BARRERA, BORDERKID AND A BIG "BEBE"

Edgar Barrera, one of the hottest producers of the moment, and his Sony imprint, Borderkid, are attached to two of 2023’s biggest hits: Fuerza Regida’s “Bebe Dame” and Carin Leon’s “Que Vuelvas.” Both música Mexicana smashes feature Grupo Frontera and have generated over 100m streams on Spotify since their December release dates while maintaining spots in the Top 5 on YouTube.

After Frontera went viral in 2022 with its cover of Morat’s “No Se Va,” Barrera guided the Texas norteño group's members to collaborate with artists they admire, connecting the creative dots to make it happen as the group routinely turned down major-label offers. Barrera discovered the act through a tip from a family member—usually a questionable A&R source—while visiting his hometown of McAllen, Texas.

“Bebe Dame”—the top-performing Spanish-language song in the U.S. so far this year—currently ranks in the Top 20 most-streamed tracks of 2023 in the U.S. “Que Vuelvas” is in the Top 50 of U.S. audio streams. But what the numbers don’t immediately show is how ingrained in Mexican and Mexican American culture these copyrights will be for years to come, with both songs destined to become música Mexicana standards.

In a conversation with HITS, Barrera pointed to the special nature of achieving success with a local band from McAllen, situated near the Texas/Mexico border: “Being involved with an act from my hometown makes me so proud. I’ve always wanted to go back to my roots. If I’d attempted to orchestrate success like this with an act from McAllen, it never would’ve happened."

“I feel like 2023 is going to be a very important year for regional Mexican music,” he continues. “I’m working hard to show the world that the genre can be a global powerhouse.”

As música Mexicana songs continue to perform well in the U.S., the demand for hitmakers like Barrera is inspiring interest from mainstream-market label partners, producers and artists; the Sony Music Publishing-repped songwriter-producer has been fielding calls from talent beyond the genre as he works on material for Camila Cabello, Becky G and Rels B.

Frontera and Barrera are attempting to strike gold once again with their third collaboration, Grupo Marca Registrada’s “Di Que Si” f/Grupo Frontera, released 2/10 via RB Music/Interscope—the track just entered the Top 200 on Apple Music. Barrera has also reconnected with Fuerza Regida, dropping a new collab with Becky G, “Te Quiero Besar” (Rancho Humilde/Street Mob/Sony Latin).

With Borderkid, he will take risks with indie artists, as he did with Grupo Frontera, to create music free of business constraints. Barrera and Frontera recently had a spontaneous session with Lumbre/Columbia sensations Yahritza y Su Esencia, for instance. When and how the music will be released remains to be seen. “Let’s just make music and have fun—we’ll take care of the business side later," he affirms.