The Mexican composer Edgar Barrera, “sentimental translator” of singers

Behind the successes of Camilo, Christian Nodal, Grupo Firme, Maluma, Ariana Grande and even Madonna, is the composer Edgar Barrera, the Mexican most nominated for the Latin Grammy Awards 2022, who boasts not only of writing the songs of the moment, but of to be a sentimental “translator” of the artists.

“I lived very closely what Christian was going through and one day in Mexico at his house, I sat down at the piano and started to write, and I wrote the song (We are no longer nor will we be), I knocked on the door and he, who was going through all the heartbreak, when he heard it he started to cry, his head blew off,” recalls Barrera in an interview with Efe.

Nodal, who this year has been in the public eye for his breakup with Mexican singer Belinda, worked side by side with Barrera to make the song that currently has more than 160 million views on YouTube and more than 170 million on Spotify.

Like him, Barrera has given hits to other artists and only today songs like Indigo of Camilo and Evaluna, everyone of Grupo Firme and Maluma, I live in 6 by Christian Nodal, among others, they have him as the second most nominated artist at the Latin Recording Academy gala, and even competing with himself.

“There is a category of regional Mexican in which I am competing with myself, I am three times with a song by Christian, one by Carin León and another by Maluma and Grupo Firme. I don’t know, I don’t even know which one to go to”, he says of “his children of his”, referring to his themes.

an unusual reality

Although his life is far from the everyday life of most, his story of the success that commitment, perseverance and work bring could sound like the cliché of the so-called “American dream”.

From “charging cables” and “serving coffee”, it became the mind behind hits like get over me of firm group, I like it of Shakira with Annuel, Medellin of Maluma or Dance with Me by Selena Gomez and Rauw Alejandro.

“The first one I did a duo with was, I think, with Maluma, I met him when he first arrived in Miami, he still didn’t have the international success he has today,” he recalls.

Barrera would go with his guitar and computer to Maluma’s tours, with whom he wrote and produced records on the buses without rest.

It was not until recently that they decided to change their way of working.

“(Now) what we do is disconnect for a week and a half or two, we go to a beach,” he details.

Look up

But having artists like Madonna, Thalía or Shakira on your list is not enough to stop you from feeling the weight and pressure when working with celebrities.

Proof of this was his work in Bam Bam with Camila Cabello and Ed Sheeran.

“That was something interesting, because working with an artist like him is like, what can one give Ed Sheeran? Why am I going to make him a style that he already knows how to do?”, he says.

For this reason, he decided to take the English composer out of his comfort zone with a sauce with Latin roots.

Barrera grew up in the northern state of Tamaulipas in Mexico, studied in his country and arrived in Miami with the hope of making a place for himself in music.

According to him, his dream was to be a composer and the surprise was that he also became a producer.

Now, at 32, he already has 17 Latin Grammys and one Grammy, and will probably add as many more at the November 17 ceremony.

“I am normally used to being hidden behind the artist. But (the Grammys) are the only awards that really honor the one behind the songs,” she says.

new aspirations

Among the challenges to be assumed and artists with whom I would like to work are Mexican rock bands such as Maná, Molotov and Café Tacvba, since he defines himself as a “rocker at heart.”

Also added to her wish list are Post Malone, Dua Lipa and Bruno Mars.

“I still have a list, many dreams to pursue and achieve,” he concludes.