Mexican Singer Gloria Trevi Doesn't Want to Coast on Her Decades-Long Success

Gloria Trevi is in the lifetime-achievement-award phase of her career. The Mexican pop star has sold 30 million-plus albums in her three decades-plus in the music industry and is enjoying the adulation and respect that comes along with longevity.

In February, Premio Lo Nuestro awarded her the career-honoring Premio La Trayectoria. Acts nearly half her age like Karol G have publicly given Trevi her due. And a bio-series on her chaotic life is in the works.

The wife and mother could easily take her foot off the accelerator, coast on her name and the hits that made her a Latin music legend, including "Pelo Suelto," "Cinco Minutos," and "Todos Me Miran."

But where’s the fun in that?

“I don’t like living in the past,” Trevi, 53, tells New Times over Zoom. “I like to live in the present and future. But I respect colleagues that hang on to what they did in the past. The most important thing is to be happy with yourself.”

The future includes another tour for Trevi, who is one of the top-grossing female touring artists of the 21st century, according to Pollstar, as well as her 13th studio album. Trevi's follow-up to 2019’s Diosa de la Noche is scheduled to drop in 2022 and will be a fusion of genres. Expect to hear reggaeton, ballads, blues, and Caribbean rhythms. Featured artists will include Puerto Rican reggaetonero Guaynaa.

Trevi and Guaynaa recently collaborated on the single “Nos Volvimos Loco,” which they performed during last month’s Premios Juventud at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables. There’s a 25-year age gap between the two artists — not that you can tell from watching Trevi seductively prance around the video, which was filmed in Miami’s Design District.

“We have this crazy energy and chemistry,” Trevi says of the baby-faced Guaynaa. “I think we’re from the same planet, just from different times.”

It’s unclear who was more excited to work with who. Both Trevi and Guaynaa knew the duet would give them bragging rights with their respective families.

"When we were agreeing to do this over the phone, Guaynaa said, 'My mom, aunt, and grandma are going to go crazy when they find out.' And I said, 'My kids, their friends, and my nephews will go crazy when they find out I’m recording with Guaynaa.' It was cool because we’re uniting generations," Trevi says.
This isn’t Trevi’s first reggaeton collabo. She dipped into the popular genre when she dueted with Karol G on “Hijoepu*#” and Charly Black on “Me Lloras” on her most recent studio album. She says she loves the genre and works out to it while doing Zumba.

Trevi has constantly dipped her toes in different genres and successfully reinvented herself throughout her music career. But her next reinvention — one she has already given some thought to — might not be as music-focused.

Her dedication to causes such as homeless children, the LGBTQ+ community, and mothers who give birth in prison earned her the Premio Compromiso award at the Heat Latin Music Awards in the Dominican Republic in July. But she says she wants to dedicate even more of her time to charity work. She’d also like to direct a movie after already having directed several music videos.

And then there’s the Gloria Trevi bio series.

“People have been asking for a movie for years,” says Trevi, who has dismissed the 2014 movie about her life in past interviews. “I tell them it would be impossible to do in one movie. You would have to make it three parts like the Lord of the Rings series. The bio series genre is trendy right now and is a better medium to tell my story and clear things up.”

Trevi’s life story not only includes her rise from a Mexican girl band singer to international solo artist to music icon, but also her husband’s kidnapping, and, of course, the accusations that she and her former mentor corrupted and abused minors. Trevi served four years and eight months in prison before being acquitted in 2004 owing to lack of evidence.

The scandal would have killed most music careers, but Trevi rebounded and thrived once again in the industry. Why does she want to relive the scandal with a bio series rather than leave the past in the past?

“I left the past in the past in order to move forward,” Trevi responds. “I’ve been quiet, but this is an opportunity to tell my truth and talk about my errors. I love the girl that I was because it made me the woman I am now."