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With the sun scorching in the middle of this summer of San Miguel, David Bisbal waits in jeans and jacket in a room. A few meters away is the largest rooftop pool in the capital with a handful of bathers soaking in it. We are on the top floor of the Hotel Emperador in Madrid, a strategic point for the Almerian to arrive on time for the interview after a meeting with fans in the center.

He says he's up to work. He has joined the promotion of his new album, Me siento vivo, with the release of a documentary for his 20-year career and therecording of La Voz Kids. The question is inevitable: how do you reconcile everything by having young children?

"Rosanna and I organize ourselves very well, we are a team. Obviously my job takes up a lot of my time, but if I can't take them to school, I plan to pick them up. I'm always there," he says.

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There are two adjectives that I have not stopped hearing and reading every time his name came out: professional and machine. A curiosity without more but that defines well what the character is. First, because you have to have a job and know how to be to stay two decades on the front line earning the respect of the profession. Then, because you have to know the fashions and reinvent yourself to remain a pop icon as he is.

"Instagram, TikTok and all these platforms are always going to help raise awareness of your work. I like to adapt to everything and the truth is that I enjoy them, "he says before talking about the viralization of How are the machines? For me it has been very strong. It's something I've said all my life just as there are people who say crack, monster or pisha. I still can't believe it. But thanks to what has happened with the video and being in La Voz, which is seen by the little ones, there has been an important connection with the young audience, "he acknowledges. "I've also done TV shows that I've never considered before and had a lot of fun with, like La Resistencia. That has connected me very well with people," he adds.

In his new album he also seeks that union with the new generations. He has worked with producers such as Manuel Lara and Pablo Rouss -who are behind successes of Bad Bunny or Sebastián Yatra- or with Juan Pablo Villamil, one of the members of Morat. However, it does so without going crazy trying to fit into trends.

"I learn just as much from artists who are starting out as I do from older ones. What I have clear is that in the albums I like to make styles and genres that make the difference with the previous work. This one has a nineties sound, but there are funk rhythms and I also wanted to recover those great ballads that use the entire vocal range. Those songs are the hardest to sing but they are challenging," he says.

The artist David Bisbal.ANTONIO HEREDIAMUNDO

"I always defend making a record. It is something that must never die," he continues. "The single market we already know what it is. You present a song that you know will work for you at concerts or on radio stations, but the rest of the topics are extremely important. There you introduce yourself to your musician follower, the one who is a producer, the one who writes lyrics or is a fan of vocal techniques. They're going to focus on what maybe isn't in the singles," he says bluntly.

Bisbal is going for his eighth studio album and in 2022 he received a quadruple diamond disc for the sales of four million copies worldwide of his entire discography. Even so, he recognizes that for him the most important thing is still the direct.

"It's true that on an album you leave that voice for life, but for me a concert should be the number one goal. People don't want you to give them 50% or 70%, they ask for 100%, and for that there is a lot of responsibility and a lot of discipline. It's not just singing, it's also preparing yourself for sports by talking or getting enough rest," he says.

In a moment of reflection, he recognizes that the "internal and external" demands are increasing. "I don't know how long I'll be able to afford to defend my songs 100%. It's going to be a challenge for me because my themes are difficult and I want to keep them in their original version. In addition, you have more and more projects, you have to surprise, new artists come out, you have to reflect a commitment to your team and the record company ...".

He tells as an anecdote that one day his friend David Villa told him that to be at the same football level he had to be increasingly underweight. "I went to visit him in New York when he was in the US league and what he tells you makes you think. Right now we are vocal athletes, so to speak. There will come a time when physical preparation will be much more difficult. I am aware," he adds.

Another of his good friends, Alejandro Sanz, worried fans and non-fans last spring when he was vulnerable on Twitter with a message in which he acknowledged being "sad and tired" and even wrote: "Sometimes I don't even want to be. Literally."

"Obviously it's a very difficult profession and one in which you have a lot of pressure. But, I think that's where the personality of each artist comes in," Bisbal begins by answering the question about whether he has had any complicated mental bumps like Sanz. "I do not serve to be alone and when I have felt in a low moment I do not try to make people guess, but I quickly ask for a hug. I think it's important to say what happens to you and asking for a hug is a fantastic cure," he says.

In these days of unbridled activity in the Congress of Deputies, Bisbal acknowledges that he follows "every control session" although he does not usually comment on it. "I really like the politics of our country. I do not follow any specific medium because I like to draw my own conclusions and for that I watch the YouTube channel a lot. So I can hear what different leaders think," he says.

And, if it were a party and needed to agree, what would it ask for? "That they respect each other more and don't make fun of each other so much because people see that in the end. There's a lot of laughter in Congress. They are laughing continuously and it is a joking, mocking laugh. Obviously that has been the case throughout history, but it is intensifying more and more. It would be perfect if they said the same thing but respecting each other," he adds.

Returning to social networks, the Almerian reveals some data. "75% of my followers are women although it's catching up," she says. "I feel more and more that male audience. I think we [men] are shy when it comes to continuing, but a lot of guys write to me asking me about the vocal techniques I use or because they really like certain songs," he says.

At one point in his documentary, which premieres this October on Movistar +, Bisbal is with his team deciding the order of songs of the concert with which he will review his 20-year career. They point out that perhaps the best song to open is the first of great success, Corazón Latino, and he, not convinced, explains that he does not like to sing it because he does not feel that the lyrics go with him. Something quite logical if you take into account that he was a kid just out of a television program.

"I like to look at the past continuously, but I have my way of doing it," he says. "Obviously, I am what I am because of what I've been through, but I would also have loved to change some things. If I had the power to change for the better, obviously I would."

There is also room to talk about the future. "I am very clear that there will be people who like me and others who can't stand me. But I settle for knowing that I do things in the best possible way. I know perfection doesn't exist, but I like to treat everyone well. That the people who approach me feel empathy."

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