Dreams can come true. Just ask Alfredo Flores.
Five years ago, Alfredo was living in his home state of New Jersey and fantasizing about a future in the music business.
Today, Alfredo is an in-demand music video director and videographer who has worked with a bevy of A-list stars, including Mariah Carey, Chris Brown, Selena Gomez and of course, superstar Justin Bieber, whom he has been working with, living with, and traveling with, for more than four years.
Alfredo told Fox News Latino:
I’m just this kid from Jersey who flew out to L.A., with one dream. If you really want your dreams to come true – if you really want to make them happen – you just have to believe in yourself and you’ll be good.
Alfredo´s latest project is actually the "Believe", Directed by Jon M. Chu, the film – which opens on Christmas Day – uses footages that Alfredo shot during the Believe tour, and is a biopic of sorts that gives fans an inside look at the making of "Believe" album and tour.
Alfredo said the film´s biggest triumph is that it successfully delivers Justin´s "powerful" message to his fans:
Justin has wanted to (deliver) a message to his fans – he wants to inspire them and wants them to believe in their dreams and to believe that with hard work and dedication, you can do anything you want to do.
He added that Bieber´s fans mean "everything" to him and said that "they are the reason he does everything he does."
Alfredo recalls a specific incident that happened during the Believe tour and said it´s the perfect example of Justin’s devotion to his "Beliebers":
We were in Argentina, in the hotel room, and Justin had an IV in his arm and he had been throwing up all night. He was super sick and the doctor said “you can’t go on stage tonight,” and Justin said, “I have to.”
Alfredo said Justin jumped on stage and performed seven songs until he passed out:
He really does care. If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t have jumped on that stage… There are a lot of people that probably wouldn’t have gone on that stage.
Alfredo lives with Justin in Los Angeles and says Justin is one of his best friends — he wants
people to know that not everything they read about Justin Bieber is true:
People try and create a story out of anything. We wake up every day and I’m pretty sure there’s a new fake story or a manipulated story (about Justin). They manipulate pictures to tell a story or they take something that’s real – a small portion of it that’s real – and they create a whole fabricated story. I think that happens all of the time.
But (Justin) does have a heart of Gold.
Fredo has been on the road with Justin for four years now on multiple tours and for a year and a half on the Believe tour. He said life on the road can be overwhelming:
It’s just hard to do. Because every single day you’re traveling to a different city and living out of a luggage, so that’s hard.
We spent a couple of days in Bali and it was really special. Just hanging out on the beach and taking hikes up the mountain. It was one of those life-changing moments where you’re able to just sit back and kind of just look at life and be like, ‘wow, I’m really, truly blessed. This is incredible and I get to share it with all of my friends.’ That was probably one of the best experiences.
We’ve been to at least half the countries in the world. We’ve gone to almost every state in America, we did all of South America, Puerto Rico, The Dominican Republic, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and that’s just this last year. We did all of Europe, all of Australia and Asia.
So what’s life on the road with Justin Bieber like?
The tour bus is decked out, it’s really cool. We have a kitchen, we have the bunks, Justin has his bedroom, we have a lounge and all of the video games and all of the DVD’s – it’s like a little house on wheels.
We stay on X-Box. We stay playing PS3, NBA2K, Mortal Combat. We watch a lot of movies and TV shows, kind of just chillin’ and laughing. We also watch comedies like The Campaign and Step Brothers and comedy sketches like The Dave Chappelle Show.
Fredo´s journey and all of his success in the music industry is impressive, especially for a kid who was raised in Belleville, New Jersey and had no connections to the music industry when he moved to Los Angeles:
I just kind of started from the bottom and I just fought a lot and opened doors when those doors were closed. I kept going when people said ‘no’ and I’m proud of that and I’m happy about that – especially because I’m Puerto Rican and I’m representing [it], because there aren’t a lot of us.
I love how much love I get from the Latin community.
And speaking of the Latin community, Fredo said Justin is an honorary Latino of sorts. He loves Latin culture! Some of his favorite places are Latin countries and he loves Latin women – he definitely embraces Latin culture.
Flores said he and Justin even traveled to Guatemala recently with the charity organization "Pencils of Promise," where they shot a documentary.
They build schools, so we went down there and Justin helped build a school and we all took part in helping the community.
Still, as much as Justin loves Latin culture, Alfredo said it’s been tough to teach Justin Spanish.
The one thing I was able to teach him and he finally picked up after all of these years is “Te amo con todo mi Corazon.” He finally uses that one on the regular!
We’ve talked about it and stuff. It’s just {laughs}, his Spanish accent is really bad. So if that’s ever going to happen, he’s really going to have to work on his accent!
As for what lies ahead for Flores, the hardworking 24-year-old said he’s got a plan in the works:
I know I want to take a little break. Then I’m going to come back to L.A., shoot a lot of music videos, write a short script and direct it and I want to open a production company.
Then I want to venture off into commercials and film. It’s limitless. I’m going to cover it all.
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