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Seducción
Jennifer Peña
seduces us with her music and sensuality.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Jim Creighton
There’s more than one reason to be a fan of Jennifer Peña. Yes, there’s her sex appeal, her beautiful voice, and her charisma. But we particularly admire Jennifer’s ability to push the envelope by experimenting with her talents. This creative spirit has made her into one of the most successful artists of the Latin music world. With her latest release, Seducción, Jennifer ventures into new musical territory. With Open Your Eyes, her experimental nature resulted in perhaps the spiciest photo shoot Jennifer has ever done. Either way, we think you’ll agree experimentation can be a wonderful thing.
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FEATURING AN EIGHT-PAGE STORY ON JENNIFER
Your new album
is called Seducción. Why did you choose this name?
I like to think of the CD itself as actually being a musical seduction.
If I am going to seduce people, I want to seduce with my voice, my talent,
and the music—the songs that I pick for the album. All the songs
are romantic. They are all about love. I
think Seducción is my best work yet. It was also a big risk, because
I wanted to try different styles and experiment with the music a lot.
In Libre it was pretty much just regional Mexican cumbias and pop ballads.
In this one I also have up-tempo pop. I have hip-hop. I have ballenato,
salsa…There’s always a risk that people aren’t going to
accept it. But I think evolution is good, and I think this is definitely
an evolution for me. I’m really excited that everybody is enjoying
it.
Speaking of seduction,
do you think it’s better to be the seducer or the seducee?
I think the seducer, especially when it comes down to the way I want
to seduce. I mean I love music, and I’m seduced by so many people’s
voices and albums and music—everything like that. But it feels so
much better and it feels more of an accomplishment to know that I’m
seducing people with my voice and talent.
What are your personal
seduction tactics?
[laughs] Oh, I don’t know…I sing with all my heart on stage.
I chose the best songs that I thought I could pick for this album, and
I hope that that’s enough. I think it’s so much better to seduce
without trying to seduce.
You were a little
hesitant to put on some of the sexy outfits we picked out for your photo
shoot. Wouldn’t showcasing your sexy body just increase the number
of fans you have?
I just don’t want people to get the wrong idea. If I’m going
to get people’s attention through my sex appeal, I want them to know
I can back it up with my talent and my music. With magazines I am kind
of more hesitant, because I don’t want them to think, Oh my God.
She’s just willing to show whatever she can show to get us to go
buy her album. I do want that. I do want them to go buy my album, but
I don’t want them to do it because they think I have a hot bod. I
want them to do it because they think I can sing.
Well we can certainly
respect that. So what do we tell all of the Open Your Eyes readers who
write in demanding more skin?
I feel comfortable with my body. I think I show a pretty good amount
of skin, because I like to show a pretty good amount of skin. But I like
to do it with good taste, and sometimes I have to be comfortable. It’s
all about my comfort level. I know a lot of people want to see more skin.
But if I’m not comfortable, I don’t think they’ll like
the pictures, because I won’t have a good look on my face.
How do you unwind
after a long day of work?
I sleep. It’s hard to catch up with the sleep thing. I kind of
have two different schedules. My gigs are at night and my interviews start
at five in the morning. So when I’m not working, I’m sleeping.
Otherwise I’ll pass the time with my family and my pets.
You seem like a
very fan-friendly celebrity. How much of your fan mail do you read?
I actually read it all. When I have an opportunity, I actually take
a day to sit down and read all my letters. It’s impossible to find
the time to write each person back, and I feel kind of bad…There
was a time that I used to write every single person back, and it just
became impossible. Every person would write back, and I just felt the
obligation to write back again. It would take hours and hours to write
even just a line to each person. Even though I no longer write back to
everyone, their letters mean a lot to me. Reading their messages definitely
gives me an extra boost to keep going and keep giving my all.
What is the silliest
fan letter you’ve gotten?
I’ve gotten plenty of letters that say “Marry me.”
But I can’t say it’s silly because I wrote a letter like that
to Enrique Iglesias.
Sounds like you
have a lot of Jennifer Peña groupies out there.
I really don’t call them groupies at all because the people that
everybody else calls my groupies have actually been people that have supported
me from the day that I started my career. They are not groupies because
they have seriously formed a relationship with me. They share their important
events with me, and of course I share the important events with them about
my career. So the people that follow me around are people that I really
do consider really good friends.
So what is this
typical groupie…excuse me…fan like?
A typical fan of mine is probably somebody that has supported me for
at least five years. And I have a lot of these fans. It’s somebody
who spends their days on the Internet looking for information, pictures,
anything they can, about Jennifer Peña. You know, people that drive
hours and hours out of state to see me. People that constantly send me
e-mails, cards and letters. Of course they know every detail about everything
I do, every single day of my life. So if they hear something special they’re
sending me something just to say, “I love you,” or to say, “Congratulations
on your interview with OYE.”
Wow, not even my
mom cares about me that much. So on a different note, did you always dream
of growing up to become a famous singer?
I’ve always loved music. Since I was a little girl, I was always
singing in front of cameras. When I was five, I saw the movie Beaches
and was really inspired by the little girl in the movie. Soon after that,
my sister and I decided to enter a local beauty pageant. We needed a talent,
so I just learned that song from the movie. I sang it a cappella, with
no music. Really what inspired me to keep going was the way it felt to
hear people clap for me after I sang that song. I thought, Hey, this is
really cool. I really liked the feeling and I knew I wanted to do it forever.
What is your biggest
musical inspiration?
Inspiration for me comes from seeing artists perfect their craft,
from seeing artists grow as singers. And my dreams are really what inspire
me—the dream of one day writing my own songs and producing and being
involved in any way that I can. That really inspires me. My fans also
really inspire me to keep going and try to give the best of me, to try
to learn more about everything, so that I can be more prepared and more
intelligent for them.
Do you ever see
your career taking a drastically different direction?
I am really happy with the direction that it’s going in. I pretty
much just leave everything in God’s hands. As far as my career drastically
changing, if it does, I hope it’s for the better. I don’t think
it would change drastically. I am happy to be at the level that I am.
I know that I lack a whole lot more. And I think once I perfect my art
and learn more, then my career will be better. But it won’t change
drastically.
Are you involved in any Latino community type of organizations?
At the moment I’ve been really focused on this album, but I have
done plenty of things. I got involved in a movement to fight hepatitis
in the Latin community. I went on a five-city tour to spread the word
about the importance of vaccinations and things like that.
What advice do you have for Latino men?
Treat your women like princesses. Value the people that you have around
you. Thank God for all the blessings that you’re given every day.
You just have to look for the good in everything. We need more love in
this world. To see a man who’s truly in love is just the best thing
in the world. To see a man who respects a woman and treats a woman like
a goddess is what I think this world needs more of.
OPEN YOUR EYES
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