DJ Ron Slomowicz: You worked with MTV in your early career, do you think MTV might ever come around and support the popular dance music sound again?
Lucas Prata: I truly believe it and that's why I do this. I see dance music as a bigger genre for the masses out there. Dance music eight or nine years ago was The Real McCoy, Amber, Aqua, La Bouche and groups like that were selling two to three to four million copies worldwide and doing very well here in the States. So I see it all coming back and being a full circle. So that's one thing I strive for, MTV and for the recognition once again of the dance music.
RS: The whole round the world thing really hits home with your version of "Mai Ai Hee (Dragostea din Tei)," how did you get involved with that?
Lucas Prata: Ultra licensed the original Romanian version from Time Records in Italy and they decided that they needed an English version to it. Ultra had just signed me and thought they would try it with their first male solo artist. When I first heard the song, to be honest, I wasn't too interested because it reminded me of a yodel record or something. But after listening to it a bunch of times and researching the record and seeing where it was number one across the world, I decided why not, let's give it a shot. I spoke to Dan Balan over the phone a few times and he wanted me to help him translate it because a lot of the grammar wasn't correct at the time. So we worked over the phone and then I flew to Italy with one of the reps from the label, and I recorded and translated it with him in Milan, Italy. We came back here and then little by little the record started getting bigger and bigger and at some point it was number one in twenty-nine countries. The record is still going, believe it or not, it's number one in Japan.
RS: On the foreign language tip, your album also has a Spanish version of "Y Dices" and "Never Be Alone."
Lucas Prata: Yes, I did the Spanglish ballad mix of Never Be Alone which has turned into quite a song that WKTU played a lot, the bilingual mix of Spanish-English. And She Said, I also did a Spanish version of it as well.
RS: Very cool. Do you have a big Spanish following?
Lucas Prata: We're working on it. In Mexico City, the reggaeton mix is blowing up. I've done some stuff in Spanish, so little by little we're going to tap in to that market.
RS: Listening to the album, it almost feels like a greatest hits compilation. "Let's Get It On" and "And She Said" have been hits. Usually the album comes first and then the singles.
Lucas Prata: Right, right. It's been a long time in the making and I thought about not putting Let's Get It On on there but I don't think it ever got the recognition that it deserved. I mean granted it was a big record in about twenty-five markets, but it was never signed to a label. That was just me promoting it from my bedroom actually. So I wanted the album to kind of represent what I've been doing all these years, and Let's Get It On is just one of these timeless records that everybody keeps playing in recurrent. So I said why not, we'll use it again. You never know, we might put the record out again.
RS: Sounds cool. What producers did you work with on this album?
Lucas Prata: I worked with Valentin, Mr Mig, and Giuseppe D. Eliot Sloane from Blessed Union of Souls did the ballad "The Best of Me" which is a beautiful song that he wrote and produced. The Riddler and Albert did the cover of "More Than Words Can Say," originally by Aly-us, not the one Frankie J sings. Of course, Ricky Crespo did Let's Get It On.
RS: I know satellite radio has been a really big supporter of your music. Why do you think they've been almost in the forefront of supporting you so much?
Lucas Prata: Obviously they like the songs and they have the freedom to play stuff as much as they want. They've been getting a lot of feedback on and it seems to be working for them. Which is great because there's only ten dance stations in America and then satellite covers the whole country. It's great to get eMails from Idaho and Montana, in middle America where you would think dance music is nonexistent, but because of satellite it's out there.
RS: I remember the first time I played the video at the club here in Nashville, people were singing along, so satellite radio definitely has an effect.
Lucas Prata: I think it's definitely the future and for me, personally, it's been a huge help for my music. The satellite stations support me big time and I can't complain because I'm really happy about it.
RS: On that note, anything you wan to say to all your fans out there?
Lucas Prata: Thanks for sticking by me all these years. People have been supporting me since "Let's Get It On" back in the summer of 2002, so for them to be still supporting me and sticking along for the ride is great. I'm just going to keep doing the best music I can and keep people dancing. Feel good music, that's what I'm about.
