Q&A
By keeping it real to his roots, Edgar Barrera played a pivotal role in ushering a rustic, revitalizing sound that, for the first time in a decade, disrupted the dominant rhythms of reggaetón. At the very least, it gave the urbano scene a substantial shake, challenging the established dembow-driven paradigm from its comfortable throne.
In fact, Barrera’s formidable work in the global Latin pop and música mexicana spaces secured him the coveted top spot on Billboard’s year-end chart for Hot Latin Songs Producer. This achievement marks the first time in a decade that a producer from the regional Mexican music scene has claimed this position, with the last instance being Fernando Camacho Tirado from Mazatlán in 2013.
“At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about — being true to the roots of who you are and showing it with the songs you’re doing,” Barrera tells Billboard Español.
The Mexican-American producer and songwriter is a self proclaimed “border kid” (also the name of his label), born in McAllen, Texas and raised between Tamaulipas, Mexico and the Lone Star State. To date, he has accumulated an impressive roster of artists he’s worked with, from all corners of the pop map: Madonna, Adriana Grande, Becky G, Grupo Firme, Manuel Turizo and more.
With Grupo Frontera, fellow borderland troupe, they not only solidified their distinctive musical niche but also crafted one of the standout hits of 2023: the Tejano-cumbia of “un x100to,” featuring powerhouse Bad Bunny — his second foray into the genre. The song earned Barrera (and songwriters Andrés Jael Correa Rios and Mag) a Latin Grammy for best regional song.
As the accolades continue to accumulate, Barrera now finds himself in the running for Songwriter of the Year at the upcoming 2024 Grammy Awards. Our interview below:
Congratulations on reaching No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs Producers chart. Did you expect this feat given the success of many of the hits you have created this year?
It’s been a good year for me in every way. It was the year where I had the opportunity to make my label [BorderKid Records]. As a songwriter and producer, I feel like I had a lot of versatility as well. I always try to include Latin sounds in my productions, whether it’s a bachata, a merengue, a cumbia or a vallenato — something different, and regional Mexican music all the time; putting a little bit of that into urbano and pop. This year I had the opportunity to do a lot of that, and to appear now as Billboard‘s No. 1 — well imagine, for me, it’s an honor.
Let’s talk about some songs, like “un x100to” with Grupo Frontera and Bad Bunny, which also had tremendous success in the charts. How was the creative process for that?
When we wrote it, it was in another genre. It sat for a year and a half. We showed it to a lot of artists and nobody saw it as R&B. It had the same lyrics, the same melody, the same everything, but the arrangement was R&B. I feel that the industry was very focused on a more urbano vibe, and the song didn’t fit the rhythm it had. I had just sent it to another artist who had told me he didn’t see himself singing the song, and then Grupo Frontera arrived. I said to them, “I’m going to show it to you without the arrangement … with just the guitar and vocals.” I grabbed the guitar and sang it for them. They immediately told me, “We’re going to record it.” [Frontman] Payito learned it and we recorded it that same day in the studio.
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From that moment, we knew there was something special. We were trying to experiment with Frontera singing a song that wasn’t the typical cumbia. That’s part of what I get to do as a producer. On Benito’s part, when he came in with those dark pads — which was his idea — he wanted there to be a switch up when he came in, and that the cumbia would be added little by little. At that point, Mag, Bad Bunny’s producer, and I sat down to work, and we came up with what is now “un x100to.”
Let’s talk about other genres, “El Merengue” and “La Bachata.” Tell me about how you approached a totally different style of music.
When we did “La Bachata,” I wanted to do something that sounded different. I was a little tired of everything sounding the same. During that time, there was a pattern in Latin music that began to repeat itself a lot. It was also intended for another artist and in the end it turned out that Manuel Turizo called me to work with him. He asked if I had any songs out there to show him. I told him, “I have a song, but it’s a bachata — I don’t know how much you see yourself singing a bachata.” I played it for him and he said, “Bro, I’d like to record something different too.” And Manuel bet on the song.
“El Merengue” started as a joke with Manuel. We said, “We did ‘La Bachata’, now let’s do ‘La Cumbia’ or ‘El Merengue.’” He answered, “Bro, you know what? Doing a merengue might be interesting!” We were with Marshmello in the studio, and I asked him, “How would you make a merengue in your world? How would you put EDM on merengue?” Marshmello said, “You start the production and I’ll follow you.” So I started playing the chords on the piano, throwing melodies. We put the song together on the spot. Nobody [was] doing merengue at that time.
How would you say your Mexican roots contribute to your approach to songwriting and production?
I think it’s in all the songs I’m a part of. For example, if you listen to “El Jefe” by Shakira, you hear a lot of Mexican stuff, or “Mi Ex Tenía Razón” by Karol G, you hear a more Tejano flow like Selena, which is the music of my hometown and that I listened to growing up. If you hear a song like “Según Quién” by Maluma and Carin León, you hear some pop, but with a very Mexican style. Lately I’ve been getting tweets [that say], “I knew this song was Edgar’s because of this and that.” People are starting to identify me in songs. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about: being true to the roots of who you are and showing it with the songs you’re doing.
Can you explain what inspired you to found your label BorderKid Records?
I grew up on the border — I’m a border kid, as they say. I feel that many see us with disadvantages, because maybe we are too American for Mexicans and too Mexican for Americans. But I try to look for the positive side, that I have both cultures in me. And part of my stamp is that. One of the first releases I had with my label was “Que Vuelvas” by Grupo Frontera [and Carin León of 2022]. When I decided to support a local group from McAllen — which is right where I was born, and close to where I grew up, between Miguel Alemán, Tamaulipas and Roma, Texas, an hour from McAllan — I wanted to start a label supporting local talent. Well imagine, I met Grupo Frontera, which also means the same thing as the label — so as they say, it was meant to be.
What advice would you give to aspiring producers and songwriters who want to make a name for themselves in the industry?
To be original, to always be real to what they do; not be ashamed to show who they really are and where they are from. For example, there was a time when Latin music was very focused on other genres, in other countries, very urbano. As a Mexican, I bring other kinds of things to the table. I have always been proud of my roots and I consider myself different from others. I feel that you have to always be proud of yourself and not try to be a person or a producer that you are not, or try to write something that isn’t your language or your way of expressing yourself in order to fit in.
Tainy’s musical contributions to modern-day Latin pop are unparalleled. As a mastermind behind many a reggaetón-pop hit — including producing nine of the 23 tracks found on Bad Bunny’s genre-hopping, record-shattering Un Verano Sin Ti blockbuster — it’s no doubt that he has helped revamp the Latin pop playbook. The Puerto Rican producer is now preparing to drop his solo debut LP, the star-studded DATA, in early 2023.
To date, the 2022 Latin Grammy winner for producer of the year has unveiled the wildly successful “Lo Siento BB:/,” featuring Bunny and Mexican singer-songwriter Julieta Venegas, as well as “Sci-Fi,” co-starring Rauw Alejandro.
“[DATA] is a representation of who I am as a person, and as a fan of music,” Tainy tells Billboard Español. “To be able to have my own album is so special. I’m putting my everything into this, all the knowledge I’ve acquired since I started working with the people I admire.” Some of those famous folks also include established hitmakers like J Balvin, Wisin & Yandel, and Arcángel, but also brilliant upstarts like Young Miko, Ankhal, and Kris Floyd.
For nearly two decades, Tainy (real name: Marcos Efraín Masís Fernández) has been a constant force in the música urbana soundscape. He began churning out beats for reggaetón pioneers like Luny Tunes just before Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” (2004) took the world by storm, when he was merely 14 years old. His creative wanderlust led him to co-produce for now-icons like Yankee, Don Omar and Wisin & Yandel.
“Shout out to Tainy, the G.O.A.T., the legend … He’s somebody who I’ve looked up to since I was a teenager and my entire career,” said Billboard‘s 2022 top-charting beatmaker MAG, and the lead co-producer of Un Verano Sin Ti.
While keeping his momentum strong in the mid-’10s, Tainy eventually began talking to a then-upcoming rapper by the name of Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — the world’s hottest superstar of today, better known as Bad Bunny — and together they would go on to make pop history. Fun fact: Tainy co-produced Bunny’s first No. 1 song on Billboard’s Hot 100, “I Like It,” alongside Balvin and Cardi B.
With a keen eye for identifying rare music gems and emerging talent, Tainy also teamed up with music exec Lex Borrero to co-create NEON16 in 2019, a “multifaceted talent incubator,” as the two describe it. “He has a very broad vision of music,” Julieta Venegas told Billboard in November. “He identifies these pairings and links his teams with artists that come from the pop, folk, and Mexican music world.”
As 2022 comes to an end, the super-producer connected with Billboard Español to reflect on his wildly successful year in music — and share exciting details about his highly-anticipated debut album.
You co-produced the greatest album of 2022, Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti. What goes through your mind when you reflect on its extraordinary success?
It’s cool, but it’s not easy to digest when everything is happening. I’m now starting to reflect back and see the gravity of it. These are things that we never felt could be possible for us, coming from Puerto Rico and being Latin. We always felt like there was a higher level [imposed by the] Anglo market, and seeing that that doesn’t exist anymore … a lot of that has to do with Benito. It’s special to see those barriers broken. Dreaming big ends up becoming true.
This is now the new normal. Now everybody is on the same playing field. Great music is just great music in any language, in any part of the world. For [the album] to be able to connect with so many people, [it’s] special to be a part of that.
Walk us through the making of one of the hits you produced on the album, like “Ojitos Lindos.”
The whole idea [for the song] started with my younger brother Masis, who’s a producer too. He brought us an instrumental, but it was in a different style. When Benito heard it, he just heard the trumpets — which you now hear in the beginning of the track. He felt something special from it, but the sounds that came after the original instrumental was not what he had in mind. That’s where I come in. Since we have studio chemistry, I knew what he was looking for, and having this melody that my brother brought was the perfect base.
[Bunny] said it reminded him of the vibe from a song I remixed for Bomba Estéreo, “To My Love,” and he always wanted to work with Bomba. He told me, “Yo, why don’t we send this to them? Maybe they’ll like it.” His only note was, “Quiero hacer una canción bonita.” I already knew Li’s vocals would sound amazing on it. So I sent it over, and asked if she vibed with it. They responded right away that they loved it, and began working on it. Li brought exactly what he envisioned.
From there, he took it to his own world and gave it the right lyrics and vibe. The album’s aesthetic started to come into place, bringing in more beach soundscapes and ambience. That’s where I got the picture of what he was aiming for for the entirety of the project. It was really special to see two people in different places of the world not being in the same studio, but having the same mindset creatively.
Julieta Venegas mentioned in our interview that you scouted her for “Lo Siento BB:/” She praised your knowledge in the Latin indie and alternative realm. How do you discover acts outside of your usual genre?
I’ve always been a student of music. I always try to learn and branch out into different genres to see what I can learn from that and bring into my space. To be a producer, people don’t really get to see much of who I am. What do I listen to? What’s my style? What did I grow up liking? I think nowadays it’s a little bit easier to get to know the producers in their lives. Maybe people from afar think that all I listen to is reggaetón because that’s what I do. But I really listen to a lot of different types of music. Indie, rock and alternative music are styles I get [inspiration] from.
“Lento” by Julieta Venegas is one of my favorite songs of all time. I always wanted to work with her, but I didn’t think it was a possibility, seeing that our genres are so different from one another. Maybe she didn’t like the music we were doing, so that was a concern. When I started working on my personal project, I wanted it to be a reflection of who I am and what I love. I knew this song was going to be perfect for Julieta’s voice. And I wasn’t going to lose anything by reaching out. If she says she hates it, she hates it. But she loved it, and was so open to being a part of it.
This is one of the most special things that I’ve been able to do in my career. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do but didn’t think was possible — combining two of my favorite artists on the same track, and then they sound perfect together.
This year, Bad Bunny’s “Callaíta,” which you produced, surpassed one billion streams on Spotify. That’s quite an achievement…
It’s difficult to explain how it happened. I’ve always been grateful to be in the position that I am. I never thought I would get to this point at all. As I mentioned, we always had dreams about things we wanted to do, but they had a limit. Because we didn’t think it was possible for people like me — where I come from, who I am, our position in the world — and to see that I’ve been able to exceed that by a billion from what I initially thought could be possible, it just makes you feel like, this is all blessings. [I’m] just here to have a responsibility of inspiring more people that could do twice as much as what [I’ve] done. That’s the most special part for me.
Seeing that “Callaita” became what it became is insane. It’s humbling that people still connect with the song after so many years [since 2019]. You get a sense of those classic songs that you grew up listening to and still hear today, and can’t comprehend how they still connect with people after so many years. I’m happy that we were able to create a song that has stood the test of time.
So you’re dropping your debut album in early 2023!
I’ve been 100% focused on my project, and “Lo Siento BB:/” is the first single. We will be releasing the final product at the top of the year. I’m so excited for it. I’ve been dreaming of doing this album before I even got into music, because these types of projects are what inspired me to get into music.
As you might imagine, I’m working with most of the people that I’ve already worked with for a long time, and who I have a great relationship with: Benito, Jhayco, Rauw, Feid, Balvin, Wisin & Yandel, Arcángel…They have been a huge part of my career, so I wanted them to be a part of this, because they were a part of my journey. At the same time, I wanted to combine two worlds and merge this with the up-and-coming artists that I’m a fan of: Young Miko, Ankhal, Kris Floyd … all these guys, and how I brought in Julieta Venegas. [The album] shows more of who I am, and who my musical influences are.
It’s a representation of who I am as a person, and as a fan of music. To be able to have my own album is so special. I’m putting my everything into this, all the knowledge I’ve acquired since I started working with the people I admire. I can’t wait for you to listen to it, for everybody to vibe with it and get to know me a little bit more.
With its genre-spanning, eternal-summer energy, Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti transcended Latin music and became one of the year’s biggest blockbusters. To one of his main producers, MAG, “It’s been a long time coming.”
“The [previous] divide between Latin music and pop music has now merged, because Spanish-language music is pop music,” he reflects.
The Puerto Rican-Dominican hitmaker helped Bad Bunny create the omnipresent Un Verano Sin Ti. The LP has become the first all-Spanish album to top the year-end Billboard 200, ever, and reached No. 1 on the Billboard staff’s Best Albums of 2022 list. It is also the first all-Spanish-language release to earn a Grammy award nomination for album of the year. And thanks to the record’s wild success, Bad Bunny landed on Billboard Magazine‘s No. 1 year-end issue. It’s not just a chart-topping, record-breaking album, it’s an era-defining moment in pop.
The producer-artist pair have been working closely since MAG executive produced Bunny’s El Último Tour del Mundo in 2020, which also resulted in unprecedented success — it became the first Spanish-language release to top the Billboard 200 in the chart’s 64-year existence.
For reasons mentioned above and more, the super-producer peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s Year-End Hot Latin Song Producers chart, and landed No. 5 on the all-genre Year-End Hot 100 Producers chart.
Born Marco Borrero in Brooklyn, MAG alchemized 15 of the 23 tracks total from Benito’s latest record, including its two highest-charting tracks on the Year-End Hot 100, “Tití Me Preguntó” and “Me Porto Bonito” — the two songs combined have reached a staggering 1.9 billion streams on Spotify alone since the album’s release in May via Rimas Entertainment.
When asked about the album’s groundbreaking accomplishments, Bunny’s long-time collaborator Tainy, who co-produced nine tracks in the album, tells Billboard: “We never felt these things could be possible for us coming from Puerto Rico and being Latin. We always felt like there was [an Anglo-imposed] level higher than what we were doing, because of the Anglo market. That doesn’t exist anymore, and a lot of that has to do with Benito. It’s special to see those barriers broken, and dreaming big ends up becoming true. This is the new normal.”
“I’m happy to finally see that when you’re talking about Billie Eilish, Adele, Harry Styles, Justin Bieber in the same conversation now, you’re also talking about Benito, you’re talking about Karol G, Rauw and Rosalia,” echoes MAG.
Billboard hopped on Zoom with MAG, who was just arriving to Los Angeles from Miami to be honored at the Variety Hitmakers event for helping Bad Bunny craft another revolutionary new album.
Since we last spoke during the El Último Tour del Mundo (2020) phase, things have evolved tremendously for you. How’s your year going?
We work so much, and every time we finish something we’re on to the next thing. But when I take a second to be present and reflect on my year, it’s heartwarming to see everything that’s happening with Spanish-language music, and the impact that it’s having culturally. What’s happened with the songs we’re doing, how they’ve been accepted and received, and how that’s become a part of pop culture is really heartwarming.
When you reflect on Un Verano Sin Ti’s unprecedented accomplishments, what goes through your head?
The [previous] divide between Latin music and pop music has now merged, because Spanish-language music is pop music. It is the most popular music right now. It makes me really happy to see that. It’s been a long time coming. Of course, streaming has assisted in that — because now we can physically see what consumers are actually listening to, and most consumers are listening to Spanish-language music.
Congratulations on topping the Billboard charts’ Hot Latin Song Producers and landing at No. 5 for the all-genres Hot 100 Producers chart. Did you anticipate these accomplishments given the album’s recent success?
I’m never thinking about charts or the success of what a song is going to have as we’re creating it. I think that’s been an important part of my creative process. Working with Benito, we’re making things that we love and pouring our heart into that, hoping that it’s going to resonate and connect with people. But to have the chart accomplishments, it’s beautiful to see. It’s definitely exciting.
“Tití Me Preguntó” is an explosion of genres: Dominican dembow, reggaetón and hip-hop. It also has an Antony Santos bachata sample (“No Te Puedo Olvidar”). Talk to me about your creative process and what inspired the inclusion of all these musical styles.
It’s like throwing every genre I love in a blender and seeing what happens. That got inspired by the Antony Santos sample that Benito played to me the morning that we created that song. He came over to me with his phone and he was like, “Mag, quiero samplear esto” and played me the actual song. We had some really exciting ideas for it when it was just a trap song, and we put the sample in the intro.
A couple of hours into working on the song, Benito had this idea to try a Dominican dembow section on it, so I sped up the tempo after the hip-hop part. But it was a hard one — because, like you said, we had to cross pollinate so many genres together, and that was a challenge. But it worked. The final product was very, very exciting to listen to.
The song represents you too, growing up in Brooklyn listening to hip-hop, and being of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent.
Yes, [it is] an absolute representation of me. I am Dominican and Puerto Rican. I grew up listening to a lot of bachata, reggaetón, and hip-hop. I love Dominican dembow and I’m from New York. The song has this New York grit to it — I know for a fact that a lot of my people, friends and family back home in New York gravitated towards that.
“El Apagón” has some tribal drumming and ‘90s dance elements..
Benito and I worked on “El Apagón” from scratch. It started with an Ismael Rivera sample from a song called “Controversia,” a song that Benito really loves. He was just rapping throughout the whole thing. Then Benito said, “I want to make another anthem for Puerto Rico.” “P FKN R” [from YHLQMDLG] was an anthem, but it has a lot of curse words. As we’re making this curse-free Puerto Rican anthem, we thought of this ’90s freestyle house section for it. We then threw in “me gusta la chocha de Puerto Rico” all over the chorus [a DJ Joe’s “Vamos a Joder” sample] with Gabriela [Berlingeri] singing in the outro, which was the cherry on top.
Everything in the lyrics is an ode to Puerto Rico, and the situation that’s happening there. To hear it everywhere when I was in Puerto Rico got me really emotional. It really felt like an anthem for our people to see that there’s a lot of street graffiti with the lyrics around Puerto Rico.
Has this genre-spanning approach changed your perspective on producing music? Searching sounds from within your culture, but also seeking external and perhaps previously-unfamiliar musical styles.
I can credit Benito for a lot of the growth that I have had as a producer. In all the work we’ve done together, we’ve challenged each other again and again, to blend genres, get out of our comfort zone, and do things that aren’t standard but feel great to us. That really helped me grow as a producer, in everything I’m doing now, and in everything I’m going to continue to do in the future.
I think that reflects in the music that we’ve made together, and how you hear all these changes and the meshing of genres in all these songs. Even if it’s a reggaetón song, you’re going to hear all these other elements. The growth has happened throughout my years as a producer but especially my work with Benito.
How has your creative relationship with him evolved since you two began working together in 2020?
I’ve been able to watch him grow and continue to develop as an artist. It has been amazing for me to assist in that. As far as our creative process and our working relationship, there’s a lot more trust. At this point, we each know how one another works and what our strengths are. We could be working on a song and he’ll say, “Mag, yo creo que le hace falta…” And I’ll complete the sentence for him. So the relationship has grown in that way. We have amazing chemistry creatively and we understand our workflow and exactly what the object is, whatever the obstacle in the song is, and we know how to get there.
I see that you produced 15 of the 23 songs in the album, and Tainy produced the other eight, but you only collaborated on one song, “La Corriente.”
Shout out to Tainy, the G.O.A.T., the legend. That [song] actually came from Tainy and his team. I was brought in last minute to structure it out, finalize and mix the song with Benito and La Paciencia. We worked on that remotely but it was still an honor to be a part of something with Tainy. He’s somebody who I’ve looked up to since I was a teenager and my entire career. Through my work with Benito, we’ve been able to actually become good friends.
I used to DJ house parties [in New York in the early 2000s], we used to call them hooky parties. We would cut high school and throw parties, and I used to play Tainy songs back then when I was 16, 17 years old. So to be in the same universe professionally with him now and to have collaborated on [“La Corriente”] is really special to me and an honor.
I peep that you dethroned him from the Hot Latin Songs Producer chart, where he held the No. 1 slot for the last three years. [Tainy landed at No. 2 this year.]
It’s wild. My competition is always myself. It’s always MAG trying to improve in what I do. I think there’s space for all of us to shine as producers in this industry, and what we’re all doing culturally for music and in Spanish-language music. Tainy, myself, Ovy [on the Drums, and other Latin producers]. It’s just a beautiful moment for Spanish-language producers.
Aside from Bad Bunny, you’ve also produced for Eladio Carrion, Imagine Dragons, Selena Gomez, Arcángel, to name a few. How working with artists of different styles affect your approach to making a song?
My approach always changes song by song. Even when I’m working with the same artist, I always try to do what’s best for that song and to deliver the product that the artist needs. Never what I think is going to be best, never what I think people are going to like, just what fits the song.
What words of advice would you give somebody who is trying to start off their career as a producer?
Take your time in constructing an identity, a sound that’s you, that gives you an identity as a producer. It’s cool to be inspired by all your favorite producers, but there’s only one of them and there’s only one of you. So take your time and mold that identity. That’s what’s going to stand out as opposed to fitting in.
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