Latin Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Edgar Barrera has left an indelible mark on Latin music through his genre-bending versatility and mastery of multiple instruments. He’s become the most in-demand songwriter with 23 song credits as a songwriter and 19 as a producer on the Billboard Hot 100. From his collaborations with Peso Pluma and Grupo Frontera on "Tulum" to producing Becky G's "Por el Contrario" featuring Ángela Aguilar and Leonardo Aguilar, and challenging Karol G to explore new musical territories, Barrera’s influence is undeniable. Keep watching to learn about his beginnings, his stories working with Madonna and Shakira, his advice for other producers, and much more!
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00:00Carol is Selena's number one fan, I think.
00:03Number one.
00:04Shakira has made me a better producer
00:08because she's super, super, super picky with her songs,
00:12with her productions, and with everything.
00:14Arriving in London, that morning she tells me,
00:16look, we have a relationship with Madonna.
00:20With Madonna? Madonna, Madonna?
00:22And she says, yes, with Madonna.
00:25We worked with Maluma and I on the song for a while,
00:28we structured it, and when she arrived, she said,
00:31no, I want it to be this way.
00:33I sent Peso, we sent him like three options, three songs,
00:37and that was the one he chose.
00:38He chose Tulum.
00:39Becky, in the end, told me, look,
00:41I want to do a song with Angela and Leonardo.
00:44Why don't we do it in mariachi?
00:49First of all, I never thought I'd be here doing this.
00:53On this side of the glass,
00:55because I'm always behind, hidden,
00:57and I try to make sure people don't know who I am,
01:01to keep me out of focus.
01:03And since I was very little, I've always liked music
01:07because my dad is a musician.
01:09My dad has a group called Mr. Chivo,
01:12and I grew up listening to his music
01:15and the passion he has for music,
01:17along with my mom, she's also very passionate about music.
01:20And in my house, there's always been music playing all the time.
01:24And I remember all those nights,
01:26for example, that I saw my dad with all the vinyls,
01:29listening and listening and listening,
01:31because the group recorded a lot of covers.
01:33And then an uncle of mine started writing songs,
01:37and once he bought an album from Elvis Crespo
01:41that had a song by my uncle,
01:43and I saw it there in the credits,
01:45and I realized that there really is a part in music
01:48in which you don't have to be the artist,
01:50but you can be part of the artist's career.
01:53And that's when I started asking,
01:55how does this work, dad?
01:57Asking him why he wrote a song
01:59and not the artist who interprets it.
02:01He already explained to me that it's because
02:03there are people who are dedicated to composing.
02:05And that's when I started getting a lot of attention like that,
02:08and I started buying more records, more music,
02:10seeing names like Juan Gabriel, for example,
02:12that I saw a lot on records, I don't know,
02:15from Maná, for example, I had the album Unplugged from Maná,
02:18and there was a song by José Alfredo Jiménez,
02:20Te solté la rienda.
02:21And there was a song by Juan Gabriel,
02:23Se me olvidó otra vez.
02:24And I said, but why do these artists sing songs
02:27that are not theirs?
02:29And back to all that.
02:31So that's when I started getting a lot of attention,
02:33like all this, what's behind,
02:35the people behind,
02:36I started to pay more attention to that
02:38than the people in front of me.
02:41I started playing bass in a band,
02:43then the guitarist,
02:45who was in the band,
02:46who had a band with my brother and a friend,
02:49and the guitarist never made it to rehearsals.
02:51And one day, I remember we had a rehearsal,
02:53and he didn't make it, and I was very upset,
02:55and I remember I said to him,
02:56Dad, I want to learn to play the guitar,
02:58because I'm not going to be depending on the guitarist,
03:00whether he comes or not.
03:01I would be seven, eight years old, I think I was.
03:04And I was already so focused on the discipline and all that,
03:07and if we had a rehearsal, I was there.
03:09We didn't play for anyone,
03:11it was just us who played,
03:13we were musicians.
03:15And my dad gave me the guitar lessons,
03:17the first classes,
03:19and I always admired a lot,
03:21for example, Carlos Santana's guitar,
03:23the way he played, being Mexican.
03:31How was Carlos Santana playing
03:33with artists like Michael Jackson?
03:35I saw Carlos Santana being Mexican,
03:37being from Jalisco,
03:39he got to where he got,
03:41and this passion for the guitar was born,
03:43and I started playing guitar,
03:45playing songs by Carlos Santana,
03:47Maná, Linkin Park,
03:49a lot of different music.
03:53When I came to Miami at 20 years old,
03:55I came chasing this dream,
03:57because I knew that I wanted to be a musician,
04:01I was studying electronic engineering
04:03at the university,
04:05and I really didn't like it at all.
04:07I mean, I went to school,
04:09I got good grades and everything,
04:11but I wasn't passionate about
04:13electronic engineering,
04:15and I took a classical guitar course
04:17at the university,
04:19and that's when I started
04:21studying music more seriously,
04:23and I remember that my guitar teacher
04:25started telling me,
04:27you know,
04:29my guitar teacher started telling me
04:31that I should start taking this
04:33more seriously,
04:35because I saw that I liked the music
04:37more than anything else,
04:39and he recommended me to audition
04:41at Berklee College of Music,
04:43and I went to Boston, I auditioned,
04:45they gave me a scholarship,
04:47for the university it wasn't enough
04:49the scholarship they gave me
04:51to pay for the whole school,
04:53and for that reason I decided
04:55to do an internship here in Miami,
04:57and I worked with him for 20 years,
04:59serving coffee,
05:01and I started from the lowest level
05:03that you can start in music,
05:05but thanks to that I also learned
05:07that nowadays I don't underestimate
05:09the work of anyone,
05:11much less the one who serves me coffee,
05:13because that's what the producer
05:15of the year can be,
05:17like it happened to me,
05:19I had the opportunity to meet
05:21many artists, many executives
05:23of the industry,
05:25they treated me very well,
05:27and they were the ones
05:29who opened the door for me
05:31to get to where I am now.
05:33Since I came to Miami,
05:35I had the opportunity
05:37to work,
05:39those first recordings
05:41with Alejandro Sanz,
05:43he was one of the first artists
05:45with whom I had some credits,
05:47and I didn't understand
05:49what was happening to me,
05:51I had just arrived here in Miami,
05:53it's not easy to enter
05:55and look for a position,
05:57and relatively in a year and a half
05:59all this happened to me,
06:01and when I saw the credits
06:03of Alejandro Sanz's album,
06:05after that,
06:07a month or a month and a half
06:09the nominations for the Grammys came out,
06:11and I was one of the most nominated,
06:13the first time they nominated me
06:15I was one of the most nominated,
06:17and everyone called me and congratulated me,
06:19I didn't understand what was happening,
06:22I didn't understand,
06:24so in the end I started to look
06:26at what had been nominated,
06:28that year I didn't win any Grammys.
06:30Being a composer or producer
06:32who writes a song for an artist,
06:34then another for another,
06:36it's not that I don't have as much merit,
06:38I have the same merit,
06:40but also the growth,
06:42and doing a career with an artist,
06:44I feel that in my case,
06:46I had to be very close,
06:48like in the career of Nodal,
06:50in the career of Maluma,
06:52when we were starting,
06:54we were both starting,
06:56both careers, my career as a composer
06:58and as a producer,
07:00his career as an artist,
07:02with Camilo,
07:04something similar happened to me,
07:06with Grupo Frontera,
07:08looking for that side,
07:10that angle,
07:12to the artists,
07:14I think that's what defines
07:16at the end of the day,
07:18maybe giving one more song
07:20to an artist.
07:24I'm jumping from genres
07:26because I get bored very quickly,
07:28I can't be doing the same thing
07:30for a week,
07:32there are producers who can do it,
07:34I can't do it,
07:36I can be doing an album of mariachi
07:38for a week,
07:40and the next week I get bored
07:42and I want to do something else,
07:44for example,
07:46they don't go with the trend,
07:48almost always,
07:50for example, when we did
07:52Manuel Turizo's bachata,
07:56there was no bachata playing,
07:58and it was like,
08:00I like to do what the others
08:02are not doing,
08:04so doing a song like bachata
08:06takes me out of my comfort zone,
08:08I don't know how to do bachatas,
08:10but I try to do it,
08:12and I did it with bachata,
08:14but I feel that bachata
08:16doesn't have a lead guitar
08:18playing all the time,
08:20I feel that's the essence
08:22that I give it,
08:24it's not a legit bachata,
08:26but it's a more modernized bachata,
08:28we had already done the bachata,
08:30joking in the studio,
08:32and we said,
08:34let's do the merengue,
08:38and we laughed for like 5 minutes,
08:40or 2 minutes,
08:42and we went to the studio,
08:44and Marshmello said,
08:46what's that, what's the merengue?
08:48And I said,
08:50ah, the merengue is this,
08:52and I took the piano,
08:54and I started to play
08:56merengue style,
08:58and I played,
09:00and Marshmello said,
09:02ah, I like that,
09:04let's do something like that,
09:06and Manuel started with the melody,
09:08and the merengue came out.
09:10It's one of the songs,
09:12I think,
09:14one of the fastest
09:16that we've done in the studio,
09:18also because of the energy,
09:20Manuel plays the intro,
09:22I play the chorus,
09:24Marshmello starts working with Nico,
09:26on the track,
09:28so I'm doing both things,
09:30finishing writing the song with Manuel,
09:32giving him the chorus melodies,
09:34writing the lyrics with him,
09:36and at the same time,
09:38recording the piano,
09:40the piano that I listen to is me,
09:42playing that piano, for example,
09:44and I feel like
09:46we don't think about it,
09:48we have fun in the studio,
09:50and if we do the merengue,
09:52let's do it,
09:54or with Carol,
09:56we just did a merengue of
09:58Si antes te hubiera conocido,
10:00all that,
10:02making a merengue,
10:04it's her idea,
10:06she wanted to take that direction,
10:08to make a different song,
10:10and we have to nail her with that.
10:18With Carol, for example,
10:20talking a lot with her in the studio,
10:22what we were talking about,
10:24the importance of talking,
10:26the vision and what the artist likes,
10:28Carol is the number one fanatic,
10:30I think, of Selena,
10:32but the number one,
10:34I was with her a little while ago,
10:36working, and the two days I arrived,
10:38with Selena's shirts, all the time,
10:40it's so much the passion she has,
10:42and the love and respect
10:44she has for Selena's music,
10:46that's why we did Mi Ex Tenia Razón.
10:54With a little tribute
10:56of what would be,
10:58how would a song be
11:00made in 2024
11:02for Selena,
11:04so doing that with Carol,
11:06it's like taking her
11:08out of her comfort zone,
11:10unconsciously we're changing the game,
11:12but I'm not doing it,
11:14not because I don't like it,
11:16well, I don't like to follow trends,
11:18I like to be one step ahead
11:20of what's coming,
11:22for example,
11:24when we did Un Por Ciento,
11:26Bad Bunny doing a cumbia.
11:28Why?
11:33And it works,
11:35because it's something
11:37that nobody is doing,
11:39as it's part of the trend,
11:41maybe it doesn't catch your attention,
11:43but it catches your bad attention,
11:45seeing an artist doing something
11:47that he's not used to doing.
11:51Well, that song,
11:53we did it with Shakira,
11:55and it was like,
11:57we were having fun,
11:59as I told you,
12:01we were in the studio
12:03saying things that maybe
12:05other songs don't say,
12:07and Shakira made me
12:09a better producer,
12:11because I've always said
12:13that she's super picky
12:15with her songs,
12:17with her productions and everything,
12:19she's an artist that
12:21if she asks you to lower
12:23a decibel to a snare,
12:25and you don't,
12:27she realizes you didn't,
12:29and Shakira can tell you
12:31that she wants to go back
12:33to the version of 9.30 at night,
12:35that you had that day in the studio,
12:37and you as a producer
12:39have to be aware
12:41of saving all the sessions,
12:43because at the end of the day,
12:45if the artist from 9.30 at night
12:47to 10 at night
12:49lost the energy,
12:51you have to go back to 9.30
12:53so you don't lose energy,
12:55so all that kind of things,
12:57it's been like a school
12:59for me,
13:01and I thank her for giving me
13:03the opportunity to work with her
13:05and learn, because beyond
13:07working with her,
13:09what she's doing with me
13:11is more than what I'm doing for her.
13:13Then Shakira invited us
13:15to the video, Katie and me,
13:17I wrote it with Katie,
13:19and Manu, who's in the song,
13:21and being there in the video
13:23with her, that's what makes
13:25the artist different,
13:27I mean, what artist invites you
13:29to go out in a video with her
13:31on one side, jumping,
13:33having a good time, and that also speaks
13:35of the human side of the artist,
13:37and of the gratitude
13:39that the artist also shows
13:41to his team, for example,
13:43Karim León just put all the
13:45composers on the cover of his next album.
13:47And you didn't think big
13:49Crying is good, dude
13:51And you're like,
13:53what artist does that?
13:55And I go out next to Karim León on the cover,
13:57and even here, for example,
13:59right now we're doing this,
14:01I go out on the cover of this magazine
14:03so important, with weight, you know?
14:05I mean, it's that the artists
14:07also have that affection
14:09and mutual respect that we have.
14:11Come with me, let's take a trip
14:13If I take you far away
14:15I didn't know what I was going to do
14:17One day Maluma called me
14:19and asked me what I was going to do
14:21on Monday, and I was like,
14:23what do I have to do?
14:25And he said, can you come with me to London?
14:27And I was like, yeah,
14:29I'll come tomorrow
14:31I went to London
14:33I was going on vacation,
14:35I went with my wife and everything,
14:37I was relaxed
14:39I didn't know what I was going to do,
14:41I thought I was going to make music with him,
14:43and that morning
14:45he told me, look,
14:47we have a relationship with Madonna
14:49And I was like, with Madonna?
14:51And he said, yes, with Madonna
14:53And I was like, ok
14:55And the requirements of Madonna
14:57before coming to the studio
14:59were very specific,
15:01she didn't want us to arrive
15:03with security,
15:05that no one would arrive,
15:07that we didn't have to be in the session,
15:09that we weren't accompanied by anyone
15:11It was an experience
15:13that I didn't believe
15:15I don't know,
15:17I relate it as
15:19if it had also been
15:21working with the Beatles,
15:23with Michael Jackson,
15:25Madonna is at that level,
15:27with Prince, with those artists
15:29with whom one grew up listening
15:31and being with her in the studio
15:33was another level
15:35In the end, we tried to contribute
15:37more to the song,
15:39to do what she wanted
15:41and I go back to what I told you,
15:43as a producer,
15:45you have to work with the artist's vision
15:47I asked her if she could sit down
15:49to work on the song,
15:51structure everything
15:53We worked for a while,
15:55Maluma and I, on the song,
15:57we structured it,
15:59and when she arrived,
16:01she told us, no,
16:03I want it to be this way
16:05I wanted to make it
16:07You're not going to argue
16:09with Madonna
16:11Those experiences
16:13that you have left,
16:15and the simple fact
16:17of being with her
16:19and with Mike Dean,
16:21who was the other producer
16:23who is a hard Mike Dean,
16:25one of the best producers
16:27in the American industry
16:29It's being with them and learning
16:31You are the richest
16:33in the world
16:35I had already worked with Peso
16:37but I wanted him
16:39to try other styles
16:41because I had heard Peso
16:43singing reggaeton,
16:45and he broke it,
16:47singing corridos,
16:49and he broke it
16:51So I said, let's put Peso
16:53to sing a genre that he hasn't sung
16:55We put him to sing a cumbia
16:57and he broke it
16:59All artists can give themselves that luxury
17:01and I wanted to give myself
17:03that courage
17:05to make a song
17:07and I sent Peso
17:09three options, three songs
17:11and that was the one he chose
17:13He chose Tulum
17:15and I think we sat there
17:17to correct things,
17:19to work on the lyrics together
17:21Peso is an artist
17:23who is very faithful to his sound
17:25I leave it to Peso
17:27and I help him with the lyrics
17:29I help him finish the sentences
17:31I help him find
17:33that angle he is looking for
17:35in his music
17:41Me and Becky always wanted
17:43to make a Mexican album
17:45because we have a lot of similarities
17:47in that we are
17:49very American
17:51for Mexicans
17:53and very Mexican for Americans
17:55and we wanted to make
17:57that album
17:59with collaborations
18:01with Mexican-Americans
18:03who are in the industry
18:05We already had the song
18:07of Por el Contrario
18:09It was one of the first songs
18:11I wrote for that project
18:13and the song stayed out all the time
18:15we searched and searched
18:17and I always came back to that song
18:19but I wasn't so sure
18:21what kind of arrangement
18:23the album was going
18:25in a way that I felt
18:27that song didn't fit in the album
18:29and for that reason we were
18:31leaving it out
18:33Becky told me
18:35I want to make a song with Angela
18:37and Leonardo
18:39why don't we do it in mariachi
18:41and I made the arrangement with Marito
18:43who is an excellent mariachi arranger
18:45and we sat in the studio
18:47to do it
18:49and luckily we didn't leave it out
18:51It's one of the songs
18:53that has marked me the most
18:55as a statement
18:57in Becky's career
18:59in Angela's and Leonardo's
19:01and in my career as a composer and producer
19:03I feel it's one of my favorite songs
19:09To create a success
19:11you can't think you're creating a success
19:13If you arrive at the studio
19:15thinking you have to create a success
19:1799% of the time
19:19you don't create a success
19:21I feel that music
19:23Quincy Jones once said
19:25that melody is the voice of God
19:27when God knows you're chasing something
19:29for the wrong reasons
19:31he doesn't give it to you
19:33I don't know, I make music because I'm passionate
19:35I'm not aware of the numbers
19:37I'm not aware
19:39obviously it's important
19:41that the song has the success
19:43that it's going to have
19:45but doing it to chase numbers
19:47usually doesn't work
19:59I'm very proud to represent
20:01the Latin community
20:03especially because
20:05we're in the American Grammys
20:07where there should be
20:09more Latin representation
20:11I shouldn't be the only one
20:13that's wrong
20:15because Latin music
20:17has had a global impact
20:19very strong
20:21there should be more people
20:23nominated there
20:25I'm very grateful
20:27because they chose me
20:29to be representing
20:31in that category
20:33but I feel there should be
20:35more Latin representation
20:37I think we're achieving it
20:39little by little
20:41I like it because
20:43it's possible
20:45you can sign up
20:47you can be nominated for an American Grammy
20:49not only because
20:51we're Latin music
20:53this is our box
20:55but it's also
20:57possible to do things
20:59in the American way
21:03be faithful to the sounds
21:05try to be different
21:07for example
21:09when I just got to Miami
21:11at the beginning
21:13I wasn't
21:15the urban producer
21:17why?
21:19because I'm not from Puerto Rico
21:21I grew up on the border
21:23with other genres
21:25and that frustrated me
21:27why can't I do this?
21:29why can't I work
21:31with these artists?
21:33and I realized
21:35I had something special
21:37and it's also
21:39to find yourself
21:41sometimes you don't find yourself fast
21:43maybe as a producer
21:45to find your sound
21:47when I just started
21:49I was chasing the sound
21:51of what was happening in PR
21:53in Colombia
21:55in other countries
21:57and at the end I realized
21:59maybe what I am
22:01can change
22:03or do something in this industry
22:05and I feel
22:07that has differentiated me
22:09from other producers
22:11or composers
22:13and I feel that's one of the advices
22:15I give to producers
22:17find that angle
22:19don't be afraid to do different things
22:21maybe if it's a mariachi
22:23and it's not working
22:25don't say I'm not going to do mariachi
22:27because that doesn't work
22:29or that's not what's trending
22:31put it in trend
22:33do it
22:35mix it with something
22:37that might catch people's attention
22:39and I feel that
22:41in Mexico
22:43we are doing it pretty well
22:45with the cumbia culture
22:47the corridos tumbados
22:49we are many
22:51and it's a wave
22:53and I feel that if we all work together
22:55like we are doing
22:57we will go far