Álex Ubago: "I'm easy going"

The singer Álex Ubago, on May 11 in Madrid. Jaime Villanueva

Álex Ubago (San Sebastián, 41 years old) was a university student when he composed a ballad in his room dedicated to an unknown college classmate who would change his life forever.

20 years later, he is a family man with two children (a boy of 10 and a girl of three), but he is still a magician of romantic pop who has just released an album with the favorite songs of his repertoire sung half-sung with artists those who are united by friendship, admiration, “or even closer ties” and who has never wanted to leave his hometown, the same one where he composed the hits that catapulted him to fame: “Donosti saved me.

If I had been more in Madrid, I would have lost my

side , the whole issue of

, the press... I'm an easy one”.

Ask.

Define “easy going”

Response.

Well, in Madrid there is always a party, a sarao or an event, every day of the week something happens and, well, surely it would have ended up more involved than expected.

Staying in my city has allowed me to keep my head in the right place, connected with my old friends, my parents, my family and my wife, who is from there.

If you look closely, it's very curious, but most of the internationally known artists from Donosti, such as Mikel Erenxtun or the members of La Oreja de Van Gogh, have also stayed there to live.

Q.

And to those who call you “

”, what would you answer?

R.

Well, it's a

city , because it's very pretty, like a postcard, but the character of San Sebastian is not geek.

People are kind and respectful and I think that's one of the reasons why I didn't get overwhelmed with the subject of fame and why the great actors who come to the Festival every year feel at home.

Q.

Did you never lose your head for fame even temporarily?

R.

I have lived through times when I could hardly leave the house because they constantly stopped me on the street and at night that becomes even harder, because people are a little over the top.

On those occasions I may have been unfriendly to someone who didn't deserve it.

Other than that, I've always been a fairly focused guy.

I haven't gone too far with alcohol or drugs, but I have been more of a

than people think because I have a reputation as a good boy and although I am not a malandra [person with bad habits], I have been and continue to be a very fun guy.

Q.

Ballad singers always have that double face.

Now when you hear about toxic masculinity, do you recognize yourself in something?

R.

You have to be very clear about the limits and I consider myself a feminist guy.

I will always be on the side of women when they try to put them in a position of inferiority.

If in any of my lyrics there may be a treatment of love or seduction that is traditional for someone, I have always done it from the purest affection.

If I were homosexual and my songs were being written for a man, they would be the same.

Q.

You don't consider yourself a ladies' man, so...

R.

I think that in my songs there are always small details that keep me away from machismo.

For example, when I say "come back, come back late, but come back" or when I say "fly high" I'm saying that even if you don't want to be with me, I wish you the best and I want you to be happy.

That is far from toxicity.

P.

And your eldest son, who is already 10 years old, what do you think of your music?

R.

He respects me a lot but his tastes go completely the other way.

He likes urban music and reggaeton.

My wife and I love rock and many times we play it in the car.

Just listening to an intro with guitars, he's already protesting...

Q.

What has fatherhood taught you that you didn't expect?

R.

Although you feel a different love, that you did not know, it is also a big blow to the ego because suddenly you are no longer the most important in your own life.

P.

Have you taken more blows to the ego of that guy?

R.

When a

makes a harsh comment on social networks, you are shocked, because human beings are like that: you can have 1,000 good comments but you keep thinking about the bad one.

Derogatory comments such as "crybaby", "faggot", "soft"... I don't care.

But when a guy tells me “you've been living off the same song for 20 years”, that does hurt me, because it's not true.

Q.

What great neurosis from 20 years ago surprises you when you look back?

R.

I recognize that I have written many heartbreak songs without living that spite and that many times I was not the one left but the one who cut off the relationship.

They have left me very few times, but at the time of separation, writing from the point of view of the person leaving can be done, but it doesn't work that well [laughs].

P.

And you have not received complaints?

R.

It is that this thing of starting to write wakes me up above all the lack of love, although I am not living it.

Even today, being married, with children and with a much more stable life, I put on the overalls and get into the mud of melancholy to get something more visceral.

P.

In the end he managed to meet the girl to whom he sang that "I'm dying to meet you."

How did they finish?

R.

It is possible to maintain a friendship with an ex, but they are particular cases and it takes time.

When there has been a very intense relationship that by means is more difficult.

I had a relationship with that girl for a year and a bit, we were very much in love and then due to circumstances the relationship was cut off and we couldn't continue being friends, but we didn't hold a grudge.

Q.

And did you also write a song for the next one?

R.

Well, a few, because the next one is my wife and we have had some comings and goings with which I could have written a quintuple album [laughs].

Exclusive content for subscribers

read without limits

subscribe

I'm already a subscriber