In 2024 alone, he worked on Young Miko's Grammy-nominated album Att. and Álvaro Díaz's fourth album Sayonara while also making time to release his debut album Hayabusa, a 13-track project that blends house, techno, and reggaeton.
Born in Puerto Rico, Calloway spent most of his childhood bouncing around cities like Chicago and Dallas due to his mother's work as a university professor while spending his summer back on the island. After moving to New York City for college, Calloway stumbled upon the city's house music scene.
"My mom's favorite band is ABBA, so I grew up around a lot of different rhythms, including dance music. But it wasn't until I moved to New York for college in 2010 or 2011 that I was really exposed to nightlife," he says. "Nightlife in Puerto Rico is different, especially when you're younger. You can go out at 18 instead of 21, but there aren't many clubs, and the focus isn't on electronic music. In New York, though, everything changed for me. I started going to places like Le Bain at the Standard, where I was exposed to house music, new disco, and experimental bass music. That's really where I learned everything about the scene."
During that time, Calloway was spotted by house music legend Loco Dice, who invited him to tour across North America with him, all while producing house and Latin tracks. Calloway even spun at Club Space's terrace way back in 2014.
"I was doing an interview with Chente Ydrach, and he was talking about how much he loves Club Space. It reminded me of this old video from Space where there used to be this big horn they don't have anymore. My tour manager brought it up, and I was like, 'Who cares?' But then he pulled up the post — it was from 2014. The place was packed, and I was like, Wow, I was ten years younger back then — just a kid. Now, ten years later, I'm still here, and hopefully, next year, I'll do a couple of shows at Space. I'm focusing more on coming back to house music and touring."
Rediscovering House Music
For his Hayabusa Tour, Calloway has reworked many of his tracks into house edits. So far, he's released a Cloonee remix of his Saiko collaboration "Carnet" and more recently dropped a house version of the track "Bing Bong." "I play them live, and people are loving it. They enjoy reggaeton and urban music, but they also love it when I play house. That's when I realized I had to bring the entire album into the house world," Calloway adds.In 2021, he spread his wings beyond being a producer, songwriter, and artist and founded the Wave Music Group with Angelo Torres. The first act they signed was Puerto Rican rapper Young Miko.
The label has also partnered up with Capitol Records for a distribution deal.
"I had a meeting with the CEO and president of Capitol, and they were talking about wanting me to get more involved with their current roster. Not just as Caleb, the artist or head of the Wave, but as Caleb, the producer. They want me to bring some fresh air to their artists. Capitol has incredible talent like Offset, Ice Spice, Quavo, Sam Smith, and Disclosure, who've done a lot with their electronic music label. I'm just trying to get in there and collaborate. Artists like Latto, JT, and especially Doechii, who's an absolute tidal wave right now, are all people I'd love to work with in the studio."
Calloway certainly is no stranger to collaboration. On Hayabusa, he rounded up music veterans and rookies, such as Ryan Castro, Yandel, Maldy, Alejo, and Saiko. The album showcases why he's one of Latin music's most prolific producers, crafting a musical journey helps you better understand who he is.
"I started working on a camp for this project in Ceiba, on the north coast of the island. Initially, Hayabusa was just going to be a five-song reggaeton EP with a sound inspired by the early 2000s, which I felt was missing in the scene. That's where tracks like 'Guayeteo' and 'Carnet' came from. In the studio, I'd approach artists and say, 'I'm working on this project. Can you give me a verse? Or get on this record? We'll do a swap or something.' When the records started dropping, more people wanted to be part of it. It all happened super organically. No one turned down a record or asked for a different one. Everyone trusted me to match them with the right song."
Hard at Work
Calloway described the work he's done for Díaz as a four-year process between producing music for Díaz's 2021 major-label debut Felicilandia and 2024's Sayonara."Miko's album holds a special place for me because it was the first album ever released on my label, and it's also Grammy-nominated, which is incredible, but with Sayonara, it's different," Calloway says. "That album feels like the culmination of years of hard work, of being the underdog in an industry where being different wasn't always celebrated. Nowadays, if you're not different, no one pays attention, but back then, we were doing things before anyone else, and that wasn't easy. Sayonara was an amazing project, and I'm so proud to have been part of it. We're already working on the next album, and I can't wait to see where it goes."
Sayonara has been warmly embraced by fans and music critics alike, earning a Latin Grammy nomination for "Best Urban Music Album" last year. Despite predictions by Rolling Stone and Hypebeast that Díaz would take home the trophy, Colombian singer Karol G's mixtape, Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season), won.
"Obviously, I think my guy deserved it more, but it's different when you've poured blood, sweat, and tears into an album," he says of the snub. "We worked on it during the same time as Felicilandia, so it was a four-year process. We were disappointed, but just being there with an artist like Álvaro means a lot. We're also trying to change the narrative. He's not just a niche artist anymore; he's on the level of a Rauw or Feid. Hopefully, the next project will get the recognition it deserves, whether that's next year or the one after. We're not stopping."
Right after Latin Grammy weekend, seemingly the entire Latin music industry flew down to Puerto Rico to celebrate Calloway's birthday and the release of Hayabusa at the nightclub Fifty Eight in San Juan. Rauw, Alvaro, and DJ and producer Cloonee all made appearances."The next project will get the recognition it deserves, whether that's next year or the one after. We're not stopping."
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Last summer, Cloonee, Díaz, and Calloway collaborated on the track "Pe$o," blending Cloonee's tech house wizardry with Calloway's Latin roots, so naturally, they played the song during the celebration.
"Rauw, Álvaro, and Cloonee were all on stage, and the crowd went crazy. I think I was one of the first to really blend and bring in acapella from reggaeton tracks, and now I'm creating entirely new records with that approach," he says. "This year, I'm going to keep pushing that idea forward in both English and Spanish. I've always said I'm not just a producer who works with Spanish-speaking artists; I'm a producer, period. And I'm excited to keep building on that."
Caleb Calloway plans on releasing a deluxe version of his debut album, Hayabusa, later this year.
Photo by Sleepless Shot
Back on the Road
Ten days after meeting with New Times in Brickell, Calloway is back on the road in Dallas for his Hayabusa Tour. At dinner before the show, Calloway is with his longtime friend and travel manager, Pollo. For the next two hours, Calloway talks about everything from industry politics and meeting up with Benny Blanco to his early tours in Europe and what it was like growing up in Texas.Soon after, he's behind the decks at It'll Do Club, throwing out remixes of Peggy Gou before ending his three-hour set with tracks off of Hayabusa to a packed room.
With so much success under his belt, Calloway is in the enviable position of being able to take his career in whatever director he pleases, whether that is producing Latin music bangers, spinning house music sets across the country, or managing artists. In the short term, he says he will be releasing a deluxe version of Hayabusa with seven additional tracks later this year.
"I'm working on a new album and an EP with Puerto Rican duo Slow Jamz. I'm just grinding right now. I'm really inspired, and I also want to cross over into the Anglo world and start collaborating with English-speaking artists," Calloway says. "I've also started working with JYP and their K-pop label. I'm thinking about heading to Korea soon to work on projects with Stray Kids and a new girl group they have coming up. I'm just trying to be everywhere, man. I'm young, so I plan on working in the studio like I haven't made it yet — until I'm 40, at least."
