If you’ve listened to any of the top names in Latin music today –Bad Bunny, Anuel, Ozuna, Lunay– you’ve listened to the work of Gaby Music and Chris Jeday.
The songwriting/production duo are the sonic brains behind major hits like “Vaina Loca” (Ozuna), “China” (Anuel) and “Bad Con Nicky” (Bad Bunny and Nicky Jam). The partnership began as a grade school friendship in Puerto Rico that became a professional alliance when Jeday and Gaby Music met again years later in Yandel’s house. By 2013, they were officially a team. “We work practically on everything together,” says Gaby. “Sometimes Chris comes with a fully developed idea, sometimes I do. I’d say most songs start with Chris’ ideas, and I’m a little bit more technical, more into the recording and the mix. But the final product is a joint work.”
As a songwriter, this week, Gaby Music won BMI’s Contemporary Latin Songwriter of the Year award for credits in eight of BMI’s most-performed songs, including Contemporary Latin Song of the Year “Taki Taki,” recorded by Ozuna (Jeday is signed to ASCAP).
Gaby Music’s BMI win also comes on the strength of songs like Becky G/Natti Natasha hit “Sin Pijama” and hits by frequent collaborators Anuel (“Ella Quiere Beber,” “Culpables”) and Ozuna. Ozuna, he says, “is an artist that always comes into the studio knowing exactly what he’s going to do.” And Anuel “is extremely confident and sure of himself.” Among the eight BMI hits, he highlights Ozuna’s “Vaina Loca.”
“It’s a song I can listen to 1,000 times and still feel it was excellent,” he says. “Chris and I are especially big fans of the sound and the mix. I would say that’s my seal. I really look after the quality of the sound. If a track is really high quality and you like the sound, that’s when you know it’s mine.”
Also high on the list of favorites is “Ella Quiere Beber,” originally recorded by Anuel (Jeday and Gaby Music produced most of Anuel’s debut album, Real Hasta La Muerte) and then remixed with Romeo Santos.
“Romeo is someone who’s been a friend to us,” says Gaby Music, who originally worked with Santos on the remix to his hit “El Farsante.” When Santos heard Anuel’s Real Hasta La Muerte, he called Jeday and Gaby Music to congratulate them. “We asked him what his favorite track was and he said ‘Ella Quiere Beber.’ Then months later we went to New York City, he picked us up at the airport and in the car, he played us the remix.”
Up next on Gaby Music’s plate is music by rising star Lunay, who’s signed to his and Jeday’s label, Star Music. And of course, there’s also Anuel’s upcoming sophomore album, Emanuel, due May 29, which has kept Jeday and Gaby Music up literally around the clock the past week in Miami. “We went into the studio to tweak some things, and we ended up doing three new tracks,” he says ruefully.
