Interview Conducted

ANTONIO LOPEZ — BETWEEN FASHION, MUSIC AND DREAMS

by Guillaume Jean Lefebvre

For Antonio Lopez, creativity has always been closely connected to movement. Born in Valencia to an Andalusian mother and a Valencian family background, he grew up surrounded by different cultures and people. His father was a professional football player, while his mother worked as an artist manager, meaning that travel was part of his childhood. Long before his own career took him around the world, Lopez was already experiencing different cities, environments and ways of life through his family.

At 16, that international life became his own. He began working as an international model, traveling between cities including Milan, London, New York and Paris. His early career quickly brought him into the fashion industry, with runway work in Milan and New York, advertising campaigns for Dolce & Gabbana and Benetton, and fashion shows for Tele5 Italy.

Yet fashion was only one part of his creative identity.

From childhood, Lopez had been writing down his emotions and feelings in the form of songs and poems. What began as private expressions gradually became music. He recorded his early attempts on cassette tapes, teaching himself to play the keyboard and developing his sound independently. His musical journey eventually took an unexpected turn when a television producer discovered his work and offered him the opportunity to record some of his songs.

Television would become another defining chapter. One of the moments Lopez remembers most clearly is working for three consecutive months on an afternoon magazine programme on Telecinco Spain alongside Raffaella Carrà. It was during her programme that he sang publicly for the first time, an experience that helped reveal a side of his creativity that had been developing quietly for years.

Another significant moment came when he was photographed for the first time by Herb Ritts, an experience that marked an important point in his career and connected his journey to some of the most influential worlds of fashion and photography.

Behind the different professions, however, Lopez describes a remarkably simple creative process. He begins with emotion. He listens to what he feels, writes it down and imagines how those words might sound as music. His subjects are universal: love, heartbreak, infidelity, unrequited feelings and dreams that remain dreams. Rather than trying to intellectualise those experiences, he approaches them simply, with the belief that they are emotions most people encounter at some point in their lives.

Once the lyrics exist, they become music. From there, Lopez works with his team to shape each track, recognising that creating a song is ultimately a collaborative process. But for him, the final word belongs to the audience.

That relationship with the public is central to the way he views his career. Lopez does not separate success into major and minor achievements. Every opportunity to work matters because, as he explains, working itself is important. Ultimately, it is the audience that decides whether an artist continues to have a place in their lives.

Away from his professional life, Lopez has maintained a connection to ordinary routines. He has made a conscious effort to stay close to longtime friends and to preserve a sense of balance beyond his career. Running, having a coffee, walking, discovering new places and spending time with friends and family are part of the quieter side of his life.

Now, another chapter is taking shape. Lopez is working on a new album in both English and Spanish, bringing together new material with songs recovered from his archives, including “OLVIDO.” At the same time, he is pursuing opportunities in Los Angeles as an actor, working toward film and commercial projects.

It is another evolution in a career that has never followed a single path. From Valencia to the international fashion world, from television to music and now toward acting in Los Angeles, Lopez continues to explore different forms of expression without losing the emotional simplicity at the centre of his work.

Ultimately, that is how he wants to be seen: not as a distant figure behind a career, but simply as a person talking about love, feelings and the experiences that connect us.

Because, in Lopez’s own words, we all share the same fundamental need—to love and to be loved.

. You have experienced very different worlds — fashion, television, music and now acting. What has each of these chapters taught you about yourself, and which version of yourself feels closest to who you are today?

All these stages have taught me that they are interconnected and that you have to believe in the role you play because you owe it to the audience, and for me they are all equally important because you owe it to the audience.

2. You started traveling and working internationally at just 16. How did experiencing cities such as Milan, London, New York and Paris at such a young age shape the person and artist you eventually became?

It was tough at first, but it was very, very interesting because it helped me grow culturally and socially, and allowed me to learn about different ways of life and thinking. I reflect some of my experiences in my songs, because I have lived through things in all sorts of places.

3. Your father was a professional football player and your mother worked as an artist manager. Growing up around two very different professional worlds, did you feel that creativity and performance were always part of your environment?

Yes... because both are forms of art, even though they seem different; it depends on your heart and inspiration—whether in soccer or the artistic world. Aesthetics matter greatly to the audience, and you rely on that audience, because a soccer play is born of inspiration, just as your art is born of the soul.

4. Much of your music begins with your emotions and personal experiences. Is there a particular feeling, heartbreak or moment in your life that changed the way you write?

Yeah... a girl I was in love with. Like a fool, I fell into her trap; she kept me hidden from the world and only called when she needed something—since she was married—and she broke my heart. But from that experience, I’ve learned to open up my soul more when writing songs.

Photographer: CARMEN FERNANDEZ
Makeup: M.MARTIN
Stylist: WDE

Interview

8. After decades of working in front of cameras — from fashion campaigns to television and now acting — how has your relationship with being seen by an audience changed?

I'm still the same shy man off the set or off the stage because I consider myself a normal person, and this is a job that needs to be taken advantage of. And I get along wonderfully with the audience because, thanks to them, I work as an artist.

9. You have said that the audience ultimately decides whether an artist continues. How do you deal with criticism, rejection or moments when the public response is different from what you expected?

I handle it well because the audience shows me the right path to follow and keeps me from getting too comfortable; that’s why I respect all kinds of criticism—it helps me become a better person and a better artist.

10. Looking at everything you have experienced so far, what is the dream you are still chasing — the one project, role, song or moment that would make you feel, “This is exactly where I was meant to be”?

My dream right now is to continue working and try to open new markets and new audiences, and that through my time in LA I acquire new personal and professional experiences that will completely open my heart.

5. You have written about love, heartbreak, infidelity, dreams and unrequited feelings. Why do you think these subjects continue to inspire you, and what do you hope people recognise about themselves in your songs?

These themes inspire me because they capture the essence of love and heartbreak, and it's a universal feeling; we all experience the same situations at different stages of our lives. That is why I think we all relate to it, because we have a need to love and be loved.

6. You are now working on an album in both English and Spanish, including songs from your personal archives such as OLVIDO. What does it feel like to return to music you wrote in the past and discover who you were at that time?

It stirs emotions that were lost in the memory of the heart, and it bares my soul again because, despite the time that has passed, in love I continue to fail and succeed as always, living dreams that are just dreams and unrequited, and I hope that the public will like it and be moved by seeing themselves reflected in the songs.

7. You are also pursuing acting opportunities in Los Angeles. What attracts you to acting at this stage of your career, and what kind of characters or stories would you like to explore?

Acting is very important to me because when I sing I interpret my songs, and acting helps me discover and reveal more deeply the most hidden emotions of my soul and the characters I would like to portray—any character, for me, because the important thing is to work and move the audience.