December 4, 2005

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

A Christmas Wish List for Ricky Martin

After a long sabbatical, the Latin pop star has a new record and a new view of life.

By Melanie D.G. Kaplan

Ricky Martin, in a black T-shirt and with un-gelled hair, arrives for our Gift Guide cover shoot at One Source Studios in Miami two days before Hurricane Wilma. During the session, he falls in love with a pair of Paul Smith combat boots and laughs and jokes with the crew. Soon, he'll fly to Moscow to kick off his two-year tour, but today, he's so relaxed he's even giving his thumbs a break from his BlackBerry.

"For the last two weeks I haven't used it," he says later. "Normally, I'm a BlackBerry addict. On the road, they're great for checking e-mail and calling people. I call them CrackBerries." He's a perfect cover boy for our special issue, not only because he loves his gadgets, but because he's a Christmas Eve baby. He'll turn 34 this month.

Martin also keeps himself in model shape with capoeira training. "It's hard-core," he says, laughing. "You've got boxing, kickboxing, gymnastics and music. It's a complete martial art."

The capoeira bug bit Martin when he was in Brazil shooting a video. For a year after that, he trained at an academy in Miami for five hours a day. "It came down to, either I keep on training, or I release an album," he says. "I thought it made sense to start working on the album."

In the five years since his last English-language CD, "Sound Loaded," he has been on a sabbatical of sorts. He traveled for three years, backpacking in India, Egypt and Thailand with his iPod and a few T-shirts. He surfed, skydived, rode his motorcycle cross-country and generally put on the brakes from his "Livin' La Vida Loca" days.

With his new album of world music, "Life," Martin says he has evolved, but he's not ashamed of his bon-bon-shaking era: "It's part of my history. You look at Madonna and her "Like a Virgin" days, and it's part of her history. It's who I was at the moment."

"Life," which debuted in the Top 10 and includes the Scott Storch-produced hit "I Don't Care," reflects these changes. The album features instruments from around the world. Martin recorded sounds on the streets of Brazil and brought a chanting monk from Tibet to his studio. Even the music Martin plays on his iPod has changed: His favorite is Brazilian artist Suba.

The iPod is the one gadget Martin can't live without. For Christmas he'd like a Harley-Davidson Fat Boy (he has two other models). But spending the holiday at home in Puerto Rico will be the best gift: "We have Christmas carols, and after dinner, it's music and singing, sometimes until the sun comes up."

Photo by Gio Alma for USA WEEKEND 
T-shirt: Wardrobe Finds; scarf: Paul Smith, courtesy Neiman Marcus