bachata

Fifteen years after achieving his first top 10 on Hot Latin Songs and his first No. 1 on Tropical Airplay with his take of “Stand by Me,” Prince Royce gifts his fans an entire album filled with pop classics in bilingual versions (English/Spanish) and bachata rhythms.
Titled ETERNO, the 13-track LP will be released Friday (May 16) under Sony Music Latin. It includes everything from “Dancing in the Moonlight” by King Harvest and “How Deep is Your Love” by the Bee Gees to “I Just Called to Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder and “Go Your Own Way” by Fleetwood Mac, with “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys as the focus track. All the Spanish lyrics were written by Royce himself.

“For me, these are songs that are eternal, iconic, legendary,” the Latin star tells Billboard Español. “The intention with the album was somewhat similar to ‘Stand by Me.’ I wanted to bring back that nostalgia from a time when there was no Auto-Tune, when everything was raw, very real, into today’s world.”

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With a tracklist that also includes “Stuck on You” (Lionel Richie), “Right Here Waiting” (Richard Marx), “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (Elvis Presley), and “Yesterday” (The Beatles), Royce says it took his team about nine months to secure all the rights.

“When I was seeing that a song was going to go in, I was already like, ‘Okay, it fits in bachata,’” he explains about the selection process. “For me, the important thing was that the songs worked well in bachata, that the Spanish was good, that it flowed with the genre. Also I didn’t wanna force songs — it was important to keep the Prince Royce essence while also respecting the original song.”

Among the classics he felt were essential for this album, he mentions “Dancing in the Moonlight” as a song with a “positive vibe” that had always reminded him of bachata; “Can’t Help Falling in Love” as a perfect “wedding song” that was somewhat difficult to adapt; “My Girl” by The Temptations as an iconic “doo-wop” he wanted to tackle even though it reminded him of his previous hit “Stand by Me”; and “Stuck on You” by Lionel Richie, one of his personal favorites.

ETERNO follows Prince Royce’s 2024 album Llamada Perdida, a deeply personal set that included several heartbreak songs. This new project was very different, and Royce says he had fun learning and researching the original artists and embracing the challenge of adapting himself to their songs.

“It was just like a fun, music-geek project. I ended up really enjoying it and really like dissecting each harmony and background vocal and recording it,” he says enthusiastically. “I’d like for people who know these songs to bring those memories back, and maybe the younger generation in Latin America who doesn’t know them creates new memories. I hope we can achieve that.”

Prince Royce ‘ETERNO’

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