jacks did not open Instagram to gain followers, but in recent years every time youngsters from Pamplona stop him on the street to ask him for a photo. At 27 years old, he has about 3,000 followers on his account (@jotas94_). An embalmer by profession, he even thought of becoming a doctor, and he attributes his popularity to “being real and showing himself as he is. No filters.”
A current that defends “is no longer seen” in the social networks, taken over by “referents who indoctrinate”, which has led him to be praised by many and rejected by others. He usually hangs funny situations from parties, criticizes youth idols who appear on television or networks and is always shown without filters.
“Young people do not have very marked references and they are always unreal referents. People like me live in a very different way, we don’t settle for anything, we follow our own path and that’s what they like”, he points out in his conversation with NAVARRA.COM
Q – When did this success begin among the youth, the photos, the followers?
R- With social change. People see you on the street and ask for a photo because they are very excited about it. I grew up without so much technology and with older friends from whom you learned good things. Today there is no such contact with older people to learn and enjoy. That way of living before has been lost and there is almost no childhood or adolescence. That’s why when they see a real person they like it. I have decided to live a happy life.
Q – So you attribute that success to “being real”?
A- Yes. That’s what they like. I don’t have filters, if I have to laugh I will and if I’m sad I’ll post it too. Many more people follow me than the followers I have. Of different ages, social classes and political ideologies and that is what I like, reaching everyone.
Q – Do you notice that popularity in your day to day life?
A- Yes, it is true that many of our phrases have become fashionable around the city or other things we do. like Viking drinks, They are nonsense but we give joy and we show ourselves real. I make the videos not for the followers, but for our colleagues.
Q – They also stop you to ask for photos, what do they ask you in those situations?
R- About whether everything we upload is as it seems and about my parties. In 2012, without knowing it, I started the ‘Fiestas Casa Jotas’. I got together with friends and acquaintances to eat, have a good time and launch a rocket. We liked it and we have done it again. Although it has caused me some problem and there are those who think it is crazy, I like it, it is a beautiful moment surrounded by friends.
Q – Has showing yourself as you are on social networks brought you problems?
A- Social networks are a danger because the real objective is to entertain, but with that excuse they indoctrinate and make people lose their identity and take what they see as ‘normality’ as a reference. They indoctrinate and normalize. I am not so. I follow myself. When you are authentic, there are those who will always reject you and those who will praise you, but I keep the good. “Machine, you are authentic,” they tell me.
Q – Do you notice that you get to create a certain bond with your followers thanks to your naturalness?
A – People have spoken to me who were sad, who wanted to commit suicide. For me, this closeness is an honor. For example, in quarantine this treatment helped me to be connected with many people and, although you could not express your opinion on certain things because they censored you, it was a time that I had a good time.
After reviewing his facet on social networks for which he has become known in Pamplona, Jotas directs us to his room, where the photographs of this interview take place. There we review his professional career, his enthusiasm for spirituality and the decoration of the room, full of sarongs, mythological representations and neon lights.
Q – What I’m sure a lot of people who follow you don’t know is what you do for a living
A- I am an embalmer, I have always worked in funeral homes. I decided to look for a job that could be done all over the world and will always last. I would have liked to be a doctor, but it didn’t fit me to study for eight years to earn just over two thousand euros and the clinical part of opening bodies or removing viscera also fulfills that role as a clinical part. It is a world that has always attracted me because of the shapes, the clothes, the cars…
Q – The decoration, like the profession, is also somewhat unusual.
A – I’ve been to the coast, the beach a lot and I’ve always liked stunning decorations, like discos. I can’t be in a normal room with a bed or a nightstand. I want a room to be comfortable, with different environments. In addition, all the girlfriends I have had have liked the room.
Q – Where does this desire for gods and religions come from?
A – I have been studying religions for ten years. I am a very spiritual believer, not religious, but spiritual. I have studied the origin of religions, ethnic peoples, the history of the ancient world and its relationship with man. I dedicate myself to writing books on spiritual issues, a facet that people do not know. However, I say that my interest is for spirituality because it is something freer, while religion is ritualized.
Q – Is it something you have always cultivated?
A – The only thing that fills me is spirituality. Years ago I got up to go to class and once I saw a bird flying free and I thought that if that bird was free why couldn’t I be. People get up in the morning to go to work, which is fine, but no one wakes up to love, to dream, to enjoy life and I decided to take that path. And the spiritual world that I had abandoned was born in me.
Q – Any final thoughts?
R – That my intention has never been to gain followers. We have always shown ourselves as we are and that is what has graced the people and that is why we have won them over. But I consider that, having mostly older followers, they are the ones who have to decide for themselves. I am not paid to be a reference to anyone. What I do is show myself as I am. That’s why there are people who don’t like me and stop following me. Every day I lose 30 followers and 30 people send me a request. But I’m left with policemen, medical personnel, people of all kinds stopping me on the street and telling me that they love that we are who we are… Authentic. What happens is that there are people who live absorbed in fictitious lives who reject what I do and say “this is crazy”.