How do you define what makes a songwriter iconic? Well, if you’re celebrating 98 weeks atop Billboard’s Latin Producers chart, chances are you can lay fair claim to the word “iconic,” and that’s exactly what producer Tainy did at Billboard 2021 Latin Music Week in Miami on Tuesday (Sept. 21). In addition to marking that staggering 98 weeks atop the chart, Tainy also has nine songs on the Hot Latin Songs chart, including four top 10s, this week.
All of that and more was touched on during Sony Music Publishing’s Iconic Songwriter Q+A with Tainy Presented by Sony Music Publishing, which offered attendees the chance to get to know Tainy during a wide-ranging interview with Billboard VP/Latin Industry Lead Leila Cobo, which covered the San Juan, Puerto Rico native’s 15-year journey from an upstart to a game-charger.
Here are five things we learned during the Q+A with Tainy.
What It Was Like Branching Out to Work With Shawn Mendes
Tainy teamed up with Canadian pop star Shawn Mendes earlier this year for “Summer of Love,” which found him stretching past his go-to production genre. “That was a special one, as people know me as a reggaeton producer,” Tainy said, noting he loved “to see how amazing [Mendes] is vocally.” While he relished the chance to pull back from reggaeton, he also said “Summer of Love” gave him the chance to play around with different types of musical energy: “[I would] bring that energy with the drum and the bass, but put in a cool keyboard.”
What He Thinks About Latin Music Right Now
“We are in an incredible moment in Latin music for us,” Tainy says. “You dance to it, the music almost doesn’t have a language anymore. You can dance to the same song in Europe and in Africa that you can in South America, and that’s super cool.”
The Hip-Hop Producers Who Influenced Him
Tainy said he grew up listening to early 2000s reggaeton, of course, but also rap, pop and rock; he noted that the Neptunes and Timbaland, in particular, had a big impact on him as producer.
What Immediately Comes to Tainy’s Mind When You Bring Up Bad Bunny
“Benito, I always feel is a genius for me,” he says of Bad Bunny, whom he’s worked with since Bunny’s 2018 debut X 100pre. “I’ve been blessed to work with many artists… [and] I feel that you can see the growth with him.”
The Difference Between Tainy the Artist and Tainy the Producer
“As a producer, I try to be almost like a chameleon, I try to transform myself into what [the artist] wants to achieve and listen to him and what he wants to convey.”
