‘Tentaciones’ returns: our undercover agent with the scoop on all the latest trends

"Tentaciones (Temptations) is being reborn to help us better understand what’s happening today and to take a look at what lies ahead at a time of runaway contradictions and passing whims. We’re not seeking to convert the profane into some hipster religion nor do we aim to turn what’s trendy into a new cultural revolution (shouted from a pulpit in the middle of Madrid’s trendy Malasaña district). We merely hope to get across all the latest trends, with a dose of healthy irony, to everyone --  be they millennials, nostalgics or voyeurs”. So says Borja Bas, editor of the new Tentaciones, the monthly culture magazine published by EL PAÍS, and which returns  to newsstands on Thursday, April 30, and the web, eleven years after its closure.

The old weekly supplement EL PAÍS de las Tentaciones, with Alex Martinez Roig at the helm and Fernando Gutierrez in charge of design, launched in the mid-nineties and set the standard for trend-setting magazines in Spain. Today it returns as a free, monthly magazine and website. Its pages will bring together underground movements and edgy mass culture, combining an original approach with a fresh, engaging tone. Bas said that "Tentaciones is not being reborn with an exclusionary or sectarian spirit. On the contrary, it seeks to engage with those who might have no direct contact with hip, trendy culture but who are eager, nevertheless, to know what’s going on. And all material will be approached from a distinct, wry viewpoint.”

The magazine will emphasize the role of analog in a world full of screens. The mission is to position the magazine as an object of desire, without nostalgia, but dedicated to strengthening print media as an indispensable partner in the digital age. Without romanticism. Or, perhaps, just a little. "All those who lived through the alternative culture of the late nineties and early 2000s will find something to identify with in the new Tentaciones," says Bas, who wasn’t giving away any specific details. "Although we do anticipate attracting alert readers, and engaging them in everything we do. Even the most seemingly light news, can be food for thought, and can help us to better understand the world in which we live."

There will be music, leisure, lifestyle, fashion, tips on navigating the digital landscape, movers and shakers, leading trendsetters and anonymous voices ... With daily online updates offering new “temptations”, valuable inside secrets to be shared with the world. Because temptations are everywhere,  every day, not just on the last Thursday of every month, when the revamped magazine is shared with readers of EL PAÍS