PARIS — Sebastián Yatra, the Colombian singer, songwriter and actor, is the new Azzaro global fragrance ambassador.
He will appear in the upcoming Azzaro Wanted campaign, which features the new Forever Wanted Elixir scent, and is the perfume brand’s first celebrity face.
The Latin Grammy award-winning and nominated musician said he and Azzaro have a lot in common.
“It’s a brand that I love, because it reminds me of my father in his golden age,” Yatra said. “It is the first cologne that I saw him wear as a kid, in that moment where you see your dad as that invincible figure, where he’s young, but at the same time he’s wise and moving the world.”
The scent embodied him — “that person, that man that has a beautiful aura and charisma that connects with people, and [he’s] just giving, loving and enjoying life,” Yatra said. “It’s something that really hits home for me, is special and exciting.
“It feels good to be a part of something you’re in love with, as well,” he added, referring to Forever Wanted Elixir. “It’s so effortless.”
Yatra, whose music has garnered more than 37.5 billion combined streams and 28 million monthly Spotify listeners, and who has more than 100 million fans on social media, likened putting a scent on to donning a cape as a superhero.
“You can’t leave home without your fragrance and smelling amazing,” he said. Yatra is partial to scents that connect him to certain moments or conjure up emotions.
“It’s a really important part of life,” he said. “That’s why I always wanted to do something like this.”
Yatra won Best Male Artist and Best Pop Artist at the 2019 Heat Music Latin Awards, and his chart-topping hits include “Vagabundo.”
He said representing the Azzaro man is “a big responsibility, but it’s also fun.” To him it is not about looking good, but being someone who shares love with others, keeps learning, is excited about life and gives it his all.
The film campaign lensed in Pula, Croatia, includes Yatra on a jet ski.
“I went crazy,” he said. “I’m just racing up and down. All of us were having a really fun time. So what you see in the campaign is very natural.”
Azzaro Forever Wanted Elixir
Courtesy of Parfums Azzaro
Aside from Azzaro, Yatra is currently working on his fourth studio album.
“I’m going to be back on tour this year, so that’s very exciting,” he said. A few days before the new campaign breaks on Friday, Yatra performed at Viña del Mar, marking his first time back on stage in a while.
He made his Broadway debut in fall 2024 in the revival of “Chicago” at the Ambassador Theatre in Manhattan.
“Definitely, having done Broadway gave me that security that I needed in the acting world,” Yatra said. “I’ve done different cameos, and I did a series on Netflix, but it was always hard for me to say — am I actually acting, or not? Because you do a scene, then you go over it three, four times, and they shoot it. But I had never gotten into telling a story from start to finish.”
The last time he’d done stage theater was at age 13. Then, out of nowhere, when Yatra turned 30, he was a male lead on Broadway.
“It’s like — what?” Yatra mused. “It was such a crazy experience, and it was beautiful.”
He would definitely like to return to a Broadway stage at some point.
“And I’m super open and excited about different movie opportunities and things that could go on in that sense,” Yatra said.
He’s joining a brand with a legacy. The original Azzaro Wanted fragrance was launched in 2016, and has subsequently developed into a large franchise.
Azzaro fragrances’ growth has been particularly strong over the past three years, due in part to the launch of The Most Wanted scent from 2021, which helped the brand enter the top 10 in France and the U.S., the two largest and competitive countries for men’s fragrance.
“We really want to go higher,” said Sandrine Groslier, global president, luxe fragrance brands at L’Oréal, adding Azzaro has two phases of conquest. First is to climb higher in ranking — think top five — and to expand penetration in France and the U.S.
Yatra was chosen to bring more brand awareness and help speak to a community.
“He can embody this Latin, Latindad, Mediterranean vision of what Azzaro is as a brand,” Groslier said. She described him also as charismatic and sexy.
“He’s embodying what masculinity is, but also what masculinity embodies today — namely, authenticity and respectful connections between men and women. That’s what we want to promote,” Groslier said. “That has always been the case with Azzaro.”
The Latin community is Azzaro’s biggest in the U.S. Yatra is also very popular in Europe — especially in Spain.
“The second objective for us is to conquer the rest of the world,” Groslier said. In Europe, after France, the brand’s key markets are the U.K., Spain and Germany.
Azzaro has been posting double- and triple-digit growth over the past years there.
“Azzaro is the brand for what we call the ‘solar hedonist,’” Groslier continued.
The sun’s shape and golden color are important parts of the brand’s aesthetics, especially for the newest scent, which is the most intense, long-lasting Wanted fragrance.
“It’s a full gold takeover of the Wanted bottle,” said Groslier, who aims to continue elevating the Azzaro brand.
She declined to discuss sales figures, but industry sources estimate Forever Wanted Elixir will generate 35 million euros in retail sales during its first year. That would help drive the Azzaro brand past the 300-million-euro retail sales mark this year, representing a 45 percent rise over 2024, the industry sources projected.
The new scent launches first in the U.S. and France during the first week of March.
“We have big ambitions for the future,” Groslier said.
