Tainy on Who’s Pushing Reggaeton Forward, Hanging With Skrillex, and Why AI Music Can’t Measure Up
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The Future of Music Interview is a Q&A in which our favorite artists and producers share their vision of what’s next, weighing in on everything from AI to emerging scenes to the artists inspiring them the most.
You could call Tainy reggaeton’s resident psychic. Since he started making beats at 15 years old, Marco Masis has predicted the future of the genre — and helped sculpt it into reality. The now-33-year-old producer is the architect behind some of the genre’s most avant-garde moments, going back to his days as a teen protégé of the titanic duo Luny Tunes and stretching to his current reign as one of the genre’s most vaunted beatmakers. From the perreo galáctico of Wisin y Yandel’s 2009 hit “Abusadora” to the gothic synthwave of Rauw Alejandro’s “Dime Quien???,” Masis’ legacy has been one of radical reinvention.
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“Reggaeton is a great sound, but at the same time, these artists are capable of proposing new ideas,” says Tainy over Zoom. Masis is putting the final touches on his debut album, DATA, which drops on June 29. The album has been in the works for the past few years, a labor of love that he has tinkered with while crafting chart-topping hits for the likes of Bad Bunny and Shawn Mendes. “It’s a cool combination of past and future,” says Masis. “I wanted to have something that had, in terms of the instruments or synthesizers, a really techie identity, but at the same time, to feel nostalgic for the sounds that inspired me from before.”
The project includes artists from the first generation of reggaeton’s commercial explosion, like Daddy Yankee and Wisin y Yandel, but also some of the vanguard, such as Bad Bunny, Rauw Alejandro, and Young Miko. There are also some unusual guests — stars from outside the universe of reggaeton, like the Marías, Skrillex, Four Tet, and Arca. Even the visual treatment is futuristic: Masis says it’s an homage to his longtime obsession with anime, with cover art directed by the Japanese animator Hiromasa Ogura, of Ghost in the Shell fame. Here, Tainy discusses the scenes and sounds that he’s keeping an eye on — and what he thinks about the industry debates around artificial intelligence.
Who is experimenting and pushing reggaeton forward?
This generation is of a different mindset than the one that came before. You’re a lot more in tune with what’s happening around the world, rather than whatever gets to your country and starts sounding on the radio because it’s what they’re promoting or because it’s a hit around the world.
Benito [Bad Bunny] has been at the forefront. He’s doing whatever he loves, which is what I think artists should do in general — you shouldn’t be locked in a box and pleasing other people. You should please yourself. I’m so blessed to be able to work with him; he gave me chances to do these things and propose new ideas. At the same time, J Balvin was really ahead of his time in working with different producers or artists, touching different sounds and going to different countries and mixing languages. He’s always been very forward-thinking.
Rosalía has been a big shifter in the game. You could say she’s not fully reggaeton, but she sounds amazing when she does it. She’s been able to create a specific sound with that reggaeton influence.
All around the world, I’m really happy with the urban Latin space because of the chances that they give to producers: Sky Rompiendo is doing his thing; Manuel Lara being able to work with Kali Uchis and do “telepatía.” I’ve always been a fan of this more indie, alternative music. That’s cool and refreshing and inspires you to keep going into the studio and see what else we can do.
Are there any other genres or scenes right now that you feel really excited by? Why?
I’ve been spending time in the past couple of months with somebody that I’m a huge fan of and is one of my biggest influences — Skrillex. I’m constantly learning from different styles and from different countries that play different types of electronic music, but at the same time have this soul to it. That’s really caught my ear, in terms of production and how you mix certain sounds and the energy that it has.
At the same time, the alternative scene has been interesting to me for a while now. Because of the sounds, how the vocals feel, the instruments and the melodies — just the vibe that it puts you in when you listen to it. Tame Impala, I really love what he’s been doing. [Alternative music] inspires me a lot in terms of chord progressions and atmospheres, where I want my music to take you to a different place.
That’s something that I want to keep exploring: What can I propose in those arenas? How can I add some of that to whatever I’m doing? I get to play with [alternative and electronic music] in my project, which is something that I’m excited about, because people haven’t really heard much of those things from me. I created a cool balance between reggaeton and what people really know me for, but also where I am at right now in my life as a producer and the sounds that I’m a fan of.
In the past, we’ve talked about how much electronic influence is coming into reggaeton right now. Where do you see that going in the future?
I feel like it’s going to be influencing this new generation more and more. They’re going to find ways of mixing whatever we heard from before and keep that essence of the Latin style, but just take it to someplace else. Rauw [Alejandro] has been playing a lot with some of those things. I really love that he made a concept album and went out there to another galaxy.
I’ve also been a fan of what PinkPantheress has been doing. It was just so different, that combination of the fast-paced, hard drum-and-bass feel. But the melodies are so calm and pursue such a cool, nice mood.
Like I mentioned, being with Skrillex and seeing the two projects that he just dropped and how the energy feels — I want to be able to bring some of that because it sounds so perfect to me production-wise. We were in Brazil for almost two weeks and listening to the sounds over there. They do Miami freestyle, but in a different way, singing in Portuguese. I just got back so inspired to keep adding more and more to the things I want to dive into. I can’t wait to see what else this new generation keeps bringing to us, in a language that we all speak, but elevates the sound globally.
What worries you the most about the future of music? Is there any concern you have about what the future will look like?
There’s so much music coming out quickly. I feel people don’t really get to digest it or have time to understand it. Sometimes, a lot of good music gets lost because maybe it didn’t come out at the right time, or it came out at the same time as somebody else that got more exposure. It’s tough for up-and-comers, but also even for the big artists. That’s concerning for me: for music to be lost. At the same time, it’s cool that people get to reinvent themselves and propose new stuff constantly, rather than waiting four or five years for the next project.
Working on this project, I try to stay in my space and just be happy with what I have and know this doesn’t sound like whatever’s happening right now. Because that’s where you get away from what you’re passionate about, because you’re thinking of the response. I’m a little bit calmer on that side, because I never had that as a mindset. I just wanted to make stuff that made me feel excited. I know that sometimes you have to move a little bit quicker because of the fear of getting lost in all this music.
We’ve also been seeing all that AI stuff. I don’t really understand the ins and outs of it, but it’s just so crazy, listening to people that re-create these artists as if it was them. It’s cool to get a laugh out of or be surprised at, but at the end of the day, it’s the human touch [that matters], whether it’s the errors that make something beautiful, or the knowledge, or the intangibles.
You could go on YouTube and look up a “Tainy-type beat,” but it’s not going to be the same as a real Tainy beat.
Exactly. There’s people that could get scared of that — like, “They’re gonna get us out of business or out of the game.” But there’s never going to be anything like being spontaneous and seeing what happens in a room, in a session, on a plane, wherever.
I don’t feel we’re in a bad or scary moment. I think that the future is bright in terms of seeing some genres that were forgotten for a little bit come up again. Seeing merengue and bachata come back and have their moment — those are cool things, ‘cause we can’t let these amazing genres die.
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