“Eurovision does not attract my attention; I would only go if there was a healthier environment”

2023-08-30 22:31:00

The music in Castrelos lowers the curtain for this summer. With the memory of his first concert in the city at the Sala Másterclub ten years ago, Francisco Javier Álvarez Beret (Seville, 1996) makes his debut on the main stage of the city to put the finishing touch on the program “Vigo in Festivities”. After two postponements due to “external” causes, the artist is excited about this responsibility.

He commented that this year he was not going to do as many concertsbut bigger quotes.

Yes, the truth is that I’m doing fewer concerts, but many bigger ones. That is why I have been in places where more people can enter. The summer has been slower by necessity also a bit. I’ve been touring non-stop for 10 years now and I needed at least a quieter year. But even if there are fewer concerts, they have been more intense. In 2024 we have it packed with a lot of dates with fewer people and I am very happy.

In addition, this will be the last appointment until the end of the tour at the Wizink in Madrid in November. How do you face it after being postponed twice?

I can tell you without exaggeration, that it is the concert where more people have spoken to me on social networks that is waiting for me in my life. I was talking another day with my family, and I don’t know what happens in Vigo, the people are super intense.

He was already a regular at Galician festivals but a big stage like this was missing in Vigo, putting the finishing touch on a poster shared with bisbal, Bad Gyal o Guetta. How will the show be?

It is completely an illusion, because there are also so many people who have been following me for so long that I am calm. I really believe that they are going to leave with a very good feeling, because I sing new and old songs, they are going to come to jump, to laugh, to cry. The one who is a fan is going to leave with a good feeling and the one who is not is also going to have a good time, because it is a very busy concert. I go with that calm and I think that in Vigo it will be the same.

your countrywoman Ana Mena recognized that he knew the scene from others artists y social networks and that playing there was a dream. Have you seen what the auditorium is like?

Yes Yes. I have a colleague there in Vigo that when he saw that he sang in Castrelos he failed to make me a PDF to show me what Castrelos was. And I freaked out, I freaked out with madness. It was an illusion, it was beautiful and cool, but when I saw the amount of people and the madness of people, I said, wow, what a blast. But good, very good. The truth is that I am excited.

His latest work “Resilience” has been very special on a personal level. Is there a job behind the scenes to be able to capture what happens to you in your lyrics and in the live performances?

Yes of course. For us live the only thing we leave the same is the emotion that song transmits. We try to give a version so that it is not directly how it is heard on digital platforms, but I try to do a little of everything. Between the old and the new, mythical songs of mine, which cannot be missing. We play a game with the public, we try to make very different concepts between songs that are more melancholic and have more energy. I think that there really isn’t a moment of respite in my concert, and what I’m telling you, whoever is a true fan and has listened to me for years, the truth is that he is going to leave with a very good feeling.

Is there so much difference between the studio, a room or a stage?

What I always try is to start a family, regardless of the number of people there are and create an intimate feeling. Above all, give that feeling of live music, not that you can play considerably how it sounds on the internet. A band with drums, with pianists, with guitars, with backup singers, lighting technicians that will really make you see something that has not been seen on the digital platform.

With 28 years but more than five years in the first line of the music scene in Spanish. What future plans do you have?

Right now I have about 12 songs done, I have to see myself to see how I get them out. I have many songs there, but little agenda. Return to Latin America and increase my dates in the United States. As I told you, also in 2024 I will do many more dates than Spain. Carry on a bit as usual, increasing that family a bit but trying to go more to places that I haven’t been to yet.

His name has sounded in several “pre-lists” of the Benidorm Fest and there are already established artists who have chosen to present themselves as Rayden, Tanxugueiras or Rigoberta Bandini. Can you imagine yourself in it?

The truth is that Eurovision does not attract my attention at all. It seems to me that people are very critical. I would only go if there was a healthier environment. The truth, honestly, because it is normal for the Benidorm Fest to arrive and for Twitter to be filled with hatred and hate for the music, for the live artists, when really the musicians are going to make people enjoy themselves. And it’s not something positive, I would go, but it seems to me that many things have to change to make me want to go to a place with that exposure.