From Reggaetón SpongeBob To Pop Smashes, Tainy Is 'Going To Keep Pushing The Envelope'

By Lucas Villa


Think of your preference reggaetón track. Whether it’s a Wisin & Yandel cut from the genre's 2000s breakthrough, like “Abusadora,” or a contemporary hit, like “Yo Perreo Sola” or “Callaíta,” Tainy has likely had a hand in it. Whenever reggaetón was first rising up, the Puerto Rican producer was working under Luny Tunes, the duo du jour beyond the song that lit the fuse for reggaetón, Daddy Yankee's “Gasolina.” In the 15 years since, he's become the go-to hitmaker for artists like J Balvin, Bad Bunny, and Anuel AA. Last month, on Billboard's Latin Producers chart, which ranks the producers with the largest hits of the week, Tainy had sat at No. 1 for over 50 weeks. Recently, he was awarded Producer of the Year at the Billboard Latin Music Awards for his achievements in that medium.


"That was astonishing for me," he tells MTV News. "That's the initial time [for me] getting an award like that. I'm happy, however I'm back to work to keep it going."


He’s also won three Latin Grammys, and he’s up for four more at the 2020 show later this month. He's nominated twice in the Album of the Year category for his work on two of the year's biggest releases: Bad Bunny's YHLQMDLG and J Balvin's Colores. This sort of success has been over a decade in the making.


When Marco "Tainy" Masís was 14, his friend Nely "El Arma Secreta" introduced him to the world of music production. Immediately after learning the ropes from Nely, Tainy submitted his music to Luny Tunes, who signed the aspiring producer. Right following the genre's global success with "Gasolina," even non-Latinx acts were wanting in on the movement. In 2006, Paris Hilton commissioned a Luny Tunes remix of "Stars Are Blind" that the duo enlisted Tainy to work on. Boricua reggaetoneros Wisin & Yandel featured on the track. "For me that was crazy because reggaetón was exploding," he recalls. "Artists from all around the world were noticing what we were doing."


Tainy kept that momentum for reggaetón going well into the following decades, including stepping out from beyond the boards as a listed artist on recent hits. This summer, Tainy aligned British pop star Dua Lipa with J Balvin and Bad Bunny on "Un Día (One Day)" and reworked the iconic SpongeBob Squarepants theme song on "Agua" with Balvin.


Like Luny Tunes did with him, Tainy is hoping to nurture the next generation of talent with his Neon16 label. The imprint's new release is "Falta," with Dominican-American rapper DaniLeigh, Tainy, and new signee Kris Floyd, which dropped on October 30. "It's one of my preferred tracks," he says. "Kris Floyd killed it. DaniLeigh killed it. They combined their voices so well." With his latest replace in the world, Tainy spoke to MTV News about the reggaetón music movement and the hugest hits of his career.


MTV News: You have the special perspective of working in reggaetón from its 2000s breakthrough to right now. How has the scene changed over the years?


Tainy: The genre was still, like, evolving If I began and finding its way. I think right now we have something more stable. You know the sound around the world. You know what reggaetón is. Right now you have different sub-genres beneath it. It's a lot more structured right now. It's right now seeing where it might keep going. Before there was a lot of backlash, as in any other genre, that this wasn't music, that this was something people would not respect musically. It needed time to evolve and be perfected, like us as producers, the sound, the excellent, and everything.


MTV News: You produced Justin Bieber's "Habitual" for his Changes album this year. What was it like to do something outdoors of reggaetón?


Tainy: I've routinely wanted to work with Justin. He gave me the possibility to send in some music and he ended up liking the opening instrumental idea that I had. In case you listen to the project, it's all in that same R&B vibe. Who is aware? Maybe eventually we can do something like reggaetón with more movement. It's another objective for me have the ability to work with artists of that caliber. I attempt to grow as a producer and not get locked in that you're just this reggaetón producer. I'm a fan of a lot of types of music. I'd like to be able to see if I could contribute this to my repertoire of things that I can do and people that I can work with. Little by little I've gotten these chances with songs like "Habitual" and [Cardi B's] "I Like It," which isn't a reggaetón song, and it also was successful.


MTV News: Why did you begin listing yourself as an artist on some of your recent songs?


Tainy: Me, as a producer and fan of music, I'm beginning to make different ideas and things that I'd like to do. It's not necessarily what an artist is asking from me at the moment. This is one possibility where I can mention to an artist, "Yo, come into my world and visualize what I'd like to do music-wise." Right now it's about what I want to do at this stage in my life and my career, what I'd like to transmit with my music.


MTV News: A big hit with your name on it is "Agua" with J Balvin. What was it like to remake the SpongeBob Squarepants theme?


Tainy: At the starting it was a lot of pressure because everybody understands SpongeBob. Everybody is aware the theme song, and you also don't hope to disaster it up. Once I had the files and I was in the studio and in my zone, everything just began flowing of course. It was a really fun experience creating the music and knowing that J Balvin could be the one to transmit that energy of the song. He was super hyped and into it.


MTV News: This summer you also bridged pop and reggaetón with Dua Lipa, J Balvin, and Bad Bunny on "Un Día (One Day)." What was that experience like?


Tainy: It's something I'd like to keep doing, merging genres and merging sounds. Seeing what else we can create. What else can be done that's not predictable. This beat on "Un Día" has a different vibe where you could feel the movement of a reggaetón song, nevertheless the same time, it may still feel pop. It may feel mellow. Blending those worlds of Dua Lipa, Balvin, and Bad Bunny, to me that's everything. As a producer, to have artists like that on one track is amazing.


MTV News: What do you visualize for the future of reggaetón music?


Tainy: I never thought reggaetón could be exactly where it is now, so I may never know where else could this keep going. What I know is that I'm going keep attempting to expand and keep pushing the restrictions of what we're doing. I don't hope to stay comfortable with where reggaetón is. I'm going to keep pushing the envelope.