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Meet Alexander 'A.C.' Castillo Vasquez, the Quebec Producer Behind Shakira & Burna Boy's Chart-Topping FIFA Anthem
"Dai Dai," the official 2026 World Cup anthem performed by Shakira and Burna Boy, is taking over the world. The song holds the top spot on the Billboard Global 200 dated July 25, where it has reigned for an eighth week, leads the Billboard Global Excl. US chart for a third week and has also risen to No. 1 on the Billboard Latin Airplay chart.
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The song has risen to No. 16 on the Canadian Hot 100, which is notable because it is co-written and co-produced by A.C., who hails from Saint-Michel, Quebec — a key piece of the anthem's truly global sound.
For A.C., it’s hard to imagine a more fitting recognition. His entire career has been built at the intersection of cities, languages and musical cultures.
This achievement crowns a series of recent successes.
A.C. notably co-wrote and produced Shakira and Alejandro Sanz’s "Bésame," which reached the top 10 on several Billboard Latin charts, in addition to producing Shakira’s "Zoo" for Zootopia 2. These projects add to a discography already marked by collaborations with Becky G, Camilo, Farruko, Ricky Martin, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj.
Born in Little Italy, Montreal, to a Dominican father and a Colombian mother, the producer then grew up in the municipality of Saint-Michel, where he spent his childhood and teenage years. At home, music was part of his every day world.
"I grew up with a ton of Latin music: merengue, salsa, reggaeton. But there was also all the influence of American hip-hop and pop," he tells Billboard Canada. "My mother sang in a band, and my father was the manager. There were always rehearsals, instruments and musicians coming in and out of the house."
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Outside, Saint-Michel's cultural diversity broadened his musical universe even further. A.C. began producing for young rappers around him.
"I was producing for my rapper friends from all different backgrounds — guys from my class," he explains. "At first, it wasn't really meant for anyone. I was making beats on my mother’s computer, just for fun and to learn."
He was only 14 years old at the time. His first productions came about without a career plan, a professional studio or a clear strategy. They were just driven by the curiosity of a teenager trying to understand how to make the music he heard around him. A few years later, this DIY experimentation propelled him into the massive machine of American pop.
His first big break came with Cody Simpson's "Pretty Brown Eyes," a single released in 2013 on the album Surfers Paradise. A.C. was among the track's songwriters and producers. He was only 17 or 18 years old at the time, and he considers it his first major project.
"It was huge for me," he explains. "It was his single, and it was coming out in the United States."
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Yet the story behind that first breakthrough remains a bit fuzzy, even to him.
"I don't even remember exactly how they got in touch with me," he says with a laugh. "I think it was through a producer network back then, or maybe SoundCloud."
That first placement quickly opened the door to other collaborations. A.C. worked on Pitbull's "Wild Wild Love" featuring GRL, Nicki Minaj's "Trini Dem Girls," as well as "Been You" and "Get Used to It," two tracks from Justin Bieber's album Purpose.
"The beginning of my career was really grounded in American music," he explains. "I was 19 or 20 years old and already working with pop artists and rappers."
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At 19, he left Montreal for Los Angeles, where he stayed for about four or five years. He found himself immersed in an industry where sessions came back-to-back, decisions were made quickly and a track created in a small room could end up on a global superstar's album.
But after several years, he felt the need to step away.
"Around 2016, I went to live in the Dominican Republic," he shares. "I needed to disconnect from Los Angeles and all the madness of the industry. I wanted to get back to my roots."
This move also marked a shift in his music. After spending several years in American pop and hip-hop, A.C. began exploring more directly the Latin sounds he grew up with.
For A.C., the term "Latin music" is both a source of pride and a category that is far too broad.
"It's a very broad term that brings together a multitude of subcategories that sometimes have almost nothing in common except the language," he explains. "Cumbia, alternative Latin music, and reggaeton, for example, are completely different worlds."
However, he also notices an important transformation: the global audience seems less concerned today with the language a track is performed in. "The language barrier has been broken," he asserts. "People focus on the rhythms and melodies. If a song works, it works."
A.C. himself is the product of this dismantling of boundaries. His influences range from the Latin music played by his parents to American pop, incorporating hip-hop and the French touch of Daft Punk, Justice and Ed Banger.
"I spent almost as much time looking for new music as I did making it," he says. "Studying what others were doing was just as important to me as working on my own tracks."
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Even today, he considers this curiosity an essential trait in a producer. "You have to be open to all genres, because you can apply what you learned in one style to another. Often, it's just the sounds that change. You have to keep studying constantly."
In 2016 or 2017, A.C. received a call that changed the course of his career.
Shakira had just heard "Vente Pa' Ca," the Ricky Martin hit he had collaborated on, on the radio. She requested his phone number from the president of Sony and called him on his cell phone.
"She heard one of my songs on the radio and got my number through the president of Sony, who knew me," he says. "She called me directly. The next day, I was on the first flight to Barcelona."
Barely 24 hours after that call, the Montreal producer found himself at Shakira's house working on her 2017 album, El Dorado.
"It was completely surreal," he says. "One day, she calls me. The next day, I'm at her house."
A.C. contributed to several tracks on the album, including "Me Enamoré," "Toneladas," "Amarillo" and "Perro Fiel." The collaboration extended well beyond the studio: he participated in the production and musical direction of several of the singer's shows, notably her tours and her performance at the 2020 Super Bowl Halftime Show.
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Nearly ten years later, their creative relationship has evolved into a genuine friendship, with many songs still in the tank.
"We have dozens of songs together," he confides. "It's a relationship built over time."
Shakira et AC pendant une session d'écriture studio Crédit photo : Gale
The story of "Dai Dai" started in an important place: in Saint-Michel. That morning, A.C. was working with his sister, Vanesa Castillo Vasquez, who is also a songwriter and producer. The two were due at a session later that day and decided to prepare a few ideas in advance.
"The production started right here at home, on this couch, with my sister," he sats. "We often make music together for our group, KAARIBE. That morning, we decided to make two beats for a session we had later."
One of those two beats contained the first draft of "Dai Dai." But the first artist they pitched it to didn't want it. So he kept it for himself.
A few months later, he presented the idea to Shakira. The track then began traveling between Montreal, Miami and New York, building itself piece by piece through various collaborations.
Ed Sheeran contributed to the writing. A.C. met him in a New York hotel room that was turned into an improvised studio for the occasion.
AC et Vanesa Castillo eb studio Crédit photo : Gale
"I went to New York for about 24 hours," he says. "We set up a small studio in a hotel room with Ed Sheeran and finished that part."
Montreal producer Benny Adam then brought in another melody. Shakira wrote and recorded several sections, while A.C. and Vanesa continued to develop the production.
"In the end, we had several pieces: the beat I made with my sister, elements from Ed Sheeran, a melody from Benny Adam and several parts written by Shakira," he explains. "We made a sort of Frankenstein out of all that, and it became 'Dai Dai.'"
The official song credits feature three Montrealers: A.C., Vanesa Castillo Vasquez, and Ahmed Saghir (a.k.a. Benny Adam).
Once the structure of the track was far enough along, the team sent a version to Burna Boy. The Nigerian singer even agreed to try singing in Spanish for the first time. "It was really cool to see him trust our vision,'' A.C. says.
From the start, Shakira wanted to pitch the song to FIFA. But even with her impressive history of World Cup-associated hits, nothing was guaranteed.
"We pitched it as the official song, but at the end of the day, FIFA makes the decision," A.C. recalls.
The track's international character worked in its favour. The song blends Latin pop, afrobeats, and influences from across various regions, with words in multiple languages.
"The production, lyrics, and energy of the song are truly global," he believes. "There’s a little piece of every region of the world in there."
When Shakira and Burna Boy played "Dai Dai" at the first ever World Cup halftime show on Sunday (July 19), A.C. wasn't sitting in a suite in Los Angeles or a studio in Miami. He watched the result from Montreal, surrounded by his family.
Just a few days earlier, he was still in New York working on a shorter version of the track meant for the performance.
"We had worked on the show and rehearsed the condensed version," he shares. "It was really cool to see that everything turned out so well."
That scene sums up his career well. A.C. can work in a hotel room with Ed Sheeran on Monday, fly to Miami to meet up with Shakira, and then return to Saint-Michel to watch the final result with the very people who saw him start out on his mother's computer. That's important to him. After Los Angeles, the Dominican Republic and many years on the road, he chose to move back home to Montreal.
"This is where I feel at home," he affirms. "I'm close to my family. This is my life. And I can always take a flight and end up in Miami three days later."
He knows, however, that his story remains largely unknown in his hometown. Several of his biggest successes were recognized first in the United States or Latin markets, long before his name began circulating in Quebec.
He hopes that sharing his journey can help young people in Saint-Michel and other neighbourhoods far removed from traditional industry circuits realize that such a career is possible.
"When I was 13 or 14, I would have loved to see the story of someone who came from the same environment as me," he says. "Back then, it seemed impossible. There was no path to follow, no one I could look at and say, 'He did it, so maybe I can do it too.'"
After working with some of global pop's biggest stars, A.C. is coming back to what has always been at the heart of his journey: family. At the time of this Billboard Canada interview, he was getting ready to head back to New York to finish a new song with his sister Vanesa.
"What's next for me is really the KAARIBE project with my sister," he explains. "And there's still a lot of music coming with Shakira."
To young producers dreaming of following a similar path, A.C. reminds them that you don't need much to start. "It can be any computer, even your mother's. That's how I started. Today, you can even use free apps on your phone."
Above all, he says to stay patient, thoroughly understand the contracts they sign, and not mistake speed for success.
"It takes time. There's a tremendous amount of competition, and it takes years to master your craft and get the results you're looking for. Don't panic just because you didn't blow up right away."
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