Manuel Turizo found a place on our collective playlists with uptempo pop laced with traces of urban beats and romantic yet never sappy lyrics. Turizo was just 16 years old when he released the sweet, lilting “Una Lady Como Tu.” Four years, two top 10s on Hot Latin Songs (including recent “La Nota,” which peaked at No. 5) and 19 million Spotify monthly listeners later, Turizo’s music has significantly evolved.
Dopamina, his sophomore album, veers from romance to more hardcore reggaetón to island beats, and features high-profile collaborations with the likes of Maluma, Farruko, Rauw Alejandro, Dalex, Wisin and Yandel and will.I.am. “As artists, we don’t have to stay in the same creative place,” says Turizo. “I’m a singer and a writer. I’m not boxed into a specific genre.” Turizo, who turns 21 years old April 12, answered 20 Questions for Billboard.
1. Dopamina is an interesting album title. Why did you choose that?
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter of emotions and feelings. People often think it’s only good feelings or emotions, but that’s not the case. When you’re very angry, you release dopamine. When you’re happy, you do as well. I feel music is dopamine. That’s why I gave the album that title; some songs release dopamine due to happiness, rage, love, sexuality.
2. Give me an example of a happy and an angry dopamine song in this album:
“Te Falló” [“He Failed You”] is angry dopamine. And good dopamine, there’s two: “Antes que te vayas [Before You Leave],” and “Quiéreme Como Se Pueda [Love Me As You Can}.”
3. Are you in love?
Yes. And being in love makes me produce dopamine.
4. You look very fit. What’s your routine?
I’ve been very good. I was a chubby kid and that made me very self-conscious. When I was 11, 12, I weighed 80 kilos. But I got in shape, eating healthy, going to the gym, and I developed healthy habits. It’s not just about looks but about health. I always do a few hours of cardio a day, and I lift three to four times a week. In terms of eating, I have to eat five times a day, a mix of carbs and protein. I weigh all my food.
5. How do you eat healthy when you’re in promo?
I always bring my little green lunchbox.
6. What do you eat on your days off?
I love hamburgers! And when I’m in Colombia, I eat hot dogs from street vendors. They’re the best. And this soup from the Colombian coast called mote, that’s served with lots of white cheese.
7. What is the emblematic song of this album?
I truly love all of them. But given the times we’re living, “Quiéreme mientras se pueda” truly alludes to the crisis we lived in 2020.
8. What did you learn during quarantine?
To cook a little better. My girlfriend is a great cook as well. Quarantine made me very conscious about eating properly. I also wrote a lot of songs. And I learned how to relax. I tend to be very anxious, so I learned how to breath.
9. Favorite series you recently binge-watched?
I just finished Who Killed Sarah. It’s one of these made in Spain series that keeps you hanging ’til the very end.
10. What person first believed in your musical talent?
My brother, Julián Turizo. He was the first. And my mom. I’ve loved to sing ever since I was a Little boy. And I developed self-assurance because they would always say, ‘That’s great! Keep it up!’ They were very supportive in my home. But Julián was the first to say, “Yes, take that route.” You always need one voice to tell you if you’re on the right or the wrong path.
11. A before and after in your career?
Before “Una Lady como tú” I was a normal 11th grader. After that song, I was no longer playing at being a musician. And I hope Dopamina is also a before and after.
12. First concert you went to?
Carlos Vives with Adriana Lucia. I remember very clearly. I was around seven years old. Small, chubby, I had on a long t-shirt and I managed to go up to the very edge of the stage, and I grabbed it and watched the entire show.
13. What did your parents do when you were younger?
My mom drove a small school bus and took children to school. And my dad studied business administration for farms and administered other peoples’ cattle business. He’s now the president of a frozen products company. I inherited his addiction to work. He says he’s going to work until his body can’t take it anymore.
14. What was the first gift you bought your mother with money earned from music?
I bought her an apartment in Medellín. Her home, before I bought my own.
15. Concert you’d like to see by any artist, dead or alive?
Michael Jackson. Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, Chris Brown. And I already saw Romeo Santos, when I was 15 in Medellín. Best concert I’ve ever seen.
16. If you could have dinner with any person, dead or alive, who would it be?
My maternal grandmother. I never met her. And Michael Jordan.
17. What song makes you cry?
A song that will come out in my next album, that talks about how we have so many material things, but they’re not important. It’s a song that remembers the times we, as singers, aren’t able to spend with our friends and families. We don’t belong anywhere. It applies not only to singers, but to those of us who are addicted to working.
18. Tell us something about yourself that would surprise us?
I hardly use my cell phone. I rarely look at my calls and rarely reply. Not even my social media!
19. What do you spend too much money on?
Clothing. Shoes. Trips.
20. What advice would you give your younger self?
Trust yourself. Don’t think it over so much.
