To conquer the Billboard charts is a real challenge for all artists, especially when they are just at the beginning of their career. For the electrocumbia artist Reymix, the moment was more special as he learned through his first interview with Billboard, who contacted him to talk about the new remix of “Oye Mujer” with Juanes. You can get an exclusive first listen of the track below.
Raymix (born Edmundo Gómez Moreno) released his smash hit “Oye Mujer” in 2015 and, since then, the song itself has grown tremendously, to the point that peaked No. 1 on the Tropical Airplay chart (dated April 21) and so far has surpassed 204 million views on YouTube.
On Monday (April 23), Raymix is premiering a new version for “Oye Mujer” with Colombian superstar Juanes. See Billboard‘s Q&A with Raymix, who spoke about working with Juanes, what made him switch careers and future projects and more, below.
You reached the No. 1 on Billboard’s Tropical Songs chart with Oye Mujer. How did you find about the #1, and how did you react?
Well, you’re telling me the good news now. I feel very honored with the Universe for letting me be heard — not only my music, but my philosophy. This song was made and written in a room with mattresses as acoustic treatment, a USB microphone but a soul and heart full of feelings. This is a single reminder that we need pure honesty to do great things, no matter the tools we have, honesty. That’s how I feel: honored.
Oye Mujer has been around for a long time, and now Juanes has collaborated with you for the official remix. How did the collab with him happen?
Universal Music sent the original version of “Oye Mujer” to Maestro Juanes, and he listened to it, and he liked it. So Ángel Kaminsky, EVP of Universal Music Latin America proposed him to do a remix. Literally in two weeks we did production, music video and a marketing campaign.
How the song was originally born?
Before becoming an artist, I was studying aerospace engineering, and I did an internship at NASA ARC in California. There, the idea of mixing folklore with technology came. And I’ve done music all my life for fun; Armin Van Buuren played a song that I wrote and sang for a trance music project. So later that year, while in Mexico, the idea came back, and I started producing in my laptop, very Martin Garrix-style. Then we I had the instrumental, I thought of writing lyrics, and it came from a story of another year when I went to Oaxaca to work in a company that was building a Mexican airplane. I saw the girl of my dreams there. The rest flowed.
What’s next for you?
I’m releasing my album Oye Mujer, with all the electrocumbia songs I’ve done. There are also remixes from great artists and a cinematic version I made. This is going to be released in late May. Also, we are touring USA, Mexico and very soon Argentina for the first time.
Can you tell us about your experience working in the NASA?
It was an amazing experience, but not everything was that easy. I had very strict superiors and mentors there. I learned the importance of being excellent in every aspect of engineering, that I now apply to my music career. I also learned that you don’t need to have the most advanced tools to build great stuff (stuff that maybe, just maybe could go beyond the moon), because all the equipment is quite old. I was expecting a laboratory like in the movies, but when I saw the reality of Ames, I was astounded. Normal people, like us, have dreams of helping humanity to be better everyday.
Even though you graduated from college, you chose music. Why?
I didn’t choose music, music chose me.
How do you see yourself in 5 years?
This answer might be a little incomplete, but since my life has been all a day-to-day surprise, I don’t have a clue about what is going to happen in 5 years. But I feel if the Superior allows me, I’d love to be making music (and maybe some satellites too) to keep giving people a little of my soul and giving them emotions, that, are with no doubt, priceless.