Free Me by Ricky Martin

chances—I returned to music. I will always be infinitely grateful to Mexico for everything it gave me, and all the opportunities it offered. It was my springboard into the rest of the world, because from theater I moved on to television soap operas, and from soaps to film, and through film I came back to music. One never knows how destiny will rear its head, and sometimes it is not in the most obvious way. Thanks to the soap opera and the film, someone at Sony Music noticed me and offered me my first solo recording contract. Obviously, I was ecstatic. The idea of making a record that would be just mine, on which I could freely express myself as I wanted, was my dream come true.
    The Sony Music executive who offered me the deal handed me the contract and said: “Ricky, you have to sign this right away. If you don’t sign this document before I get on a plane to Madrid tonight, I’m getting fired.”
    I laughed inside, and said to myself: “What a son of a bitch.”
    It goes without saying that today I would have waited for my attorneys to review it. But because then I was an eighteen-year-old boy and all I wanted to do was sing, I closed my eyes, signed the contract, and said to myself: “Regardless of what may happen, I want to make this album, so what difference does it make?” All I wanted was to start recording as soon as possible. I was so excited about getting back into the music world that I didn’t care what the conditions were.
    It was a mistake—a huge mistake. That record executive—and he will surely recognize himself when he reads this—took advantage of my ignorance and gave me a deal that offered me something like one cent of royalties for every record sold. Robbery! Today I think about it and I have to laugh at how absurd it was. But aside from this minor contractual detail, the album was the start of something phenomenal for me—something that I had been preparing for my entire life. I’d known I wanted to be an artist since I was six years old, because when I took hold of that spoon and sang for my aunts and uncles, I felt in my soul that it was the right thing to do. All of the hard work and passion I had exerted was finally now starting to come to fruition, and music came back to my life powerfully and definitively.
    Of course, it would have been great if the Sony Music executive had appeared at the exact time I finished shooting the film. But such is life, and things never happen exactly when we want them to; things always seem to happen all at once! This can significantly complicate things, but I honestly believe that if we sit around waiting for opportunities to show up at the perfect moment, we’ll never get anywhere in life. Life is complex, and that is how we’ve got to face it. That’s how Ricky Martin , my first solo album, was recorded while I was still filming episodes of Alcanzar a una estrella II . I was working around the clock—but I was incredibly excited about everything that lay ahead. The day to day was challenging, but if I’d learned anything during my time in New York, it was that I could never lose sight of my big-picture goals. Thanks to the time I had given myself to think and rest, I was ready the day that destiny came knocking on my door. Deep inside I was finally sure of what I wanted to do: I wanted to be onstage.
    The album was released in 1991, shortly after I returned from my tour with Muñecos de Papel. It was a huge success. One of the singles that appeared on that album was “Fuego Contra Fuego” (“Fire versus Fire”), for which I received gold records in Mexico, Argentina, Puerto Rico, and the United States. Receiving an award (never mind many of them) is a very exciting accomplishment, but what I loved most about that record was that it gave me the chance to get back onstage and do a tour through Latin America, where once again I came face-to-face with my audience. I was performing live and watching my audience sing and dance along to my music. It