How To: Be Enrique Iglesias in America

It’s insane how she tames

She can turn you to an animal

–          Dirty Dancer

Just over one week ago, Enrique Iglesias released the music video for his new song, “Dirty Dancer.” Take one listen and it is readily apparent that this song, like Iglesias’ past two singles, is destined for chart-topping radio greatness. With their danceable, chest-thrumming grooves, prominent synth and percussion, and catchy melodies, Iglesias’ most recent American singles, including “I Like It” and “Tonight (I’m Lovin’ You),” deliver in all the right ways.

However, the music video for “Dirty Dancer” bears an uncanny resemblance to the videos for his past two singles, relying heavily on eroticism to completely transfix the audience for four minutes. This trend began with Iglesias’ video for “Push” in 2007, which, though it never received airtime, is a favorite among the artist’s most devoted American admirers. The four music videos do not have every trending motif in common, but exhibit enough commonality to one another, as well as a perceptible dissimilarity to internationally popular videos, to merit careful consideration. These days, Iglesias is only trying one approach to the American public, and it is working.

Whether their bias is due to Iglesias’ distracting good looks or classic American egotism, most Americans are unwilling to accept that they can be won over in such a Pavlovian manner. They might cite that Iglesias has never made such a futuristic video before, or that scantily clad ladies are categorically crucial for a song called “Dirty Dancer,” but these protestations clumsily circumvent the bottom line: the video’s trappings may be updated, with holographic dancers and fancy, sci-fi special effects, but the formula remains the same.

Here are the six steps to the success of an Enrique Iglesias music video in America.

1. Feature a successful rapper or R&B artist (Lil Wayne was not pictured in “Push,” but he did contribute).
2. Have an orgy. The orgy may be replaced with a dance party, but only if it has an unrealistic guy-to-girl ratio.
3. Have exotic dancers…
4. …And watch them with your head slightly tilted.
5. Fulfill a stereotypical male sexual fantasy. Here, anything can happen. Women are now fantastically flexible. Your two girlfriends don’t mind each other, and prove it to you by making out. Girls have pillow fights for fun—in lingerie, no less (and no more). Film a sexual encounter; your friends don’t mind!
6. Last but not least, charm the audience with a boyish yet knee-weakening sexy stare. Smolder.

Overwhelmed yet? The exaggeratedly sexual overtones of his successful American videos make Iglesias seem like a perverted roué in America, though he is rightfully perceived as a romantic, sensitive artist abroad. Why the duality?

The visual licentiousness that characterizes his American music videos is not essential to his international chart-toppers. In fact, the music videos for most of his internationally successful songs are romantic and fairly wholesome. The diversity of his music video portfolio readily demonstrates his versatility and the depth of his talent. “Hero” and “Be With You,” both sentimental songs, peaked on American charts at No. 3 and No. 1, respectively, a full decade ago. Since then, Iglesias sank into the musical background until the past year. It seems that very recently, something clicked for Iglesias and his producers. They discovered what they needed to crank out sexy, America-approved dance tunes quickly enough to revitalize Iglesias’ career in the US was sex, and lots of it.

All of this is not to say that Iglesias has sold out. Rather, he has found the key to success in America: sell sex, and you will go far. Iglesias and his producers realized that in order to gain the love of the capricious American public, all they had to do was pump steamy images into its televisions. Iglesias’ more tender songs would never survive in America. They would bounce off the sensationalist, oversexed American public. Americans limit Iglesias’ music videos, not Iglesias himself.