The Spanish version ‘That’s my jam’, a great show presented and produced by Jimmy Fallon in the United States in which two couples of celebrities participate in tests and games around music and test their musical and vocal skills and knowledge
Arturo Valls lands this Monday on Movistar Plus+ with the Spanish version ‘That’s my jam’a great show presented and produced by Jimmy Fallon in the United States in which two celebrity couples participate in tests and games around music and test their musical and vocal skills and knowledge.
Amaia Romero, Rigoberta Bandini, Nathy Peluso and Paco Leon They are the first four brave people who dare to step onto the spectacular set of the program in which they will have to sing, whether they know it or not, undergo unconventional musical karaoke, mime tests while dancing, question and answer games (with wigs on ) or enter a fish tank where, if you sing badly or have a bad memory, you get wet… YOTELE speaks with Arturo Vals about the premiere of ‘That’s my jam: Spain’, among other matters.
You arrive on Movistar Plus+ with ‘That’s my jam: España’. How do you feel about the comparison of being told that you are ‘the Spanish Jimmy Fallon’?
He’s Jimmy Fallon and I’m ‘Jimmy Fallas’ (laughs). Man, he is a reference! He is a television guy and he has a way of working that I feel very similar to, with that positive energy, so empathetic, very smiling and a good roller everything… I have handled myself very well there. Besides, the guy is also a bit reticent. Look, the fact that they chose us to produce the program, because there were other big production companies behind the format, was because there was a Latin person in the production company there and he knew my work. And the fact that one of the executive producers was the presenter served as decisive information for us to make the program.
Until now you had only produced fiction. What has it been like for you to make the leap to producing entertainment with ‘That’s my jam: Spain’?
It’s true. It was because until now the format, nor the idea, had not emerged that motivated me to get into producing entertainment. It was like this, saying: “We are going to try to raise it and buy the rights.” I do not know why. I started with fiction because it was what motivated me at that time, but let’s say that the bug bit me there. It also has to do with why throughout my career entertainment has been more important. Producing entertainment made me lazier, I don’t know why, but now something has woken me up.
Were you able to travel to the United States to see the original version and exchange opinions with Jimmy Fallon and the rest of the producers of the North American ‘That’s my Jam’?
I couldn’t attend that trip, I don’t know what I was recording, or what trouble I was involved in, but my partners Jorge Pezzi and Bruna, the executive producer, were there. They were there exchanging opinions with the American team and, above all, learning because, we are not going to fool ourselves, they not only this format but also television and entertainment. So you always go there to learn how they produce, how they write and the way they work.
You were used to presenting, but now you are also a producer, a facet that entails a series of risks. Has it been difficult to make that leap?
But there is also something about taking advantage of the circumstances, the situation. You have the possibility of choosing and generating a format that you want to do, rather than waiting for the network to offer you the format and decide whether to do it or not. In this case it is betting on a format in which you know you are going to have a good time. So, I saw live music, guests who could mostly be friends, games, laughter… and you say: “I want to light the fuse for this,” or at least cause this to happen. The idea of getting into production addresses this, this illusion of being able to make a program that you like.
You said that you yourself have helped get some guests as a producer. What have they been? And which ones have put the most conditions on you?
Man, I can’t say… Most of them are colleagues, others not so much and there are others who have resisted me.
tell me a name
The king emeritus wanted to come… (laughter). For example, with Rosalía we talked for a long time. She knew the format and was excited about it, but then due to agendas, tours and such… she gave us a hard time and then she couldn’t be. It cost Bisbal. He asked: “But what is this? What do I have to do there? How are the machines?” (laughs). David and I are colleagues and we went out on bikes together, but it was hard for him because he was afraid of making a fool of himself. And that is until they have seen the first edition, which they have already told us that now there are record companies that ask us when the second edition is to take the artists…
They don’t come here to promote their album and such, but because they feel like it. Here what they sell is their character. Americans are very aware of this, but not here. Here either they come to sell the series or the album they just made, or they pass, and here what’s cool is to offer another profile, for people to say “I didn’t know this one was so nice.” Because this happened. You see Marta Sánchez and you say “Oysters, how horny!”. Or Nathy Peluso answering questions or improvising a song and singing ‘Fly me to the moon’ with the presenter.
Is there any guest that particularly surprised you?
Man, not because I expected it, but because I knew that he was capable of that and more, but what happened with Asier (Etxeandía) was incredible, it made my hair stand on end. I was surprised because it was a performance that we did not expect, because we knew that the guy had a very high level, but it was a very incredible thing, and it surprised me a lot.
Did you have a contract with Antenna 3? Has this moment coincided with you being allowed to do things outside of Atresmedia?
I have had a chain contract for a long time. When ‘Now I Fall’ ended, I separated myself contractually, although I still have a relationship with them because we are going to make ‘The 1% Club’. I still have a very good relationship, but I no longer have a network contract, and that allows me to produce or present for other networks, something that would have been impossible before. When I was in ‘Now I Fall’ I had exclusivity with them and I couldn’t do things outside of Antena 3.
Now that there is a renewal at Mediaset, have they called you? How many times have they called you in the last few years?
(Thinks) Yes… they have called me a few times, but the circumstances have not been met and I am not closed to anything either. Maybe they are not in the best moment and now they are in a trend that everything they release does not work. And yes, there have been some attempts to get him to present a program. But it has more to do with the format than with the chain.
Have you seen Lara Álvarez in ‘Me resbala’?
I thought you wouldn’t be able to ask that question (laughs). Yes, I have seen it, and quite well. She puts a lot of will into it.
Did Mediaset try to sign you so that you could continue leading the program?
Yes of course. They tried to get me to introduce him, but, at the time, I don’t know what I was doing that didn’t add up. I don’t know if he would have done it because some time has passed and it’s like going back to do something that I had already turned the page on. It’s a complicated format to deal with all those comedians. There Lara had a difficult bull because they are a complicated gang.
And why do you think that in Telecinco Hasn’t it worked?
Firstly, because sometimes formats, novelty and so on, and because of trends, wear out. Because now everything you release there, for whatever reason…
…It seems like he’s jinxed.
Yes, because now people are seeing something else.
Now there is a television phenomenon, that of the Mozos de Arousa in ‘Chain Reaction’, with contestants like Borjamina and Raúl, who have already been on ‘ Ahora Caigo ‘. Do you feel a little ‘father’ of that success?
No, because that has always existed. Contestants who repeat and who stay there like a family. The other day I saw him and said ‘Look, Borja, how cute.’ He is a professional, I also saw him in ‘The Floor’. It made me excited.
On television, before you woke up every day with ratings successes. How are you going to handle it now?
That’s relative. Numbers are numbers, but it always depends on who you had in front of you, how they counterprogrammed you…
But you killed them all…
No, no, what’s going on…
In theory, in Movistar Plus+ you will not have that. How are you going to carry out that assessment, which is going to be more about networks than audience consumption itself?
In theory with more peace of mind. You don’t have the dictatorship of the next day’s data, which is so visible. Because you said “if the network is at an average of 12 and I have done a 10, I have two news programs left…”. Now let’s say that they are motivated by other things: by the impact, by how it moves on networks and also for the data, for the viewers. Which now, by the way, can be seen from any operator on Movistar Plus+ (laughs). I’m calm.
In any case, over time one learns to relax with the audiences as well, because I remember at the beginning that you got up to look at the data. But then you learn that it doesn’t just depend on you. I remember one time, I don’t know what series we released, with all the work it took, the scripts, etc., and suddenly we made a bad tip, because in front of us was Paquirrín in a canoe arriving at an island and he made a great date. And there you say “it doesn’t depend on me!”. “My job as an actor or presenter has nothing to do if they give you a Paquirrín.” Then I understood that you don’t have to get so overwhelmed with the audiences, you have to try to do your job. I work well and that’s it.
‘Mask Singer’ is another of your formats and you will soon be recording again. How is this going?
These days I am already receiving costume tests, they are throwing things at me, preparations for the program and some new masks and new researchers.
Alaska and Ana Milan will be there…
Alaska? Damn, Alaska didn’t know that! (laughs). Oh really? So there are Ana Milan, Los Javis and Olvido. The presenter is there, right? (laughs).
You don’t leave this, even though other projects come, right?
This is very crazy, it’s very crazy. It’s just that being next to a shrimp, asking it questions… There is a mystery component that is very engaging.
Who is the famous person that surprised you the most when it was revealed?
Latoya Jackson, I called her Janet Jackson. That thing about having a Jackson around… It was amazing.
That’s what happened to you because you didn’t want to know who was underneath…
Clear. I said, “Janet Jackson.” And she answered a little angrily: “I’m Latoya! & Rdquor ;.
You have already recorded ‘The 1% Club’. How was the experience? What are we gonna see?
The truth is that there I found myself again in the tone of ‘Now I Fall’, although it is not so crazy, nor so free. I don’t have ten, but a hundred contestants and a bit of a whore, in quotes. The program has a lot of that. They are questions of logic and so on, but there is a lot of “But how did you answer that?”, “What were you thinking?”, “What do you do?” Lawyer? Well, don’t leave it!” (laughs). There is that vibe, that game, and it was what attracted me to encourage me to do it. That and it was filmed next to the house (laughs).