He was born in Galicia and grew up in Madrid. He acts, loves and sometimes would insult his musical better half, Nawja Nimri, with whom he formed Najwajean in the late 90s. He is a DJ and has produced for artists such as Alejandro Sanz, Shakira, Miguel Bosé, Fangoria, Hombres G, La Unión, Raphael, Pastora Soler, among many, many others, and he has composed the soundtrack for very successful films. Jean has two sons, Carlos and Nico, and an Ondas Award for best Musical Creator and DJ, 7 Grammy nominations and another six Goyas. He has been signed by Sony Music Latin to its team of international creatives.
His brilliant career experienced a turning point at the beginning of the pandemic: Daniel Carlparsoro, his fetish film director, commissioned him the music for Hasta el cielo, a series that has been number 1 on Netflix and continues to be in the top five in our country. In that work, Kriptonita stands out, together with the Puerto Rican artist Villano Antillano, one of the pioneers of the trans community in the urban music scene in Spanish. Along with her, Carlos Jean is accompanied by names such as Bebe, Goyo, Miguel Campello, La Mala RodrÃguez and Costa. Today there is nothing cooler than this union of talents.
How does a creative feel when your work makes an essential contribution to a number 1 series on Netflix? He also happened with Operation Black Tide.
It has interested me for many years and I have worked a lot for cinema although I am not so well known for this. I have collaborated on seven films before Hasta el cielo [la pelÃcula], I had Goya nominations and it has been the most aspirational of my career. Although it is very difficult to enter. Daniel Carlparsoro proposed it to me right at the beginning of the pandemic and it was great because he arrived when the possibilities of doing concerts were closing and the mood was in decline. It was time to lock myself away to compose for movies and series and turn my career around.
Asphalt, One of zombies, Warriors, Combustion, Yucatan, etc. Do you feel especially proud of any BSO or are they like children, that you can’t decide?
The one in the series Hasta el cielo is very special but my work is not comparable to that of my children, I am a father and it is impossible there. But with music you can choose, there are very good things and others that I have done that are not; mistakes also lead you to be who you are today, they teach you what can go right and what can go wrong. It gives me a lot of energy to think about what is to come and also the vertigo of listening to the past: ‘Wow, I have been able to create this, will I be able to overcome it?’. It is a very powerful self-motivation tool.
What are you working on now?
In the music of a film called Todos los nombres de Dios with Luis Tosar and Inma Cuesta, Carlparsoro as director and my motivation is brutal. I want it to be the turning point as a pure BSO.
Again with Carlparsoro and with Luis Tosar, your countryman. Being born in Galicia I imagine helps a lot to capture that spirit that we hear in Operación Marea Negra.
Of course. And I like it very much. You start to compose the music, you are Galician, you contemplate the Arousa estuary and… You find the sound. But the series is international, the music cannot be so marked; The first thing Daniel told me was “be careful with the bagpipes†(laughs). But I breathe a lot of the color of Galicia in that music.
You have a spectacular reputation as a DJ, composer and producer. Explain to me what it means to produce a record.
I’ll tell you with one word: Bizarrap. Few understood well what work the producer does until he has risen to artist. If you look closely, the songs by Shakira, Nathy Peluso, Villano Antillano have hundreds of thousands of reproductions and they agree that there is a producer behind them, someone who has a vision, takes that melody and lyrics and puts on the perfect dress for the perfect party . The artist has an idea with which he wants to reach the public and I need a translator. The producer makes it possible. While the artist composes, he is in his world and knows what he wants to convey, perhaps he doesn’t know how to get there. That is done by the producer.
You have produced for artists as diverse as Shakira, Fangoria, La Unión, Raphael, Pastora Soler, Hombres G, Alejandro Sanz, Miguel Bosé… How do you compartmentalize your brain to give each one what they want?
We are all people and the best education I can give my children is that we are all equal. Quincy Jones said that there are only two types of music, good and bad; Jones was the producer of Michael Jackson and also did soundtracks. Well, 4,000 light years from his musical knowledge, I feel reflected because I believe that music must be played from all points of view: DJing, playing an instrument or setting up stages, which I have also done. I’ve even been a drummer for Hombres G.
As?
Javi, the drummer, got sick, and since I’m a big fan and I know his songs by heart, I replaced him at a concert. It was an unforgettable experience. What I am going to is the important thing to be as transversal as possible. I like music and I want to be an expert in music, live it as a single genre.
Do you get to establish real friendships with such important international artists after so many hours working side by side or is it better to keep your distance?
In fact, you make friends, another thing is that the races take you to one place or another. For example, with Bebe –who is very visceral and talks about what she feels– I have a great friendship and with each step we take we become closer. This leads you to go deeper and deeper into the person’s heart and you have to be very careful with that emotional part so that she feels comfortable as an artist and opens up fully.
You mentioned Miguel Bosé, an artist of indisputable stature and talent but whom we have seen greatly changed in recent years. Not only because of his voice but because of several of his controversial statements. Are you friendly enough to ask him what’s going on?
From time to time you exchange messages and… I am very sorry for everything that is happening with him. I don’t get into whether he’s right or not, but I do think he can say whatever he wants. He is dedicated to music and what he has done is incredible. That we value a person for a statement, a comment, makes me very sorry. I don’t like to demonize. We live in a polarized, suffocating and unfair society. When a public person is attacked for giving his opinion, he plays with his children’s bread. I mean the boycott world: yes, you can say what you want but face the consequences.
Speaking of children, do yours know that their father is famous?
Yes, they know. And they get to know some of the artists. When I was recording with Villano Antillano, Nico is a superfan of his MalamÃa song, so I asked him to record an affectionate greeting ‘Nico, your dad is a monster’ and the kid was freaking out.
