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Antonio José Flores
(Palma del Río, January 2, 1995) has been on stage since he was eight years old.
He made his debut at the
Veo Veo Awards
.
Later, he represented Spain in
Junior Eurovision
and, after a break, he returned to music, triumphing in
La Voz
, where he won the third edition.
The contest relaunched his career, which already has four published studio albums and several reissues.
The latest,
Antídoto2
, has just gone on sale.
The Cordovan arrives at the appointment to review his career and, although the atmosphere begins relaxed, the tension grows as the interview progresses.
[See the full talk with Antonio José on video]
QUESTION. Starting in music so small, have you ever panicked on stage?
ANSWER
.
No, I saw it as a game.
They were like anecdotes that I was living and that made me enjoy a lot.
And, well, the truth is that everything I've ever done has been because I've felt it.
They have never imposed anything on me.
It has always been because I have had the need to do it.
Q. At what point do you say: I want to be a singer in a professional way?
R.
I believe that what has happened to me with music ... I give you an example so that I can explain myself and the whole world can see it: it is like that friend that you have all your life, that you think you see with eyes as a friend but there comes a time when you realize that you are in love with her.
That's what happened to me with music.
I had her there, she inspired me, she helped me to concentrate, even to study ... She was the friend I always was, the one I always turned to when I felt bad, when I felt good or whatever.
Until a point came when you realize that you want to dedicate yourself body and soul to being a musician.
P. Are you more sincere in the songs or before a person?
A.
Writing is therapy for me.
It is an escape route.
And then, the most wonderful thing is to sing it on stage and have your audience sing your song, sing your story.
and see that through your songs, through your stories, you manage to make many people happy.
I am also very reserved.
I don't tell everyone my most intimate things.
I have my trusted people, like for example Jon, who travel with me and is more than a brother.
It is the person in which I, in my day-to-day work, take refuge in telling him my things because not everything is happiness.
P. Speaking of which not everything is happiness. Manu Carrasco told in an interview that there was a time when he filled large rooms but he did not feel happy, has it happened to you at some point?
R.
Well, I think what Manuel means by that is that he was not being conscious.
And when you are not aware, you are not happy.
You have to be aware of things and that in some respects takes a while.
Q. And have you had moments of not being conscious in La Voz or with Eurojunior, where maybe everything was going very fast?
R.
Of course, because sometimes we are filled with expectations and then reality is different.
I think you have to go with lower expectations so that later you can be surprised.
Because we are all filled with super cool expectations, long live Pepa, and then you hit the wall, fat.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself and let yourself go.
We are here passing through and the most beautiful thing is to leave something for which everyone can remember you with a smile.
Q. I have the feeling that with the numbers you have in your music and doing concerts at the WiZink Center, your fame is perhaps not as
mainstream
as that of other artists.
Do you feel that way?
R.
Explain
Q.- That maybe people who are not your audience do not recognize you
R
.
And for you, what is fame?
P. Be popular, be known. That does not mean success.
R.
Well, the question you are asking me is not.
For you supposedly fame is, I'm not going to tell you names, sound in a disco and let everyone know the song and then that artist comes to play at the WiZink Center and nobody buys a ticket.
Is that fame?
P. I have not said anything about the songs playing in discos
R.
It is the same.
You are telling me to fill a WiZink Center but then my popular level of fame is not that high.
Q. I ask you about fame on a personal level, like Antonio José. That they see you on the street and recognize you
R.
I don't know, maybe you are my shadow and I haven't realized it and you come with me every day to see if people stop me on the street or not.
P. There you are right. But I get the feeling that people don't have you so situated, that they don't put a face on you. You think so?
R.
I neither think so, nor do I think not.
I'm not the one who has to judge that.
You are the one saying it and I respect that.
It would be arrogant to answer that.
I keep the positive of your message since it means that I still have a lot of work to do and that is always good.
Q. And what is fame then for you? Since you asked me
R.
Well, I don't know, if you say it's being popular ...
P. - I say what is it for you? Or have you not considered it?
R.
Let's leave it in your answer: be popular.
P. Ok. And success?
A.
Success is a way of life and a way of living.
There are people who stagnate in success and don't look further.
And there are people who value success in its fair measure.
And I believe that I am one of those who values success in its fair measure.
Without ever forgetting the shit that you have to eat first to get where you want to be.
P. And what has been the most difficult to get where you want to be? The hardest part?
R.
The hardest part?
I don't know, sitting here in front of you and telling me that people don't know me.
Q. I have not told you that people do not know you, I have asked you if you also had the feeling that you were not so recognized with the numbers you have. How are you doing with social networks?
R.
Fatal, because I am a disaster, I am a mess with social networks.
I am of the new generation but it seems that I am of the eighties generation in that aspect.
I do not get along very well with the networks and personally I do.
In fact, it is a topic of conversation within my team, the one that I have to put more batteries with the networks.
But whenever I have a little while I try in some way to answer my people, answer everyone, so that they know me more.
Q. Why don't you like to share your personal things?
R.
I share everything.
But what do you mean?
What do I have to share?
P. No, since you say that it is a recurring theme that you have to use them more, if you do not use them much
A.
Yes, I use it a lot, but since you don't follow me ... You sit down to talk to me and you haven't seen my networks.
P. I have seen little above, but I do not have to follow everyone who comes here
A.
No, of course not.
I haven't told you to follow me, far from it.
Q. And what happened to the mess you had on Instagram on Halloween?
A.
It was not a mess, it was a joke.
P. It did not feel very well
R.
No?
Didn't it feel very good?
Q. I don't know, you uploaded a video in which they broke into your house and beat you up and then you deleted it
P.
But I deleted it because I did not want to generate more controversy, because I am not to generate controversy at all.
I do not like.
I like zero.
We were at home, India was with me, she lives very close to me.
And, well, her boy is a director.
He likes directing movies, makes videos and such.
And I said: hey, let's do something.
We were at home.
We were watching a bored TV show.
We came up with that joke.
It was Halloween night and, well, whoever understood it as something inopportune, well, his sense of humor is not that he is very through the roof.
But nothing happens, to taste the colors.
Q. What is your biggest concern right now? What worries you the most?
R.
That this ends and being able to go out on stage again and invite you to a WiZink Center, for example.
Q. How do you manage the ego?
R. You
have to have the ego, but you have to manage it, in its proper measure.
The ego is many things.
Within the ego there are many emotions and you have to know how to channel them so that it does not overwhelm you later in any type of situation.
The ego is there and you have to live with it.
And I think I get along well.
P. Having started so young in music, do you think it has been a good or bad thing for your career?
R.
It has been good for me.
There are people who spend a lifetime doing something that is not happy and they think it is.
And that is very complicated.
I feel fortunate to be doing what I love, to feel fulfilled and to have healthy ambitions to continue growing in what I am so passionate about.
So I think I will never get lost in that.
Because for me making music is making music at the WiZink Center or making music, as I have done it all my life, in a joint for 50 people.
Happiness is yours and if you are happy with yourself you have everything done.
Q. What ambitions do you have? What do you want for your future?
R.
I am about setting short-term ambitions.
My ambition right now is that this song has an impact, that it reaches people and they can feel identified.
And, well, if we have to look further there I would say that collecting a Grammy, filling a Sales, taking my music as far as possible.
I think that will happen because I think positive and work hard for it.
And I am hopeful that all the work that we are doing, both myself and my team, will pay off.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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