Reel Power: Mario Aguilar

L'Officiel Arabia: How did you get started as a content creator?

Mario Aguilar: I never imagined that I was going to create at some point and so much less for social media networks. In fact, the way I started in social media was by pure coincidence because one day I was imitating some friends from my school. I uploaded that video to my school's Facebook group and that's how the video went viral because my classmates began to share it. It was how people turned to me to see what I was doing on social media and that's how this project began to grow little by little.

 

L'O A: Where do you draw your inspiration from when creating your characters?

MA: I get a lot of inspiration in the creation of characters from the people around me, from my mom, my sisters, my friends' sisters, my friends' girlfriends, from stories told to me by people who are very close to me, but I also listen a lot to people who follow me because they are always the ones who give me all the ideas of things that happen in their lives that I habe also been able to identify with, create the content, upload it, and in turn have many people identify with it.

L'O A: How was the process of creating your own show, "SER LOCA ES FÁCIL!," which translates to "Being Crazy Isn't Easy!" and what was your experience bringing it to life in front of a live audience?

MA: Having a live show a live show is entirely different from creating content since it is completely live as the word says. Here there is no editing. There are no cuts, no arrangements, and nothing to hide behind. It is improvisation, just you on stage with the characters, giving life to the same things so that people can have fun. My show lasts specifically 2 hours, and it is a complete show with music, lights, dancers on stage, and all the characters. It came from the idea that if people can see the show or see the sketches in a video they will know what they can expect in a show. What I wanted to imply and what to take from the screen to real life are completely different.

 

L'O A: Is there a difference between creating content for your social media channels versus creating content for your music or your shows, and how do they compare for you?

MA: There are a lot of difference between creating any type of content, as I mentioned, creating content for social media is not as easy as people think because there is a whole production behind it, from creating the idea, creating the script, recording it, post-production, color correction, we are a very big team that is behind what are just the videos, based on that we were able to create a family we call the Aguilar family where the character of the Mother is the mother of Mario and la Morena (the Brunette) who are siblings. Mario has a girlfriend who is la Guera (the Blonde), who is the best friend of la Morena, but they fight a lot between them because they are super privileged upper-class girls, and we have Juan Ramon who is a fictitious character that nobody has seen who is the boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, of la Morena. Then the challenge is to represent this in videos and not only in videos, but then we took them to the stage, creating a show called "Ser Loca No Es Facil!" (Being Crazy is Not Easy!), where the characters tell you how difficult it is to be them from their point of view in a comedic way. This helped me a lot because as it is a comedy show, we have music, lights, and dancers which helped me to venture into the world of music and helped me to incorporate it into the show. At first, I had started with comedic music, but now I also dedicate myself to making real music so-to-speak, a hundred percent Mario Aguilar's music.

L'O A: What does your daily routine look like when you're not performing?

MA: I am a homebody who is with his family, who is with his pets, who is with his partner. I like to be at home and take care of anything pending that we have to do, not work but more personal, from washing clothes as an ordinary person, and the truth is that I might not do much, but I feel that the time I have free for me is the one I use to improve what I do as an artist. It sounds redundant but on the days I have free time, I get to perfect things for the show. I get to perfect some sketches, or I go and get my teeth cleaned or things that make me improve both work and personal, but I really don't do too much on those days.

 

L'O A: Tell us about your dive into music and your latest single called "Ya Me Superaste?" which was released last month.

MA: I have always been a very artistic person who has liked to dance, sing, and act, and I think I have already accomplished many of my goals which are to perform live, try everything artistic, and music was something that I also liked very much. One day I started making music, and I started with an EP called "Quiero Llorar" (I want to Cry) where I talk about different situations of my life. One of the songs is dedicated to my mom, one song called "Hoy Decido Decidir" (Today I Decide to Decide) is dedicated to all the people who want to come out of the closest publicly and don't know how to do it, and my last single called "Ya Me Superaste?" (Are You Over Me?) is a song that talks about the heartbreak of how you dedicate this song to a person asking if they already got over me but here the real question is why you are dedicating that song to that person. Is it because you are the one who has not gotten over it?

L'O A: What have you been your favorite career highlights so far on your journey to stardom?

MA: I think that one of the most outstanding things in my career has been that at one time I was looking at unattainable artists and the truth is that now, to be able to be next to them, talk to them, or have them know about me, is something incredible. The fact that I worked with Eugenio Derbez in an interview for his new film, or have been in interviews and talked closely with Omar Chaparro, Consuelo Duval, met Don Francisco, and have been interviewed by him, and from Tatyana and Thalia knowing of my existence among other very famous Latin artists that I really love and admire a lot is something incredible. And from all this to be able to take my comedy to other countries and leave Mexico for me is a great achievement.

 

L'O A: Can you tell us about the challenges you've faced crossing over from being known as an influencer to becoming knows as a multi-faceted artist? What have been the hardest moments and how have you overcome them?

MA: I think that from being an influencer to a multifaceted artist, so to speak, I do several things, and the biggest challenges are that people fit you or try to put you in one place. For example, if you are a comedian and you want to do music it is very difficult to leave the range of comedian because people only know you as a comedian and they can not accept or do not believe that you can have other talents. But I think that within my fandom or the people who follow me, because the people who follow me are very open in opinions, they like how much you can experiment with your career. I think the most difficult moments as an artist are those that many of us mention like the fact of being out and away from your family, sometimes being so involved in your work you miss family moments, and personal moments, you neglect your mind, your soul, and you can start to go through moments of pressure, anxiety, and sometimes the workload downs not let you treat yourself. It has been important to know these kinds of things because I want people to know that although you seem to have everything in this life, so to say that there are artists who have all that, does not mean they are a hundred percent happy, and that the mind is an organ that we also have to feed and take care of.

L'OA: Where do you see yourself in one year, and where do you see yourself in five years? What does the future look like for the evolution of Mario Aguilar?

MA: How I see myself in a year and how I see myself in 5 years, the truth is that I see myself within the same range of comedy, creating music, collaborating with more artists, and maybe lending my voice to other characters. I just lent my voice to the latest movie Spongebob to the Rescue as the character of Otto, so I would also love to do more in the world of dubbing. I would love to dabble in the artistic world of acting in television series, series on Netflix, or other platforms, and the truth is that I am struggling a lot to meet all of these goals because I really like comedy, I really like music, but I also like to set challenges for myself and I know I can meet them.