Singing idol Enrique Iglesias will be making his soap debut on November 7 when he appears as himself on Y&R to perform his single, “Somebody’s Me.” Digest sat down to chat with the singer, who was anything but a moody musician. As you’ll read here, Iglesias has quite a sense of humor.
Soap Opera Digest: What did you think of your experience here?
Enrique Iglesias (smiling): It was fun.
Digest: Any different from the other TV appearances you’ve done?
Iglesias: No. It was just singing.
Digest: Why did you decide to appear on a soap?
Iglesias: The music industry is going through a very difficult time right now and has changed so much that you need different outlets to put your music out there. You truly do.
Digest: Usually on soaps, a singing guest star will lip-sync, but you did it here live. Did you have any trouble with that?
Iglesias: No … [notices a Y&R publicist standing nearby and raises his voice] and DAYS OF OUR LIVES is one of my favorite shows…. [Publicist has a shocked look] Oh, I’m sorry, I mean YOUNG AND RESTLESS.
Digest: Do you watch the show?
Iglesias: I TiVo it on a daily basis and repeat the same show. I’m one of those obsessive fans.
Digest: Who is your favorite character?
Iglesias: Victor. He can be bad and good.
Digest: How long have you been watching?
Iglesias: Thirty-five years!
Digest: You’re not that old.
Iglesias: No. I’ve actually watched it a few times. Everybody knows about YOUNG AND RESTLESS!
Digest: Okay. Did you meet the other actors?
Iglesias: What I usually like to do when I’m on a show is go to their dressing rooms and sit down and talk for a half an hour.
Digest: Is that what you did today?
Iglesias: I went through their dressing rooms and had conversations with all of them. There was like 500 actors!
Digest: Is it hard to get into your music in this kind of setting?
Iglesias: No, you get used to it. When you’ve done filming and music videos, it’s the same thing.
Digest: You mentioned TiVo before. Do you TiVo a lot?
Iglesias: I’m addicted to my TiVo now. I got it about a year ago and it’s amazing. Whenever I travel [and watch TV] I’ll try to find the pause [on the remote] so I can go to the bathroom.
Digest: What do you like to watch?
Iglesias: HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. I love that show.
Digest: Makes sense since you appeared on two episodes this season. What else?
Iglesias: TWO AND A HALF MEN.
Digest: Another show you appeared on. I’m seeing a pattern here.
Iglesias: I love sitcoms. I also like CALIFORNICATION and HEROES, but I’ll go from MTV to watching sitcoms.
Digest: Do you watch MTV for the music videos or for their reality shows?
Iglesias: The videos. I don’t watch reality shows.
Digest: Do you want to do more acting?
Iglesias: Oh, yeah. I love film. When I have days off, I go to the movies. I love analyzing them. I think [acting] started the same way as with my music, from a fan perspective. I did a small role on Once Upon a Time in Mexico. I want to do things like that … and sitcoms.
Digest: Your role on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER really poked fun at the Latin lover mystique.
Iglesias: It was almost like making fun of myself and the clich of the whole Hispanic thing.
Digest: Is comedy harder than drama?
Iglesias: No. They’re so much fun and they’re only a half-hour. But that’s a lot of work they do for a half-hour.
Digest: Would you like to do something bigger, like carry a whole movie?
Iglesias: I’ve been offered that, but it kind of scares me. It’s too much responsibility. I’d rather do small roles and be surrounded by great actors and learn as much as possible.
Digest: But you’ll keep doing the music thing?
Iglesias: I like writing music and touring. The actual writing is like therapy and touring is just a lot of fun.
Digest: What kind of music do you listen to?
Iglesias: Everything. But obviously, I listen to a lot of Top 40 radio.
Digest: What haven’t you done that you would still like to do?
Iglesias: Write better songs. There’s always that song that you listen to and go, ‘Damn! I wish I’d written that!’ I’m not as artist-driven as I am music-driven. Whenever I hear a great song, it pisses me off that I didn’t write it, so it makes me work harder.
Digest: The soap audience is very welcoming, so you’ll probably pick up more fans to add to your already huge fan base. What was your most memorable fan experience?
Iglesias: I’ve had a few. I had a fan wait under the table in my dressing room for 10 hours. It was here in L.A. and I got to the arena about to do a sound check. She was underneath the catering thing in my dressing room and when I was leaving the arena [after the concert performance], that’s when she popped out. She was there the whole time I was in my dressing room, but didn’t come out then because she was scared.
