- Hey, this is John Legend.
- And we're Mau y Ricky.
- And you're watching Billboard.
♪ Oh we gotta bigger love ♪
When we reached out to them, they said yes.
And they started working on the song immediately
and sent us back the vocals and we loved it.
And I'm just so happy we were able to make it happen.
- So Mau y Ricky, was this like a pinch me moment?
- This, - Yeah, it was.
- It's still a pinch me moment.
And I wanna actually, the whole story is that
I was in the middle of making a barbecue
for my close friends, right?
And I got this news as if they would've told me,
I swear, as if they would've told me,
"Hey, some, you got a package," you know,
like, whatever, super like,
chill, like, thought, or whatever.
And so I'm making this barbecue and they're like,
"Hey, yeah, there's this opportunity that came up
that maybe you guys might be doing a remix
if you guys send some."
In that moment I was like,
obviously I left the barbecue in half,
I left that shit. - No one ate.
- No one ate.
And I was like making the barbecue in the studio.
So it was perfect, 'cause we were able
to jump right into the studio that same day.
We wrote the part in that second.
And we were able to record right there.
So it was great because Ricky and I thought,
"You know what, I don't know if we're the best for the job
but we for sure will be the quickest,
and we will for sure be the most efficient
and the most hungry and excited for it."
So we're just so grateful because, to be honest,
John is one of the most,
one of the artists that we admire the most.
So this is crazy.
And we still can't believe it.
- John, did you give them so sort of like,
instruction of like, "This is what I'm looking for,"
or did you just let them do whatever they can do.
Their magic, work their magic.
- Well, they started and did whatever
they thought came to mind.
And part of it was just listening to
the original melodies that we had written
and then doing their own version with that.
But they added so much extra flavor
and then I was like, "I want even more.
Why don't you sing on the chorus,
why don't you sing a little bit more on the..."
And so when, the only feedback I gave them is I wanted more.
So they were being a little too shy at first
and not imposing themselves-- - We were cautious.
- onto the whole track.
And so we asked them, you know, "Give us a little bit more.
We wanna hear your voice with mine so that," you know,
"there's a real collaboration and real interaction."
And so that was the only feedback we gave them.
- We were just cautious man.
(John laughs)
Especially when it's a song
that already existed amazingly by itself,
it's hard too...
You can't really add anything to it,
because it's already perfect, you know.
And so what Rick and I did was just try
to figure out a way where we might exist inside that world.
- What was your reaction to this song
when you all three heard the end result?
- Oh, I was so thrilled.
I was dancing to it, I was smiling.
I just felt the love,
and I just want people to feel that when they hear it.
When we heard the mastered version,
we were in the middle of nowhere in Utah
shooting a music video.
And my team says really, "Yo, this is the final master."
And we're like, "All right, let's check it out."
We played it in the car and we're like,
our whole team, our girls were there,
and everyone was like, "I can't believe this is real."
I sent it over to my dad, my dad,
(speaking in foreign language)
Sent it to the whole family.
My dad like sent a picture that said,
John Legend and Mau y Ricky, like, together.
We're like, "God, this is happening."
He was so proud.
- John, I know you've collaborated
with a handful of Latin Artists
from Juanes, Flor de Toloache,
where you even sang in Spanish.
- And we loved it. - Incredible by the way.
- Thank you.
- What do you, and now Mau y Ricky, of course.
What do you take away from these Latin collaborations
and tapping into this Latin culture.
- Well, for me, music is music.
And we have so much more in common than what separates us.
We may be separated by language sometimes,
but there's so much musically that we have in common,
particularly if you think about, you know,
African music, Caribbean music, Latin music.
There's so much that connects us
rhythmically and everything.
And so I always feel like it's a natural thing
for us to come together and make music together.
- This is obviously for us such
an amazing and beautiful blessing.
For all our culture and knowing that
we're continuing the spread of Latin music
around the world.
And having somebody like John Legend invite us
into his world, you know.
And hopefully we can represent our culture
and people are proud of what we've done with the song.
- Thank you so much!
I love the song. - Griselda, we love you.
- I love you.