Super-producer Edgar Barrera on turning old-school genres into pop hits
FELIX CONTRERAS, HOST:
Just a quick warning - this episode contains explicit language.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CONTRERAS: From NPR music, this is ALT.LATINO. I'm Felix Contreras.
ANAMARIA SAYRE, HOST:
And I'm Anamaria Sayre. Let the chisme begin.
CONTRERAS: And this week, the chisme is all about hit records.
SAYRE: You're - Felix, I was supposed to begin. You're already trying to steal my thunder.
CONTRERAS: Just keep going.
(LAUGHTER)
CONTRERAS: Just keep going.
SAYRE: OK. Well, I first want to talk about is you know how you're always flexing to me about, like, how you have been in the room? (Laughter) And just would've been in the room when all these - like, when you flex that you were there when Ella sang and, like, all this crazy stuff, you know?
CONTRERAS: It's not really a flex. It's just matter...
SAYRE: OK, sure.
CONTRERAS: ...Of fact.
SAYRE: Whatever. Sure.
CONTRERAS: But you - Ella Fitzgerald is what you're talking about.
SAYRE: Yes.
CONTRERAS: Yeah. Yeah.
SAYRE: Exactly. So all to say...
CONTRERAS: (Laughter).
SAYRE: ...I think about that a lot. And I'm like, oh, man. Like, Felix has just been around all this incredible talent. And I get to meet all these cool people. And I hang out at the Tiny Desk, and I get to watch all this great stuff. But I got to say, sitting in songwriter and music producer extraordinaire Edgar Barrera's studio in Miami was maybe one of the first times where I have really felt like I was sitting in the presence of greatness.
CONTRERAS: No, I would agree with you. I was there with you.
SAYRE: Wow.
CONTRERAS: Yeah. No.
SAYRE: An endorsement from...
CONTRERAS: Yes.
SAYRE: ...Felix.
CONTRERAS: Absolutely. And it's no wonder that it felt like being in the presence of greatness because he has so many hits to his name - as a composer, as a producer - with so many artists. Check this out.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GUCCI LOS PAÑOS")
KAROL G: (Singing) Y eso de rogar tú lo haces con cualquiera, pero yo no soy…
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UN X100TO")
GRUPO FRONTERA AND BAD BUNNY: (Singing) Lo usaré solo para decirte lo mucho que lo siento…
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOTELLA TRAS BOTELLA")
CHRISTIAN NODAL AND GERA MX: (Singing) Pero yo no puedo…
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "QUE VUELVAS" )
CARIN LEÓN: (Singing) Quisiera pedirte…
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YA SUPÉRAME")
GRUPO FIRME: (Singing) ¡Ya supérame! Que no te arda estar sin mí…
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: (Singing inaudibly).
CONTRERAS: Bad Bunny, Maluma, Nicki Nicole, Camila Cabello, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, Camilos (ph), Selena Gomez, Karol G, Shakira, Peso Pluma...
SAYRE: Oof (ph). OK, Felix.
CONTRERAS: ...And that's just the tip of the iceberg. He has 21 Latin Grammys and one Grammy as a result of all that work.
SAYRE: But, you know, what I'm still trying to wrap my head around, Felix, is the fact that he keeps all of them hidden away, Felix. You go to his studio, and you do not see a single little golden statue or special accolade or award. And that humility and that subtlety - that's who he is. He's a man who's using subtle techniques and small movements - the subtle integration of sounds from across Latin America.
CONTRERAS: And not to mention deeply personal storytelling.
SAYRE: And that authentic representation - that understanding he has as a kid who grew up on the border - are what's making him and his record label - literally called BorderKid Records - a key building block to one of the most explosive moments we've ever seen in the Spanish-language music world.
CONTRERAS: So we traveled to Miami recently to spend some time with him in one of his home studios - the place where so many of his amazing collaborations have either started or have taken place.
SAYRE: Felix, he fulfilled one of my nerdiest dreams. He actually took time to break down a few of his most successful songs. We started with "Desquite" by Grupo Frontera and Nicki Nicole because Felix and I had a slight...
CONTRERAS: (Laughter) Slight.
SAYRE: ...Weekslong disagreement over what exactly we were hearing. So to start our conversation with Edgar Barrera, obviously we took the chance to have him settle the argument. Just what are we hearing?
CONTRERAS: OK. Before we get to that, first, let's hear a bit of the song that we analyzed. This is "Desquite," performed by Grupo Frontera, featuring their lead singer Adelaido Solís - or Payo - and also features Nicki Nicole from Argentina. And it was produced by Edgar Barrera.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DESQUITE (FEAT. NICKI NICOLE)")
GRUPO FRONTERA: (Singing) Hoy voy a tomar porque hay desquite. Si me emborracho, que el celular me quiten. Para no llamarte pa' decirte. Que te extraño, ¿qué me hiciste? Hoy voy a tomarme porque hay desquite. Si me emborracho, que el celular me quiten.
SAYRE: So my main job - bugging Felix about things. I sent him the song when I first heard it, when I first got the album. And I was like, Felix, this song is crazy. I was like, what is happening here? And he had a different idea of what was - what you had done. I had a different idea of what you had done. I started asking people. Every single person I've talked to is like, oh, it's a this. It's a this. It's a this, the - stylistically. So we were going to tell you what we both think it is, and then we want you to tell us what you think it is.
CONTRERAS: Who's right?
SAYRE: What - who's right?
CONTRERAS: (Laughter).
SAYRE: We want you to settle the debate. Who's right?
CONTRERAS: You go first.
SAYRE: OK. Well, that's a lot of pressure. You go first.
CONTRERAS: OK. So I heard the (imitating triplet beat sound) - the triplet thing, right? So, to me, that sounded like Andean music - like folklore from the Andes. It's like (imitating triplet beat sound). But also, there's, like, the Santería (imitating triplet beat sound) or even Landó from Afro-Peruvian. There's, like, a - the triplet feel in this can go different ways. But that's what I hear.
SAYRE: I don't disagree, but I do almost think there is, like, a sense of that, like, earlier, like, 2000s Mexico scene with, like, the - almost like a really sped-up cumbia rebajada a little bit. See, he's nodding like I'm right.
(LAUGHTER)
SAYRE: But I don't know. I mean, it also is interesting to me that Nicki is on this album because it's - not that it sounds like this, but it is, like, reminiscent to me of what's happening in Argentina with the cuarteto. And then...
EDGAR BARRERA: Yes.
SAYRE: ...If you, like, take that and then...
BARRERA: Oh, yeah.
SAYRE: OK.
CONTRERAS: Oh (laughter).
SAYRE: Oh, my God. This is the most...
BARRERA: I mean...
SAYRE: ...Validating moment (laughter).
BARRERA: Both of you are - you have a really good point on the - on where it comes from, the origin of that. But the way this happened was more of what Ana's saying - is I was trying to - we were trying to do something of what we grew up listening to with Frontera - the Frontera, the guys - and what I grew up listening to, what was like a cumbia whenever - I don't know if you remember El Gran Silencio.
CONTRERAS: Yeah.
BARRERA: That was...
CONTRERAS: Yeah. From...
BARRERA: ...A "Chúntaros Style"...
CONTRERAS: Yeah.
BARRERA: ...Thing that was back in the early 2000s. And there was also this movement going on with - called 3BallMTY. It was a band. Shout-out to Toy Selectah, who's behind that band. He's amazing.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HAY GUEY")
TOY SELECTAH AND TZOCHITL SOUNDSYSTEM: (Singing) Ay, güey.
BARRERA: And we were trying to kind of bring back that feeling of what we felt when we were hearing that sound and growing up. And we wanted - I wanted for the newer generations that are listening to Frontera to kind of feel what we felt. And also, the cuarteto - I listen to a lot of music from Argentina. And Nicki wanted to do something cuarteto.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "QUE ME FALTE TODO")
LUCK RA: (Singing) Los que alguna vez sufrimos de corazón roto. Y dice algo como.
BARRERA: 'Cause the song, when we wrote it, we weren't thinking about having a feature on it. It was just a Frontera song. And Nicki - we met Nicki at one of the - I think it was the Billboard Music Awards here in Miami. And she - she's a big fan of Frontera - big, huge fan - and she was telling the band, you know, I love your music. I want to collab with you guys.
And we thought about this record because we also wanted to, you know, get the feeling of what makes sense to do with Nicki. You know, this makes sense because this can easily be played in Argentina because it - or the cuarteto and all that style of music going on over there. The rhythm starts with a triplet...
(SOUNDBITE OF TRIPLET BEAT MUSIC)
BARRERA: ...Which is that (imitating triplet beat sound). But then you have the kick going four on the floor, which is...
(SOUNDBITE OF TRIPLET BEAT MUSIC WITH KICK)
BARRERA: ...You know? - which makes it kind of electronic. And then regular bass...
(SOUNDBITE OF BASS PLAYING)
BARRERA: ...But combined with the synth.
(SOUNDBITE OF BASS AND SYNTHESIZER PLAYING)
BARRERA: This sound is kind of like layering the bass, like...
(SOUNDBITE OF BASS AND SYNTHESIZER PLAYING)
BARRERA: But you can't hear it. You can't hear it in the record. You can just feel it. So that's - those are the things that kind of make the difference. And whenever you put the vocals with the piano - 'cause the piano's also, like, doing a very simple thing.
(SOUNDBITE OF PIANO PLAYING)
SAYRE: I love that piano. It's like it's barely landing before it's taking off again.
(SOUNDBITE OF PIANO PLAYING)
BARRERA: Yeah. And then this combined with the...
(SOUNDBITE OF PIANO AND SYNTHESIZER PLAYING)
BARRERA: And then this is what generated, like, the whole song. Like, this is the main sound, like, the...
(SOUNDBITE OF SYNTHESIZER PLAYING)
BARRERA: But then this with the bass...
(SOUNDBITE OF BASS AND SYNTHESIZER PLAYING)
BARRERA: ...Gives you, like, the cumbia (imitating cumbia-style beat sound). And - yeah.
SAYRE: (Imitating cumbia-style beat sound).
BARRERA: We just add the kick in, and it makes it like...
(SOUNDBITE OF BASS AND SYNTHESIZER PLAYING WITH KICK)
SAYRE: So you started - I never would have guessed that that's where this song started.
BARRERA: It started off with that. Yeah. And it's actually the Juno‑X doing that sound...
SAYRE: So you started...
BARRERA: ...With everything over it.
SAYRE: ...On the synthesizer. And then you went and built the live instrumentation around...
BARRERA: Yeah.
SAYRE: ...That.
BARRERA: And it's a really simple thing. It's - like, you don't need - you just got to know which are the five sounds or six sounds that you need in the song. But I'm - when I'm always producing, I try not to - for me, less is more. For me, it's like, you got to find the right percussion rhythm. And this is, like, the one that we added here.
(SOUNDBITE OF PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS PLAYING)
BARRERA: And it's really simple. I have more vocals channels than what I have on music channels. For me, the vocals are the most important thing in the song every time.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DESQUITE (FEAT. NICKI NICOLE)")
GRUPO FRONTERA: (Singing) Me están doliendo un chingo los sentimientos, mami. Yo nunca te hubiera hecho lo que me hiciste tú a mí. Ya no me pongas esa carita...
CONTRERAS: OK. I'll admit when I'm wrong, Ana, OK? You were right on that one.
SAYRE: Ah, thank you.
CONTRERAS: Now, let's go back and listen to a bit of the finished product.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DESQUITE (FEAT. NICKI NICOLE)")
NICKI NICOLE: (Singing) ¡Grupo Frontera! ¡'Toy puesta pa'l desquite!
GRUPO FRONTERA AND BAD BUNNY: (Singing) Me están doliendo un chingo los sentimientos, mami. Yo nunca te hubiera hecho lo que me hiciste tú a mí. Ya no me pongas esa carita de yo no fui. Que todo el mundo sabe lo tuyo ya por ahí. Casi que vendo la troca y la casa pa' darte una vida pasada de lanza. Y tú poniéndome el cuerno. Voy a salir a pistear con la raza pa' ver si el dolor con alcohol se me pasa. Y yo, hoy no me duermo. Hoy voy a tomar porque hay desquite. Si me emborracho, que el celular me quiten. Para no llamar...
SAYRE: You were taking a, like, Texas cumbia band and completely seamlessly blending them with a - like, an Argentinian rap trap...
BARRERA: Yes.
SAYRE: ...Artist. Is there ever a question mark in your brain - that you come in here, and you're like, oh, how am I going to represent all of this in one song? Or it's just...
BARRERA: I think that's the - 'cause Payo gives it already his style. He actually asked me the other day - we were at a dinner, and he asked me, like, bro, can I ask you a question? I'm like, yeah, yeah. What's up, bro? 'Cause he's young. He's, like - he's just turned 21. And he asked me, like, dude, like, why did you pick us? Like, why us and not somebody else from the Valley? Like, why - what makes us special? And I told him, like, bro, like, the way you guys play and your voice is just special. Your voice sounds different. And your voice is already a genre for me.
And the voice is something that - you just hear Payo singing something, and it - his voice is already like a Tejano song or - it's something really weird what - that happens with me. And whatever you put behind it is still going to sound Frontera because his voice is Frontera, you know? You have - this is the main vocal.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DESQUITE (FEAT. NICKI NICOLE)")
GRUPO FRONTERA: (Singing) Hoy voy a tomar porque hay desquite. Si me emborracho, que el celular me quiten. Para no llamarte pa' decirte. Que te extraño, ¿qué me hiciste? Ay, ay, ay...
CONTRERAS: Are they singing in the studio at the same time?
BARRERA: No, they're not. Payo recorded this song first, and then we send it over to Nicki so she can listen to it. Nicki's part is amazing.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DESQUITE (FEAT. NICKI NICOLE)")
NICKI NICOLE: (Singing) Avísale a Frontera que 'toy ready pa' salirme...
BARRERA: That part.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DESQUITE (FEAT. NICKI NICOLE)")
NICKI NICOLE: (Singing) ...Que me ayuden a olvidarme de todo lo que me hiciste.
SAYRE: Her voice is so striking.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DESQUITE (FEAT. NICKI NICOLE)")
NICKI NICOLE: (Singing) Yo tan fiel que era, pero…
BARRERA: Yeah. Payo is just - he's just a really good singer. And Nicki Nicole is amazing, too. Nicki is super talented. She did that, like, in two or three takes.
CONTRERAS: Like the great music producers he admires - people like Rick Rubin and Quincy Jones - he relies on a very deep connection with the musicians he works with. And in this case, his work with the chart-topping band Grupo Frontera comes from a very personal place.
SAYRE: He has this gift, Felix, for highlighting the life experiences and culture of his artists that he works with in their music. It's a huge part, I think, of why regional Mexican has exploded in the last couple years.
BARRERA: I have to become friends with the artist. I have to know the artist. I have to kind of - I'll give you an example. Like, with Grupo Frontera, the kids are from my hometown. And it's been a while since I - you know, I left McAllen, Texas, and I kind of came over here to Miami to kind of pursue this writing and producing career for myself. And I've been here for, like, 12 years now. And talking to my wife and my family, I was like, I want to go back to my hometown and give something back to McAllen - you know? - or to the place where I grew up. And I wanted to support a local act and try to help them - you know, develop a sound for them. And it's stuff like that that makes me - when I wake up in the morning and do music.
And we have, like, the same culture. We have the same jokes. We talk the same, you know? And it's - I needed that for a second 'cause I had been working a lot with artists from other countries, which I love. And I got to know places where I hadn't been before ever in my life 'cause I - the first time I got in a plane was when I was 20 years old. I was pretty old. I'd never gotten myself in a plane. And the only thing I knew was my area, my hometown. That's what I thought - oh, that there's nothing more than this. You know what I mean?
And when I came over to Miami, I drove over here to Miami 'cause I had never gotten into a flight. And I drove, like, two days over here. And, you know, just, like, being in a different - in a big city - I come from a hometown that's - from a town that's, like, 20,000 people or 15,000 people - the population - where everybody knows each other. And just, like, being here and, like, not knowing anybody or not - nobody knowing me, who I was, was kind of a challenge. But, you know, going back to where I'm from, I did - I wanted to support a local act. And that's how Grupo Frontera came about.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ME HIZO UN FAVOR")
GRUPO FRONTERA: (Singing) En tu historia eres la víctima, pero la cosa cambia si yo hablo. Me mandó al infierno, pero hace rato que ya dormía con el diablo.
SAYRE: The magic of Edgar Barrera's songwriting, to me, Felix, is just how much he's able to - I don't know - be vulnerable in his music for these artists, right? He connects with them. He listens to them. And then he creates these songs that everyone can connect with, like therapy. And I think that's something that really represents this generation, something we're willing to talk about in music and something we're excited to listen to.
BARRERA: Yeah. Being a writer, it's a lot of therapy - a lot, a lot of therapy. Like, every time I - before a session, the first thing we do is talk with - whenever I sit down with a writer, or an artist especially, it's like sitting down with the artist and just, like, having him vent out - or her - you know, what are you going through? What's going on with your personal life? What do you want to talk about?
And most of the time, the artist feels very comfortable with myself. And they get very intimate on conversations. And I try - I just try to, you know, help them translate that into songs. And that's a lot of what I'm there for for the artist.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DESQUITE (FEAT. NICKI NICOLE)")
GRUPO FRONTERA: (Singing) Ay, ay, ay. Ay, ay, ay. Ay, ay, ay. ¡Eso es!
SAYRE: He's obviously doing something right, given his successes. You are listening to ALT.LATINO. We are in the studio with songwriter and producer Edgar Barrera, talking about the creative process that is literally changing the sound of Latin music. We'll be back for more right after this.
CONTRERAS: And we're back, getting into the DNA of the musical mind of Edgar Barrera. Next up, we're going to dig deep into the song "El Merengue," which features the electronic musician Marshmello - who's never really seen without his Marshmello mask - and the Colombian vocalist Manuel Turizo.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EL MERENGUE")
MANUEL TURIZO: (Singing) 'Toy cansao de pensarte, con el pecho roto. Hay sol, pero hace frío desde que no estás. Me paso tomando, mirando tus fotos. Queriendo borrarlas, pero no me da. Hubiera dicho lo que siento pa' no dejar na guardao.
BARRERA: Yeah. This is a special one because the people from Sony Music called me up and tell me, like, you know, like, Marshmello is in town, and he wants to do a record with Manuel Turizo. I had just done "La Bachata" for Manuel Turizo, like, during that moment. And "La Bachata" was hitting up there in the charts. It was doing great.
And Marshmello wanted me to be involved in this record that he was going to do with Manuel. And he asked if I could join them in the session. So I walked in. Manuel was there already, and Marshmello was there. I met him without the helmet, which is crazy. I didn't know who he was.
SAYRE: He has a real face (laughter)?
BARRERA: He has a real face. And I didn't know who he was. And, you know, he just introduced himself, and it's like, oh, wow. I started off the session like I always do. You know, I was talking to Marshmello and asking him, like, dude, like, what do you want to do? And he's like, I want to go into your world.
I asked Manuel and Marshmello, like, dude, like, what if we do, like, a merengue song? Because Marshmello comes from kind of, like, a EDM world or a house world, where it's, like, more, like, electronic music. And merengue has a BPM up there, like, in 130 BPM, which is very similar to what he's used to doing.
So I didn't want to do a bachata 'cause bachata is also up there in those BPMs - so 128, 130-ish, 132 at the most - and I was talking to Marshmello and telling him, dude, like, do you know what a merengue is? And he didn't - he wasn't very familiar with it. And I played him a bunch of stuff. And I started off the song with this piano that's here. This is the way - this is me playing the piano.
(SOUNDBITE OF PIANO PLAYING)
BARRERA: Yeah. It's really simple, like...
(SOUNDBITE OF PIANO PLAYING)
BARRERA: So I just started off with that. Like, I - there was a piano there in the room. And I was telling Marshmello, like, this is the type of sound. And he's like, dude, like, start the song, and I'll join you guys. Like, I'll hop on it whenever I feel like it's my time to hop on.
(SOUNDBITE OF MANUEL TURIZO AND MARSHMELLO SONG, "EL MERENGUE")
BARRERA: And the drums. This is the electronic drums...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EL MERENGUE")
MANUEL TURIZO: (Singing) Ay, también dije que…
BARRERA: ...Which sound perfect with the song. And the percussion is, like, a very merengue percussion.
(SOUNDBITE OF PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS PLAYING)
BARRERA: And I remember coming up with the idea of (singing) dije que te olvidé. Pero no te había olvidado. Ay, ay, ay.
And Manuel came up with the whole intro. Like, this whole thing is Manuel - just, like...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EL MERENGUE")
MANUEL TURIZO: (Singing) 'Toy cansao de pensarte, con el pecho roto. Hay sol, pero hace frío desde que no estás.
BARRERA: (Singing) Con el pecho roto. Hay sol, pero hace frío desde que...
Those whole - the whole lyric right there at the beginning, it's how Manuel - he wrote that.
(SOUNDBITE OF MANUEL TURIZO AND MARSHMELLO SONG, "EL MERENGUE")
BARRERA: And it's got the synth right here.
(SOUNDBITE OF MANUEL TURIZO AND MARSHMELLO SONG, "EL MERENGUE")
BARRERA: It's got, like, a pad in the back.
(SOUNDBITE OF MANUEL TURIZO AND MARSHMELLO SONG, "EL MERENGUE")
BARRERA: And then this other synth.
(SOUNDBITE OF MANUEL TURIZO AND MARSHMELLO SONG, "EL MERENGUE")
SAYRE: Oh, and then that (vocalizing). Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF MANUEL TURIZO AND MARSHMELLO SONG, "EL MERENGUE")
SAYRE: Every, like, live instrument you have has a synth pairing.
BARRERA: Mmm hmm. It does, yeah. I tried to kind of combine the acoustic world with the pop world of, you know, program music. And it kind of gives it, like, a fresh thing for me - for my ear. It makes it sound, like, more, like, modern. This is one of those songs that I feel like we all collaborated together. Like, he did an amazing job with, you know, putting, like, the electronic to the song. And I think what I kind of did with the song was bring him into the Latin world of what a merengue song sounds like and with the piano thing, which is like the main sound of it.
The key to this is, like, you got to know how to work and - teamwork. You know what I mean? Like, egos are out there at the door. You can't bring your ego in there. It's - I got to - you got to know what you - your role is and what you - what your - Lo que va a ser tu aporte, sin que te sientas menos si tu idea no queda, por ejemplo. So - yeah.
CONTRERAS: By breaking this stuff down, are you giving away your secrets, bro?
BARRERA: No, I'm not because this...
CONTRERAS: (Laughter).
BARRERA: ...You can hear it. You can just - you can hear it in the song. I feel like there's no secrets. You can give the same elements to somebody else, and it's knowing what to do with the elements. It's like - I feel like a chef also, whenever - like, if you tell a chef, these are the ingredients - but you got to know when to stop putting the salt. You got to know when to stop. You got to know when to flip the burger - whatever you're doing - or the meat or whatever you're cooking. And I feel like you got to know when to stop.
There's - 'cause I - there's one thing that I tell a lot of people. Like, there's a bunch of beatmakers, but there's very little producers, which means that a producer's got to know when the record is finished. And I feel like some - there's a lot of beatmakers that just like to, like, overlap and overdo stuff. And a producer - whenever I'm - I'm probably not making the beat all the time, but I'm taking the role of knowing when to stop or knowing what sound goes in the song or what sound is supposed to be deleted. And that's the role of a producer and then the role of a beatmaker.
SAYRE: I'm just - I'm geeking so hard about this because what you're describing - I mean, it's simple. But, like, the way that you pair these sounds - I mean, that is quite literally how - merengue is old. It's grandparent music, too, just like regional, just like all of these sounds we're talking about. And you are quite literally facilitating the...
BARRERA: Yeah.
SAYRE: ...Dissemination of this - like, making this the most popular music for young people right now.
BARRERA: Yeah. And it feels good. I never go out to clubs - never. I think I've been into a club probably, like, five or six times in my life. It's very, like, whenever it's something special - I mean that I got to go out. I kind of never go out. And I went out not too long ago with Keityn - with one of my co-writers. And we were just - we went out there just to listen what was getting played. And I heard "El Merengue." Like, that was the first song. We'd just got into the club, and the first song that I heard was "El Merengue." And I was like, oh, wow. They - actually playing my songs in the - you know, in the - in a club. And it...
SAYRE: They're playing a lot of your songs...
BARRERA: Yeah. They're playing a lot of it.
SAYRE: ...In the club.
BARRERA: Yeah (laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EL MERENGUE")
MANUEL TURIZO: (Singing) Si algún día borracho. Dije que te olvidé. Pero no te había olvidao (no te había olvidao). Ay, ay, ay, también dije que te superé. Y no te había superao (no te había superao). Borracho dije que ya te olvidé. Pero no te había olvidao (no te había olvidao). Ay, ay, ay.
SAYRE: What do you think of in terms of your audience? Because we - Felix and I were talking about how this is actually - this is like a slowed-down merengue to the point where it's danceable. Because a merengue is so - Felix is like, no one can dance to a merengue. It's too fast, which is not true, but, you know...
BARRERA: (Laughter).
SAYRE: ...Whatever - the masses. But this is so - do you think about that? Where do you think about your music living in people's lives? Like, do you think about that when you're writing?
BARRERA: I don't. No, no, no. I don't think about that. And I actually don't think that much about the music when I'm doing the music. And this is a funny story that had happened to me when I was doing "La Bachata" - that Romeo Santos - I had a conversation with Romeo. And Romeo was telling me, like, dude, like, it's really cool how - the way you did "La Bachata" 'cause you didn't put an electric lead guitar in the whole song. And that was actually done by accident because I didn't know you were supposed to have an electric guitar all the time. And that's, like, the main thing of a bachata.
And it's not knowing how things are done - what makes it special. And, you know, it was something that I didn't do intentionally. But when it happened, you know, having somebody like Romeo kind of, you know, telling you about - it's so brilliant the way you didn't put a guitar on it. And I told Romeo, like, dude, like, I didn't even know I had to put a guitar on it...
CONTRERAS: (Laughter).
BARRERA: ...You know? And he's like, that's what makes it special and, like, what - it makes it special that it's done by somebody that doesn't do bachata. Like, the biggest bachata song in the last five years - or whatever it is - was done by a guy that does pop music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LA BACHATA")
MANUEL TURIZO: (Singing) Te diría que volvieras, pero eso no se pide. Mejor le pido a Dios que me cuide.
BARRERA: Music is crazy. I mean, the other day, Coldplay performed in Bogotá, and he was in - he was singing in the middle of the show - in this stadium concert with Coldplay. And I'm a big - the Coldplay biggest fan. And he - in the middle of the show, he says, like, I'm going to perform to you what, for me, is one of the best songs that's ever been written in Spanish. And he goes on and plays "La Bachata."
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MANUEL TURIZO: (Singing) Y también como no quiero que me quieran. No. Éramos tres en una relación de dos. No te perdono, pídele perdón a Dios. Dije que te olvidé y la verdad e' que yo. Ando manejando por las calles que me besaste. Oyendo las canciones…
BARRERA: He sings "La Bachata" in a concert. And I just wanted to cry hearing that. And I was just like, I can't - just can't believe, like, one of my idols, like, Chris Martin, is singing the song that I wrote. It's just - like, the way music travels and where it gets to. And I just - I had my team just, like, reaching out and telling everybody, like, can you - somebody tell, like, Chris Martin, like, I wrote that song and that I want to meet him...
SAYRE: (Laughter).
BARRERA: ...And that I...
SAYRE: Does he know?
BARRERA: ...I'm a big fan of Coldplay and that I want to work with Coldplay. And, I mean, it's just crazy the way music travels.
CONTRERAS: OK. Well, we could've spent hours hanging out and talking music with Edgar Barrera. We chose one more Latino mashup to wrap things up - Mexican artist Carin León and Colombian vocalist Maluma singing over the track "Según Quién," a Mexican corrido performed over the one, two, three of a border waltz.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SEGÚN QUIÉN")
MALUMA: (Singing) Ay, otro chisme más que te cae. Estoy cansao de este lleva y trae, ey. Aquí sí hay amor, pero amor para ti ya no hay.
BARRERA: And this record has a little bit of both worlds 'cause I try to blend in Carin's world with the pop world. And it's funny because you have the bass.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SEGÚN QUIÉN")
MALUMA: (Singing) Ay...
BARRERA: Like, the bass sound is a tololoche layered with a sine wave. So you can hear the tololoche playing...
(SOUNDBITE OF TOLOLOCHE STRUMMING)
BARRERA: ...With a sine wave underneath. And then to try to get Carin's vibe into it, we - I added some charchetas to it, like...
(SOUNDBITE OF TOLOLOCHE STRUMMING AND CHARCHETAS PLAYING)
BARRERA: So this - those three elements - that sound - are Carin elements. This is, like, the tololoche playing with the charchetas and the bajo quinto. And after - you know, having that already in the record, how do we add Maluma? So we added the drums that are more popular.
(SOUNDBITE OF CARIN LEÓN AND MALUMA SONG, "SEGÚN QUIÉN")
BARRERA: So this already sounds more like Maluma. And adding, like, the pads - these pads.
(SOUNDBITE OF SYNTHESIZER PAD MUSIC)
SAYRE: Wow.
BARRERA: You know, this is, like, the Maluma world of the record.
(SOUNDBITE OF CARIN LEÓN AND MALUMA SONG, "SEGÚN QUIÉN")
SAYRE: When you said that that was your starting point, like, of sonic inspiration, I was like, what is this man...
BARRERA: Yeah.
SAYRE: ...Talking about?
BARRERA: No, and it is. And...
SAYRE: But when you hear it isolated, I see what you're saying. It has that sound to it, definitely.
BARRERA: It does. And it - I mean, it's not - it doesn't sound the same, but it's got, like, a vibe to it.
(SOUNDBITE OF CARIN LEÓN AND MALUMA SONG, "SEGÚN QUIÉN")
BARRERA: This is, like, our way of doing it in the Latin world.
SAYRE: It's so light. It's so bright.
BARRERA: Yeah. And then just - Carin's elements are just, like, three elements, which are this...
(SOUNDBITE OF CARIN LEÓN AND MALUMA SONG, "SEGÚN QUIÉN")
BARRERA: ...This...
(SOUNDBITE OF CARIN LEÓN AND MALUMA SONG, "SEGÚN QUIÉN")
BARRERA: ...And this.
(SOUNDBITE OF CARIN LEÓN AND MALUMA SONG, "SEGÚN QUIÉN")
BARRERA: And that just makes the blend sound. OK. You got...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SEGÚN QUIÉN")
MALUMA: (Singing) Dizque me vieron gritando tu nombre. Borracho en un bar…
BARRERA: And you get...
SAYRE: Oh, that voice.
BARRERA: ...The best of both worlds.
SAYRE: Wow. There's so much intricacy in how you blend worlds.
BARRERA: It's just, like, adding two or three elements. You can't overproduce records. And all the records that I've been playing to you - like, the three records - are really, really simple. And it's just finding the right sound, like I've always been saying, like, finding the right drums with the right synth and not, like, overproduce - never, like, overproduce stuff. Just keep it simple.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SEGÚN QUIÉN")
MALUMA: (Singing) Ay, otro chisme más que te cae. Estoy cansao de este lleva y trae, ey. Aquí sí hay amor, pero amor para ti ya no hay.
LEÓN: (Singing) No te creas tan importante. Las cosas ya no son como antes, ey. Hace mucho que yo ya te olvidé.
SAYRE: He explained to us that he wants to keep the Grammys away because he wants to start fresh with a clean slate every day, like he's never made anything before.
CONTRERAS: You know, Ana, like we said at the beginning, it's pretty obvious that we were in the presence of greatness.
You have been listening to ALT.LATINO from NPR Music. We get editorial support from Hazel Cills.
SAYRE: And our audio producer is Joaquin Cotler.
CONTRERAS: Grace Chung keeps all the parts moving the way they're supposed to move.
SAYRE: Suraya Mohamed is the executive producer of NPR Music.
CONTRERAS: And Keith Jenkins is our jefe-in-chief, VP of NPR Music and visuals.
I'm Felix Contreras.
SAYRE: And I'm Anamaria Sayre. Thank you so much for listening.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SEGÚN QUIÉN")
MALUMA: (Singing) 'Tá conmigo porque quiere. Tú estaba' por la de crédito. Deja el papelón patético. Que yo estoy tranquilo en México. Pa' esa mierda que tú habla'. Te compré papel higiénico.
LEÓN: (Singing) ¿Quién putas te dijo que aún te lloro? Ni que fuera' monedita de oro.
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