Legendary salsero Marc Anthony has reached a point in his decades-long career where he’s created his own opus, a.k.a. his 2019 album of the same name (stylized as OPUS). Now, the 51-year-old is letting fans in on how his entire project came to be in a new YouTube series. The 10-episode YouTube vlog premiered Thursday night with its first episode, titled “OPUS Recording Sessions. Episode 1 – Lo Que Te Di.” And as expected, Anthony gives us a rare glimpse into the recording process for this fan-favorite track.
In the episode, which you can view below, Anthony starts off in a frenzy over his songwriting process. “We have to come up with something out of nothing,” he explains. “But it’s almost like a sculptor, right? He takes a block of marble, and I don’t remember who said it, but he said, ‘No, the piece is in there. It’s in there. I just have to take away what doesn’t belong.’”
A montage of Anthony’s instrumentalists starts to take over just as the salsero continues to muse. “It’s there. I just have to chisel away what’s hiding. It’s there,” he says. But even for someone who’s been in the game for ages, Anthony admits how difficult this can be. “It’s the most beautiful, uncomfortable thing I’ve ever f*cking felt in my life. But I’m feeling it more profoundly now because I’m sca—” he cuts himself off. “Not scared — I understand the repercussions of a song that’s gonna be around for the next 20 years. Like, I get it now.” Spoken like someone who just took home his third Grammy for OPUS.
Anthony’s YouTube series coincides with his OPUS Winter Tour, which kicked off at Madison Square Garden in New York City on February 13. He’s also set to visit New Jersey, North Carolina and Washington, D.C. throughout the month.