Pop singer Alejandro Sanz's last record, El Tren de los Momentos, came out three years ago amid a slew of troubles for the Spanish heartthrob: his father died; he divorced his wife, Mexican model Jaydy Michel, mother of his daughter Manuela; a couple who worked at Sanz's Miami Beach home were accused of blackmailing him with information that he had a son in an affair; and Sanz had a nervous breakdown that forced a months-long hiatus in a concert tour.

Now Ale, as his friends call him, is back with a new attitude and a new record, Paraiso Express (Paradise Express), out Tuesday, an upbeat pop-rock CD whose lead single, Looking for Paradise (with R&B star Alicia Keys) is topping Latin radio charts. We sat down with Sanz, who turns 41 in December, to talk about getting happy, creating Paradise, and the ladies he likes.

You seem much more relaxed and happy than you were three years ago. True?

``I'm much more relaxed, much more tranquil, much more at peace with myself. A lot of ugly things happened all at once -- problems almost never come alone, they come as a family. But after this dark period, the light afterwards seems much brighter.''

The song Peter Punk makes me think of Peter Pan. What's that about?

``It's Peter Pan with a mohawk. When

you have a life full of experiences, it's

difficult to grow up. But if you don't grow

up you become this weird, freaky thing. It

doesn't mean you have to renounce having

a young spirit, but you can have a youth-

ful spirit consistent with your age.''

On your website you asked for

people's idea of paradise. Where did

that come from?

``The first people we asked were friends -- musicians, athletes, actors, writers. So

Shakira's answer was more practical, Juanes was more transcendent, Paulina more divine. What surprised me were regular people's answers. People didn't talk about some desert island paradise full of palm trees, they talked about family, friends, health, very simple things. I learned a lot from them.''

You and Alicia Keys wrote Looking for Paradise on the boat at your house in Miami Beach. How'd that happen?

``I met Alicia years ago at a Rock in Rio concert. We got along really well, but then I didn't see her for a long time. I ran into her in New York on a friend's boat, and I began playing guitar, she began singing, and there was this magic that had everyone gaping. So we decided we had to do something together, because this kind of magic is so rare. When she came to Miami, she listened to the initial melody that [producer] Tommy [Torres] wrote, and she said `OK, it's a good start, but let's do the `boat test.'

``That sounds like a joke, but it was really like that. So we got on my boat and started to play, we finished the melody, she wrote her lyrics, I wrote mine, and we finished at 3 or 4 in the morning in my studio.''

There's a lot of songs about strong women on Paraiso. What do you like in a woman?

``I like women who can handle things, strong women, who know what they want, who have a good sense of humor.''

Have you had a lot of these kinds of women in your life?

``Almost all of them. And you see how abused I am.''

-- JORDAN LEVIN

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