Producer Julio Reyes Copello’s seven nominations are far from his first, but they excite him nonetheless.
“It’s already this week!” said the Colombian producer in a recent video call interview from Miami as he packed his suitcase to travel this weekend to Las Vegas, where he will start his job as musical director of the band that will play live during the November 17 ceremony.
Reyes Copello, who has already won seven Latin Grammys and four Grammys, competes on this occasion in the categories of producer of the year, recording of the year, song of the year, best pop song of the year and album of the year, this last triple category for his work on “Pa’lla Voy” by Marc Anthony, “Viajante” by Fonseca and “Dharma” by Sebastián Yatra.
“I wanted to accept the invitation to do my best to pay homage to Latin music and especially right now to the music of Marco Antonio Solís,” he said, referring to the position of music director previously held by musicians such as the late guitarist Dan Warner and drummer Lee Levin. Solís will be honored as the Latin Recording Academy’s Person of the Year 2022 one day before the Latin Grammy ceremony.
Reaching this level has not been easy Reyes Copello, born in Cúcuta, Colombia in 1969, is surprised by his “absurd” level of commitment to his profession. “I don’t know what’s in my DNA,” he said. “I feel a huge commitment to the role of music producer, with the responsibility of providing music to people who take it out of everyday life.”
“Let them enter, even if only for 4 minutes that the song lasts, in a parallel universe where they have the wonderful gift of seeing life as spectators and resting,” he added.
He also confessed that all of his productions go through all kinds of phases, from “absolute happiness” to “absolute sadness and absolute disappointment”, until after his best effort he manages to find a middle ground. “I’m never satisfied, never, but I’m also left with no regrets…that’s how I made peace with myself,” he said.
The producer highlighted his collaboration with Fonseca in “Besos en la Frente”, nominated for song of the year and best pop song of the year. It is a song that for Fonseca arrived in a moment of extreme sadness and in which Reyes Copello also collaborated as a composer. “We wrote it at a very, very difficult moment for Juan, he lost a very close relative, a niece, a 2-year-old girl,” he said. “I thank Juan for trusting him and I really appreciate the friendship we have.”
His writing process on “Kisses on the Forehead” reminded Reyes Copello of another song he wrote in a difficult time, “Vivir mi vida” performed by Marc Anthony, the same one that won the record of the year award in 2013. had been a hit in Morocco and Anthony asked the producer to write the Spanish version. At the time, Reyes Copello was going through serious health problems.
“I said: I’m going to write this song as a commitment to myself to heal myself and look at what happened,” she said. It is a “song that has brought many transformations to people”.
After these bright moments there is a lot of studio work trying to capture the best of an artist, sometimes playing the role of psychologist, therapist or guide. “Having a lot of sensitivity, knowing when to speak and when not to speak, and be there ready to capture the magic,” she said of his work. “I call them fleeting visions, they come and go and if you don’t take them, they go away, those moments don’t come back.”
Reyes Copello regards musicians and producers as “messengers of beauty”. “I’m moved by the mission to bring my version of beauty and that’s what lifts me up every day. I stay calm if I know I’ve dedicated the day to being something beautiful, something pretty, from my point of view,” he said.
There’s a 26-year age difference between Anthony and Yatra, but Reyes Copello feels equally comfortable working with both. “I feel very versatile and very young at heart. I’m still full of vitality and the desire to continue being here and continuing to do that mission.”
A key to staying that way is listening to music and being in contact with young producers. “We need to hear what’s going on, because that’s the language we speak,” she said. One thing that has helped him in this mission is his work as a mentor to young producers through his educational program in association with the Abbey Road Institute in London, the first Abbey Road Institute in America, which began operations in Miami in 2021.
At the institute, he mentors aspiring producers and engineers, but also trains new artists. “It’s a super boutique education … because I believe in it. I believe in tutoring more than classes of 100,” he said. “It’s like that place where the huge gap that has always existed between academia and reality is reduced.”
