Interview: Jonathan “Yoni” Asperil Breaks Down Producing “Brutal Paraíso” and Cross-Cultural Collaborations in Latin Music
Jonathan “Yoni” Asperil has quietly become one of the most versatile and in-demand producers in Latin music. From his early days on local jazz stages to co-creating Billboard #1 hits and earning multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy wins, Yoni has built a reputation for his sophisticated genre-blending approach and deep musical curiosity. His recent work with Luísa Sonza on projects like “Brutal Paraíso” showcases his ability to craft emotionally rich, sonically adventurous records that move effortlessly between polished pop, Brazilian rhythms, and global influences.
In this interview, Yoni opens up about his creative process with Luísa Sonza, the evolution of cross-cultural collaborations in Latin music, and how he balances artistic integrity with commercial impact. He also shares insights on the current state of the industry and what currently excites him as both a producer and music director.
You’ve been deeply involved in Luísa Sonza’s recent projects, including “Brutal Paraíso.” How did the creative process behind it evolve in the studio, and what conversations or influences shaped the album’s genre-blurring sound?
The creative process with Luísa is always exciting because she has such a clear vision of how she wants to feel and experience the music. We’ve known each other for a long time now—since our first project together, when Roy Lenzo introduced us in 2023. A lot of our conversations aren’t really about music itself but about our experiences in the world and how we interpret them. She’s an incredibly introspective person and someone I genuinely learn from every time we create together.
Luísa’s sound moves between polished pop, emotional vulnerability, and distinctly Brazilian influences. How has collaborating with her shaped your approach to genre-blending in your own production work?
Absolutely. I think she gave me the opportunity to see how much strength there is in vulnerability and experimentation—and that’s something I try to capture in all of my work since we started collaborating. She also has an incredibly wide knowledge of music, genres, and subgenres, so I always try to stay curious and do my research—the region, the rhythms, and the specific subgenre characteristics. That part of the process is honestly one of my favorite things.
The Latin music market has exploded globally in recent years. What key shifts have you observed regarding artist development, streaming culture, or cross-cultural collaborations?
Everything is moving really fast, and it feels like every day there’s a new hypothesis about what will make an artist successful. I personally try to stay committed to what I find genuinely attractive about the music and the culture of the person carrying it. I’m glad to see so many cross-cultural collaborations happening—I think they push music into unexpected directions. The same way having people with different perspectives enriches your personal life, it’s incredibly powerful in music too.
Working across projects with artists like Bad Bunny and Luísa Sonza, how has your approach shifted when navigating between Brazilian sounds and the broader Latin and global music space?
I’m really interested in the unique “accent” each region of the world carries in its sound—the same way someone can move to a new country, speak the language fluently, and still hold onto their accent. Different cultures perceive and interpret music differently, and I find it fascinating to try to understand which elements are truly fundamental to their experience. Brazilian music alone is so rich within itself, and then you move to a region like Cuba or Puerto Rico—they’re all speaking the same language in a way, but the dialect is different across instrumentation, harmony, rhythmic patterns, song structure, and so on. I try to be an observer of the music rather than a narrator for as long as I can, until it’s time to make a creative decision. Then I exercise whatever judgment feels most right for that particular moment.
As someone who’s gone from local jazz stages to Billboard #1s and multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy wins, what advice would you give to emerging producers or songwriters trying to break into the competitive Latin music space today?
I’m not sure if I’m in a position to give advice to others, but I can speak for myself. What’s kept me in this world for this long is genuinely enjoying the time I spend working on music and trying to understand it as deeply as I can. It’s always kept me occupied, regardless of what was happening outside—there’s always something to work on internally, always something to get better at. And there are moments where things just click because you stayed the course long enough, and you now have solutions to problems others are facing for the first time. If I were in this for different reasons, I don’t think the experience would be nearly as joyful—I probably would’ve moved on a long time ago. It’s just a really fun thing to do. I think that if you can find a thing you genuinely love doing, everything else kind of takes a back seat. But again, I don’t have the answers—this is just how I feel at 31.
Having worked across so many Latin subgenres, where do you see the genre heading in the next couple of years?
I obviously can’t predict the future, but I do see a lot of merit in cross-cultural collaboration, as we touched on. For all its differences, music also shares so much across cultures, and I think it’ll be fascinating to see who figures out what truly moves people in a world where almost every tool is at your disposal. My instinct is that smaller regions with very specific, developed sounds are going to rise to greater prominence and start reaching much larger audiences—but honestly, nobody can predict any of this.
How do you balance artistic integrity with commercial demands when producing for artists who are pushing boundaries?
It comes up quite a bit, but the way I see it, the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Commercial demand usually exists because something fulfills a genuine human need or speaks to a real human experience. Part of the job is understanding both the artist and the audience and exercising judgment about how to give the artist the space to experiment while also knowing
how far to take it—so they keep their audience engaged and supported, which in turn gives them the freedom to take even more creative risks down the line.
From your perspective as a producer, songwriter, and music director, what excites you most about the current moment in music, and what’s one thing you’re particularly focused on experimenting with in your next projects?
There’s a lot to be excited about, especially around all the different mediums and contexts where music now lives. Lately, I’ve been really drawn to spaces where music plays almost a secondary role but has a deep effect on the overall experience—cinema and film being the most obvious example, but also meditation music, sleep music, and music that’s part of something larger. I’ve been gravitating toward that world more and more over the past couple of years. I think there’s something interesting in exploring how those elements can intersect with modern popular music—and that’s very much where my head is right now.
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