NPR Music - In Conversation: Edgar Barrera

Episode Date: June 26, 2024

Alt.Latino's Anamaria Sayre and Felix Contreras visit the Miami studio of the Latin pop super-producer.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Just a quick warning, this episode contains explicit language. From NPR music, this is Alt Latino. I'm Felix Contreras. And I'm Ana Maria Sayer. Let the Chisemay begin. And this week, The Chisemay is all about hit records. Felix, I was supposed to begin. You're already trying to steal my thunder.

Just keep going. Just keep going. Okay. Well, what I first wanted to talk about is, you know how you're always flexing, me about like how you have been in the room. We'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? It's not really flex.

It's just matter of fact. Okay, sure, whatever. Ella Fitzgerald is what you're talking about. Yes, exactly. So all to say, 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 tiniest 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. No, I would agree with you. I was there with you. Wow, an endorsement from Felix. 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.

Bet Bunny Maluma, Nicky Nicole, Ed Shearrault, Arina Grande, Camila, Camila, Camila, Camilo, Selina Gomez, Carol G, Shakira, Pesso Pesopuma. Okay, Felix. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. He has 21 Latin Grammys and one Grammy as a result of all that work. 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.

And not to mention deeply personal storytelling. And that authentic representation, that understanding he has as a kid who grew up on the border, Arwitz making him and his record label, literally called Border Kid Records, a key building block to one of the most explosive moments we've ever seen in the Spanish language music world. 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. 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 Nikki Nicole because Felix and I had a slight week's long 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 What are we hearing? Okay. Before we get to that, first, let's hear a bit of the song that we analyzed. This is Desquite, performed by Group of Frontera, featuring their lead singer Adelaido Solis or Pio,

and also features Nikki Nicole from Argentina. And it was produced by Edgar Barrera. So my main job bugging Felix about things I sent him this 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 you had done. I had a different idea of what you had. I had a different idea of what you done. I started asking people, every single person I've talked to was like, oh, it's a this, it's a this, it's a this, 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.

Who's right? Who's right? We want to settle the debate. Who's right? You go first. Okay, well, that's a lot of pressure. You go first. Okay, so I heard the shakita, chickade the triplet thing, right? So to me, that sounded like Andean music, like folklore from Andy's from Andes.

Like chakita, check it, check it. But also there's like the santeria, shikita, or even Lando from Afro-Peruvian. There's like a, the triplet feel in this can go. different ways, but that's what I hear. 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 rebaughava a little bit. See, he's nodding like, I'm right.

But I don't know. I mean, it also is interesting to me that Nikki 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 cortetto and then if you like take that and then, okay. Oh, my. My gosh, this is the most downgrading moment. Both of you are, you have a really good point on where it comes from, the origin of that. But the way this happened was more of what, I'm not saying.

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 the Grand Silencio. Yeah, different. That was a chuntaro style thing that was back in the early 2000s. And there was also this movement going on with called Tribal Monterey. It was a band. Shout out to Toy Selecta was behind that band.

It's amazing. And we were trying to kind of bring back that feeling of what we felt when we were hearing that sound growing up. And I wanted for the newer generations that are listening to Frontera to kind of feel what we felt. And also the quartetto, I listened to a lot of music from Argentina

and Nikki wanted to do something Quarteto. Because the song, when we wrote it, we weren't thinking about having a feature on it. It was just a Frontera song. And Nikki, we met Nikki at one of the, I think it was the Billboard Music Awards

here in Miami. And 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 Nikki. You know, this makes sense because this can easily be played in Argentina because of the quartetto and all that style of music going out over there. The rhythm starts with a, with a triplet, which is that...

But then you have the kick going four on the floor, which is... You know, which makes it kind of electronic and then regular bass, but combined with the cymbuds. This sound is kind of like layering the bass, like... 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, because the piano is also like doing a very simple thing. I love that piano. It's like it's barely landing before it's taking off again. Yeah, and then this combined with them. And then this is what generated like the whole song. Like this is the main sound. Hmm.

But then this with the bass gives you like the combative. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You just add the kick and make it like. I never would have guessed that that's where this song started. It started off with that, yeah, and it's actually the Juno X doing that sound. So you started on the synthesizer, and then you went and built the live instrumentation around that. And it's a really simple thing. It's like you don't need, you just, you just got to know which are the five sounds or six sounds that you need in the song.

But when I'm always producing, I try not to, for me less is more. For me, it's like you gotta find the right percussion rhythm, and this is like the one that, you're like the one that, you know, we added here. 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. Okay, I'll admit when I'm wrong, Anna. Okay, you were right on that one.

Thank you. Now let's go back and listen to a bit of the finished product. Frontera! I'm I'm gonna chingos the sentiments mamie

I never you never you've done you've done you to do you don't you don't put

that that I'm that all that's all know you know that's that's

that's that's to give a car to putt and you, putting me the cerno

I'm going to go to get to the rass to see the and

I'm doorme You are taking Because there's Yes, Is there ever a question That's You're taking a

Like Texas Cumbia band And completely seamlessly blending them With it like An Argentinian Rap trap

artist Is there ever a question Mark in your brain You come in here And you're like Oh how am I gonna represent All of this in one song?

I think that Because 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? Because he's young, he's like, he's just turned 21.

And he asked me like, dude, like, why'd you pick us? Like, why us and not somebody else from the valley? Like, why, what makes us special? And I told them, 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 Paiyo singing something and it, his voice is already like a Tejano song or it's something really weird with that happens with me and 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.

Are they singing in the studio at the same time? No, they're not. Paiyo recorded this song first and then we send it over to Nikki so she can listen to it. Nikki's part is amazing. That part. Bio is just a really good singer. Nikki Nicole is amazing too. Nikki is super talented.

super talented. She did that like in two or three takes. 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. He has this gift, Felix, for highlighting the life experiences and culture of his artist 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. 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 the 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 was like, I want to go back to my hometown and give something back to my cabin, 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. 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. Because the first time I got in a plane was when I was 20 years old. I was pretty old. I never got myself in the 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 because I had. never got into a flight. And I drove like two days over here and, and, you know, just like being in a difference 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 a group of Frontera came about. 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. Yeah, being a writer, it's a lot of therapy. A lot, a lot of therapy.

Every time before a session, the first thing we do is talk whenever I sit down with a writer or an artist especially. It's like sitting down with the artist and just 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 just try to help them translate that into songs. And that's a lot of what I'm there for the artist. 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. 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 Marshmallow, who's never really seen without his marshmallow mask, and the Colombian vocalist Manuel Turiso. Yeah, this is a special one because the people from Sony music call me up

and tell me like, yo like Marshmelo is in town and he wants to do a record with Manuel Turizo. I had just done La Batchata for Manuel Turizo, like during that moment. And La Bachaata was hitting up there on the charts. It was doing great. And Marshmallow 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. Marshmallow was there. I met him without the helmet, which is crazy. I didn't know who it was. He has a real face. I didn't know who he was. And, you know, he just introduced himself and it's like,

oh, wow. I started off the sessions like I always do. You know, I was talking to Marshmallow 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 Marshmelo, like, do, like, what if we do like a merengue song? because marshmallow comes from kind of like an EDM world or a house world where it's more like electronic music. And Merenge 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 Bchata because Bchata is also up there in those BPMs of 128, 130-ish, 132 at the most. And I was talking to marshmallow and tell him, do like, do you know what? Merenge 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 yeah it's really simple like so I just started off with that like I there was a piano there in the room and I was telling uh marshmallow like this is the type of sound and he's like do start the song and now join you guys like I'll hop on it whenever I feel like it's my time to Japan and the drums, there's the electronic drums, which sound perfect with the song and the percussion is like a very merengue percussion and I remember coming up with the idea of... Dijieke to elvide but no te alvriolid and Manuel came up with the whole

intro like this whole thing is is Manuel just like... The whole lyric right there at the beginning, it's how Manuel he wrote that. And it's got the synth right here. It's got like a pad in the back and then this other sense. Oh, I know that. Yeah. Like live instrument you have has a synth pairing.

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. 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 merenga 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, and, uh, in team, teamwork.

You know what I mean? Like, eagles 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, what your, what your, what, your, what, your, what, your, what, what you're, like, what you can, you can, you can't less, so you can't, so. Mm. By breaking this stuff down, are you given away your secrets from?

No, I'm not because this, you can, 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, 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 salts. You got to know when to stop. You got to know when to flip the burger or 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 one thing that I tell a lot of people like there's a bunch of beat makers but there's very little producers which means that a producer has got to know when the record

is finished and I feel like some there's a lot of beat makers that just like to overlap and overdo stuff and a producer whenever 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 than the role of a beatmaker. 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, is old, it's grandparent music too, just like like, Rechumna, not just like all of these sounds we're talking about. and you are quite literally facilitating the dissemination of this,

like making this the most popular music for young people right now. 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 Keitin, with one of my co-writers.

And we went out there just to listen what. what was getting played. And I heard El Marenga, like, that was the first song. We just got into the club and the first song that I heard was El Merenge. And it's like, oh, wow, they actually play my songs in a club. They're playing a lot of your songs in the club. Do you think of in terms of your audience?

Because 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 Merenge is so Felix. I was like, no one can dance to a meringue, it's too fast, which is not true, but, you know, 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? I don't, 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 it's a funny story that happened to me when I was doing La Batchata, 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 Batchata because 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 Batchata and it's not knowing how things are done what makes it special and and you know there 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.

You know, and he's like, that's what makes it special. And like, well, it makes it special that it's done by somebody that doesn't do Batchata. Like the biggest Batchata song in the last five years or whatever it is was done by a guy that does pop music. Music is crazy. And I mean, the other day, Coltie performed in both. and he was in he was singing in the middle of the show and this this stadium concert with Colplay and I'm big the Coltley biggest fan and he in the middle of the show it says like I'm gonna 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 Batchata he sings la Bichata in in a concert and I just wanted to cry hearing that and I just like I just can't believe like one of my of Chris Martin is singing a 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 that I want to meet him and that 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. Okay, well, we could have spent hours hanging out and talking music. with Edgar Barrera. We chose one more Latino mashup to wrap things up. Mexican artist, Karin Leon, and Colombian vocalist Maluma

singing over the track Segung Kien. A Mexican Corrido performed over the one, two, three of a border wall. This record has a little bit of both worlds because I try to blend

in Karin's world with the pop world and it's funny because you have the bass, like the bass sound is the Tadolocche layered with a sine wave so you can hear the Toloche playing with a sine wave and then to try to get Karin's vibe into it we, I added some charchettes to it like so this, those three elements that sound are Karin elements. This is like the Tholome Loche 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 pop kind of. So this already sounds more like Maluma. And adding like the pads, this pads, you know, this is like the Maluma world of the record. When you said that that was your starting point like of Sonic Inspiration, I was like, what is this man talking about? No, and it is. So when you hear it isolated, I see what you're saying. It has that sound to it, definitely.

It does. And it feels, I mean, it's not, it doesn't sound the same, but it's got like a vibe to it. This is like our way of doing it in the Latin world. It's so light. It's so bright. Yeah. And then just Karin's elements are just like three elements, which are this, this, this, and this. And that just makes the blend sound.

Okay, you got it. And you get the best of both worlds. Wow, there's so much intricacy in how you blend worlds. It's just like adding two or three elements. You can 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 overproduced. Never like overproduced stuff. Just keep it simple. 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. You know, Anna, 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 Siltz. And our audio producer is Joaquin Kotler. Grace Chong keeps all the parts moving the way they're supposed to move. Soraya Mohamed is the executive producer of NPR Music.

And Keith Jenkins is our hefe-in-chief, VP of NPR Music and Visuals. I'm Felix Contreras. And I'm Anna Maria Sayer. Thank you so much for listening. I'm gonna'n't you know, I'm gonna'u'u'u'a'u'a'n'pute'a'i'a'a'a'a'