ET spoke with Iglesias and Ricky Martin about their upcoming tour, pre-show rituals and bringing family on the road.
Enrique Iglesias isn't going anywhere.
The Spanish singer shocked fans earlier this month when he announced that his upcoming albums would be his last. Iglesias, 46, however, took a moment to clarify that he's "not retiring" and won't stop making music.
"It's important for me to say that I'm not retiring, it's just my final album," Iglesias told ET's Matt Cohen while promoting his and Ricky Martin's upcoming joint tour. "That doesn't mean I'm gonna stop touring, that doesn't mean I'm gonna go somewhere and crawl into a cave and disappear."
"Maybe you can throw a single once in a while," Martin quipped with Iglesias adding, "Exactly exactly. Maybe I can come up with my own clothing line, maybe I open up a restaurant, maybe, I don't know."
Last week, Iglesias released Final Vol. 1. The second part of the project, Final Vol. 2, will be released at a later time.
"Final. Yes the title says it all. I've been wanting to do this project for quite awhile since 2017. I just feel like I'm in that place in my career where I just felt that it was necessary and I always wanted to have an album called Final," he explained. "And during the past year and a half, I've been able to write a lot of songs, which is why there's Final Vol 1. and Final Vol. 2. But that's really it for me when it comes on two albums. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing songs, and I can't put out singles, but this is it."
As for fans hoping for a joint album between Iglesias and Martin, the "Livin' La Vida Loca" crooner added, "This is final but I can pull him to my next album or something like that!"
"But listen, when I heard about it, I was like [gasps] What?! Did you just say that?" Martin recalled, adding that he's not stopping anytime soon. "I am just crazy. I can retire but I'm really hungry. I'm really hungry for this. My vice is the stage, I love being in front of the audience. I'm sure that at a certain moment I will say it's over. But I don't know yet. But trust me, when I heard his news it got me thinking. It got me thinking a lot."
Meanwhile, the two can't be more ready for their upcoming tour, which kicks off Sept. 25 in Las Vegas. After a difficult year for many amid the pandemic, the two superstars want to bring people together and show them a good time.
"It's been a rough year but it's incredible that we're here," Iglesias expressed. "We're keeping our tour as safe as possible, everybody's vaccinated, we're doing as much testing as possible and we feel blessed that we're actually doing this tour. I think people want to get out, want to enjoy, they want to be entertained. We needed to go back on stage. This is our home."
"I needed it," Martin added. "I needed it. It will get wild, we'll get wild on stage, for sure. It feels like I'm closing a cycle and opening a new one and I have to celebrate everyone that is putting together the show. It's a big production because that's how we want it. They open the cages and let's go out, let's perform, let's have a good time, let's celebrate what we've done. We've been doing this for a while and people are happy that we're doing this. So it's gonna be fun."
After decades in the industry, the two felt this was the "right time" to unite and hit the road. However, some of their family members will have to stay behind.
"I have four kids. The twins, the big ones, are vaccinated so they are coming with me. But the babies are babies," Martin said of his family. "It's a bit complicated so my husband [Jwan Yosef] will stay at home. And maybe grandma will come and take care of them so my husband can come and see the show once. He goes, 'When am I going to be able to see the show?' But obviously we can't bring the babies."
The two noted that there's "good nerves" as they embark on their tour, sharing that meditation and silence helps them prepare to go on stage.
"What I do is I try to spend time in silence. At least this is what's been happening since we started rehearsing," Martin shared. "Meditating a little bit, calibrating, balancing the anxiety that we feel with all this. I would say silence for me is very important before the show. And then warm up, stretch and have some time with the band members. They are like family and just maybe pray a little bit and just go up."
Iglesias added with a laugh, "I do the same thing, but with a little bit of vodka. Exactly the same thing."
"I always think to myself, 'Imagine this is the last show.' People paid a lot of money to see this show, we gotta put on a great show and that energy if it's not there, people know it," he continued. "You can't fool people. So you want to make sure that the show is spectacular and that you're in a good place."
But expect a diverse, fun and wild show from Iglesias and Martin. Sebastián Yatra also joins them as the opening act.
"I think people are gonna get a show where they're gonna be like, 'Oh, woah, that song or that song or Spanish, English,'" Iglesias teased. "So many different rhythms and just different when it comes down to our influence. Musically, it's gonna be pretty cool. It's gonna be awesome!"
Enrique Iglesias & Ricky Martin Live In Concert kicks off Sept. 25 in Las Vegas. Iglesias' new album, Final Vol. 1, is out now.
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