Ricky Martin has spent about four decades in entertainment, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at him. Not to say that he doesn’t have the kind of face that sells magazines or makes folks swoon. Quite the contrary. Martin has been doing all that since he first emerged on the scene in 1984 as one-fifth of Puerto Rican boy band Menudo. By the time his music crossed over to the U.S. market with the 1999 release of “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” he’d already been solo for eight years, a long-established Latin heartthrob.
And Martin, who just turned 50 this past December, still is. In June, when I sat down to chat with him, People en Español named him one of 50 más bellos (that’s most beautiful), and you know what — fair. If Martin is anything, it’s well-maintained. And as 2020 taught him, a crucial aspect of that includes slowing down, taking a breath, and looking around. “I started [to feel] this need to really get closer to wellness,” Martin tells Allure. “Sometimes you’re on the road and this speed of life makes you forget the importance of taking time for yourself when you’re in the bathroom in front of a mirror.”
It’s part of the reason why in July 2021, he signed on as an ambassador for Kumiko Skincare, a brand produced in Barcelona that, per the brand’s website, combines the power of Japanese matcha tea with European skin-care technology. The partnership is still going strong — as, apparently, are the effects of the products on his skin. If his face is any indication, they’re working. As we chat, he calls out several of the brand’s products as go-tos in his daily routine and cites the Matcha Perfect Skin Refiner and Matcha Sculpting Eye Lift as important tools in his skin-care arsenal.
But whether it’s mostly genetics, the tutelage of skilled medical professionals, a little alchemy, or all three, one thing is clear: Ricky Martin looks damn good, feels damn good, and is ready for his next chapter. On July 14, the singer made his return to music with a new album, aptly called Play. It’s an offering Martin describes as “very chill, very elegant.” Grown and sexy, if you will. It’s the result of decades of experience, cultivation, learning, and allowing himself to evolve.
We speak to Martin about his forthcoming musical efforts, his beauty routine, and his legacy.