2023 Person of the Year by The Latin Recording Academy
Laura Pausini
By Cata Balzano
With more than 30 years as a singer, songwriter and producer, Laura Pausini is a pop music icon. Her career has made her a citizen of the world, crossing borders with hits in Italian, Spanish and English. And thanks to her charisma and unmistakable voice, she has won over audiences globally, especially in Latin America, where she has become the bestselling non-Hispanic female artist. Her music — known for captivating romantic and melancholy ballads — has served to entertain with relatable messages of love, love lost, joy, union and peace. The mark Pausini has left on Latin music and the success she has enjoyed in the industry have made her work an inspiration. Ever since her career took off back on Feb. 27, 1993, at the Sanremo Festival in Italy, where she performed “La soledad” — an iconic song that took her to multiple stages around the world — Pausini has sold more than 75 million albums, winning four Latin GRAMMYs, one GRAMMY and one Golden Globe. She also received an Oscar nomination for “Io sì (Seen),” the song she wrote with Diane Warren for the Netflix film La vita davanti a sé (The Life Ahead).
Beyond her ever-growing professional achievements, Pausini, 49, is also a mom, and she stands out for her commitment to humanitarian causes. She has channeled her goodwill and fame to support disadvantaged groups, including combating domestic violence and her consistent service to the LGBTQIA+ community. Her active participation in numerous fundraising events makes her a star who uses the power of her position to lift voices and help those who need it the most. With her dedication to her music and on behalf of vulnerable groups, Pausini can now celebrate her three-decade career and being named the 2023 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year, the third woman to be recognized by The Latin Academy.
This has been a fantastic year for you. What came to mind when you were told that you would be the 2023 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year?
I must admit that I cried tears of emotion, full of happiness and pride. The first thing that came to mind was whether it was even possible, because I wasn’t born in Spain or Latin America, and I never thought it would be possible for an Italian to receive the recognition. When they told me I had been adopted by the Latinos, those words really affected me because I’ve always thought that. Since 1994, when I started traveling around Spain, Mexico and throughout Latin America, the connection I developed and have today with the entire Latin world is as if I actually had been born there.
You are the first Italian and also the third woman in the history of The Latin Academy to receive this award. What does that mean to you?
Today, the image of the woman and its meaning are an important issue across all media. When I started my career in 1993, with all the promotion that I was doing elsewhere in Europe, there weren’t many women who were also promoting their work. I remember that I often ran into Celine Dion on TV shows, but it was mostly men. So when they named me Person of the Year, I looked up the list of all previous honorees and said “Wow, I’m the third woman?” It’s beautiful, and a great source of pride. I hope that means there will be many more women, especially because in recent decades a lot of interesting women artists have come to prominence, singer/songwriters I admire greatly and that maybe we can honor someday.
The last time we spoke, you told me that your childhood dream was to sing in a piano bar, and now look at your career development versus that dream.
I believe in God and in destiny, and I think he has chosen people in the world and given them a mission. Sometimes I’m not sure I’m doing my mission well, because you shouldn’t validate yourself that way, based only on prizes and awards, but rather by giving importance to the impact you have with other people. I may have been the biggest dreamer in my hometown. I have always had a lot of dreams, and music was the biggest one, but it was the most difficult one, and I don’t know why \[achieving it\] happened. That’s why I think that after 30 years \[of work\], I don’t feel that I’ve reached any particular goal. I don’t want to have reached all my goals in a 30-year career and feel that my life is over. I think I have built some things, but I’m also very curious to see what else is coming down the road.
Let’s talk about the song that changed your whole life and career: “La soledad.” What comes to mind when you think of the Laura from back then, who had no clue about what her life was going to become?
I see a lot of things that are similar about me \[today\] that I also had back then, such as stubbornness and determination. But I remember the naïveté. I never imagined all this would happen to me. I remember that naïveté and innocence with nostalgia, because sometimes not knowing anything in music allows you to be completely authentic, and back then, what people saw of me was undoubtedly a hundred percent the true version of who I was as a person. Like everyone in the world when they grow up, I’ve had to get tougher. I have made a shield. I love being a fighter. I wish the shield weren’t necessary, but sometimes I need it. Even so, I’m still the same person. The thing is, at 18, I was still a child.
Another key moment for you came in 1994, the year you realized what incredible potential you had as an artist in the Spanish-language music industry after your self-titled album hit No. 1 in Spain.
My first trip to Spain … I remember very well that it was the president of Warner himself who made me record the album. He told me, “Let’s see if the people who watch you on TV hear your voice and the song “La soledad” and like it.” When I got there, people already knew me, and it was strange for me to see that. I don’t think that could happen now because of the internet, but back then it wasn’t easy to know if the people who listened to my music in Europe and in Italian actually recognized my face. I had no idea \[that it could happen at all\], much less in Spain or Latin America. It was incredible for me from the first day, and I felt like I was at home. In Spain and Latin America, I feel like an adopted daughter, and when I don’t visit for a long time, I feel an emptiness, like something is lacking.
I saw you on Instagram at a Coldplay concert with your daughter Paola, and it was very emotional. What artists and musicians had an impact on you when you were little?
Obviously, Latin music has always been present at every moment of my life. Gloria Estefan was my biggest influence, and so I’m also excited to be named Person of the Year and join her as one of the women who have been recognized. I think it was thanks to her that I started singing in Spanish. And when I was a teenager, I think I had a Luis Miguel poster. He had sung in Italian, and I was excited. My father bought me some of his albums in Spanish; I learned a lot of words from them. Miguel Bosé, too. Miguel was named Person of the Year in 2013, and I was thrilled, because I was part of the group of artists who sang for him that night.
You have always been very conscious of the struggles of marginalized people and groups, such as the LGBTQIA+ community, and you have used your voice to help make them heard over the years. What feeds your passion for helping people?
I’ve said before that when I write the words to my songs, they’re not just dedicated to heterosexual people. When you talk about love, you talk about your own experiences and about what you love, but songs don’t have flags. When I began my career, the media found it strange that back then the girl from “La soledad” — so timid, so tender — would be talking about that. And yes, some people started saying that it was going too far, but I didn’t care. I want to protect and defend. I’m not the least bit afraid to be a fighter and to speak out, and I also teach that to my daughter. They are human rights and they should be the same for everyone, because we are human beings and we all have to have the same rights. As a child I learned a lot about protection, I learned that we need to protect each other, take care of each other. That’s why I get involved frequently and always try to see and confirm that what I’m doing is something that gets results. I stay very involved in the helping process, and it’s not just about giving money but also seeing that it’s really making a change.
You also shared fragments of your life in an Amazon documentary film, Un placer conocerte, but what would you like the world to know about Laura Pausini, beyond all these professional achievements?
I enjoyed doing it because it’s as if I had lived what I thought my life was going to be if the success at Sanremo hadn’t happened, which was working in a piano bar. The docuseries shows and tells bits about me and what I would have done if I hadn’t become famous. Actually, I don’t remember what my life was like without fame, and I feel that I’m more deserving of this luck that I’ve had if I continue to be transparent and share realities about my life. What I would like a lot more is for people who have known me through my music to know and say that, throughout my life, I have been sincere and transparent, and have never disrespected \[my followers\].
The Person of the Year ceremony includes a tribute concert. Is there anyone in particular you would like to see singing your songs?
The first person I’m going to mention is my brother Alejandro Sanz. I think I need to celebrate with him. He needs to sit down \[with me\] and raise a glass. I owe him a lot, and I love him a lot. I would love for Shakira, Vanesa Martín, Kany García to sing. I love Mon Laferte, Luis Fonsi. I would like to see Olivia Rodrigo and, of course, Ricky Martin. Ricky was the first famous person I met on my first trip to Latin America, and we used to talk all the time.
You’ve started a new phase in your career, and you’ve just launched your 13th studio album, Almas Paralelas. What stories does Laura Pausini want to tell now?
You’ve used the right word: “stories.” It is about that. It’s the first time I’ve worked so many years on a single project. Normally I’m very instinctive, and this time, with everything I’ve experienced, I felt I had a bigger responsibility. I see that the world goes on, life goes on, and I say, “But, I mean, I’ve experienced so much! And what can I do to not feel so small facing what’s coming now? After being named Person of the Year, I’m asking myself: “Do I deserve it?” I always ask myself if I deserve it, and what I can do to deserve it. In 30 years, I have made so many songs, but I haven’t changed who I am. Ultimately, my roots are the same. My tree definitely has more branches now, with lots of leaves, but new leaves continue sprouting from the roots. That means they’re strong, and that over the course of this adventure, they weren’t wrong.
