From the jump, Neon delivers music worthy of head nods and foot taps. The show’s opening scene features Santi (Tyler Dean Flores) performing his hit song “Exagerao,” one of three original songs in Season 1 that were created and produced by Grammy Award–winning reggaeton producer Tainy, Lex Borrero, and Ivan Rodriguez from Ntertain and Neon16, and who are collectively known as Tainy & One Six. The trio have worked with some of the biggest artists in the world, like Bad Bunny, Selena Gomez, and Dua Lipa, and serve as executive music producers on Neon. 

So, how does making songs with a real-life superstar compare to building a catalog for a fictional up-and-comer? According to Rodriguez, the two share a lot in common. 

“When you meet an artist, you don’t know their creative process, you don’t know where they’re at,” Rodriguez, who is the co-founder and chief creative officer of Neon16, tells Tudum. “It was actually very similar in that a lot of early conversations with artists are, ‘Where are you in your life? Your career? Who are your musical influences?’ I spoke to Tyler [Dean Flores], and he was like, ‘I love Rauw Alejandro,’ so there was some inspiration to draw upon. Santi is an upcoming artist and his favorite artist will be Rauw Alejandro. Then, his first song had some musical feelings of Rauw because that’s his number one inspiration.”

Neon’s eye-popping fashion and striking scenery were another source of inspiration for Rodriguez. And while he normally draws on visuals when working with musicians, television allowed him to push this even further. “The world is so visual. If I’ve never met an artist, I might go to their Instagram and see what they’re into, what brands they like, what shoes they wear, if they have a girlfriend, where they are in their love life. All these things that can be seen visually,” says Rodriguez. “There was a big opportunity to see the visual world and then reference it in storytelling with a show like this.” 

In some instances, Rodriguez would sit down with showrunner Max Searle to get the creative juices flowing. “He’ll tell me, ‘In this scene, we want the energy to be like this. It’s a party, we want it to feel alive.’ ‘OK, great, I hear what you’re saying, let me translate that into music terms.’ It really wasn’t a lot different than creating with the biggest artists in the world,” he says.

Francisco Roman/Netflix

Rodriguez’s experience making music for real-life artists undoubtedly contributes to the authentic feel of Neon’s soundtrack, but he also credits Flores for his involvement in the making of Santi’s songs. “He [Flores] was super key,” says Rodriguez. “One of the first things I did is have him come to the studio to work on delivering a song. A random song, just to feel his textures on the mic and see how he sounds. He’s a second-generation Puerto Rican actor, so I wanted to see where his Spanish was at. All of that brought the authenticity.”

Aside from its original tracks, Neon masterfully squeezes vibrant sounds into every nook and cranny to subtly enhance or boldly amplify the ambiance of scenes, with music supervision from One Six of Neon16 and Ntertain (Rodriguez and Borrero) and Joe Rodriguez and Javier Nuno of Indice. “I was happy to lend my ear and say, ‘Hey, let’s put a new song by Young Miko in this scene,’ ” says Ivan Rodriguez. “I put Kali Uchis in there — artists who we, as Latinos, connect with and believe in. Then, obviously, everything else was about ambiance. When you walk into a restaurant in Miami, there’s reggaeton playing in the background. It’s curating those sounds to make sure we’re represented correctly.”

Above all else, Rodriguez found it important to do right by the community and culture largely being portrayed in Neon, while also connecting with anyone who watches the show. “We wanted to represent Latinos and where Latin music is at right now. I think a lot of people, whether you love reggaeton, whether you know about Latin music, will connect with the human element being told in this story of believing in yourself.”

Here are the tracks on the official Neon soundtrack. You can listen to them — as well as the show’s official playlist — below.

1. “Exagerao” by Santi
2. “Lo Josea” by Santi
3. “Corillo” by Santi
4. “Cuando Llego” by Javier Luna
5. “Es Tuyo” by Santi
6. “Tonteria” by Santi and Isa
7. “Corillo” by Isa