At the age of seven, he sang on television like other children played hide-and-seek. Spotlights and microphones have been life companions for Abraham Mateo (San Fernando, Cádiz, 1998) ever since and each birthday cake was a little more famous than the last. At the age of 14, Señorita catapulted him into a national figure; The son of a bricklayer and housewife, from a humble family with values, Abraham touched the ceiling before he was of legal age. However…
Whether it was because he stood out from the rest or because of a fragile and childish-looking puberty, those who should have congratulated him made his life impossible. Today we call this phenomenon ‘bullying’ and we know too many cases of consequences worse than serious. Abraham went to America and his talent caught the attention of Jennifer López, who wanted to count on him for the video clip for Se acabó el amor.
Back in Spain and now as a consolidated star, his intimate self needed the opportunity offered by Ibai Llanos –No. 1 among Spanish content creators– as a participant in La Gran Velada: up to 3.4 million viewers watched on Twitch –the The same platform on which Llanos and Gerard Piqué broadcast the Kings League – how Abraham Mateo defeated the youtuber Ampeter in a boxing match.
The young man from Cádiz has just released Maníaca, a single whose urban aesthetic takes us back to the 80s: “Since I was a little boy I have been into romantic songs, so at that time I found some melodic lines with which I felt very identified and free, both musically and visually, the looks and the attitude. I am not the only artist who looks back to that moment and I believe in adapting to new trends while keeping the roots”. A romantic young man capable of getting into the ring and winning a boxing match with a preparation of only 20 days.
Abraham tells for the first time how it all happened: a post by Ibai Llanos on Twitter, his response applying as an artist and a counter offer to participate as a wrestler. “I replied that go ahead and the thing stayed there. Four months later, Ibai contacted me to tell me that there was a vacancy and that, although 20 days from the evening he would understand my rejection, the position was mine. I didn’t think so. I said yes”.
Abraham trained hard with an elite team to emulate Rocky Balboa against Ivan Drago. And it worked. When he came down victorious from the ring, his girlfriend, the influencer Esty CG, was there to hug him: “She has been my shadow those 20 days and I am sure that she has suffered more than me. It has been a fundamental support: I have woken up with her, I have gone to sleep with her, she had my good night and my good morning and she meant my moments of disconnection. She gave me life. My girlfriend has played a fundamental role in this fight”.
Abraham explains that meeting Ibai Llanos has been an inflection point that is as important or even more important than working with Jennifer López: “I have established a relationship with Ibai and everything is much closer. I wish I could have the same with Jennifer! In any case, both have marked history in my life and I will be forever grateful to them”.
For the young artist this was an important test. “To tell you the truth, I’m on cloud nine, man. I have closed a page because I was also facing my greatest fear: in the world of streaming they have thrown a lot of hate at me [in current language, hate, anger, gratuitous attacks] and they have had me very prejudged since I was little. I wanted to show all these people my courage and that with determination you can achieve anything. I wanted them to meet the person Abraham, not the one they saw in the videos when he was 12 years old. I wanted them to meet the Abraham of today.”
One of the people who realized his mistake was the famous AuronPlay: “The most influential in the country at the streaming level was the one who contributed the most to that parody. And now everything has changed completely, we are super colleagues. AuronPlay supported me during these last weeks to the fullest. Everything has turned around: I feel the love of the people, now I go to any neighborhood and the kids congratulate me on the fight. It was like a movie with a very happy ending.”