be heard on current English-language hits as well, including DJ Khaled and Rihanna’s “Wild Thoughts,” which samples Carlos Santana’s 1999 megahit “Maria, Maria.”

Fonsi said he doesn’t want to take credit for the success of Latin music on pop radio, but knows “Despacito” has helped set the mood.

Erika Ender, who co-wrote “Despacito’’ with Fonsi in 2015, said the song felt special when they created it.

“There are some songs that come with a special spark, and I think it’s got it. We looked at each other and said, ‘I think this is a hit,’” she recalled. (AP)(FREEMAN)