Prince Royce has come a long way since his first top 10 on Hot Latin Songs and his first No. 1 on Tropical Airplay with his version of “Stand by Me” fifteen years ago. To celebrate this milestone, he is gifting his fans with an entire album of pop classics in bilingual (English/Spanish) bachata versions.
Titled ETERNO, the 13-track LP will be released on Friday (May 16) under Sony Music Latin. It includes songs 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 verses were written by Royce himself.
“For me, these are songs that are eternal, iconic, and legendary,” says the New York-born artist of Dominican descent to Billboard Español. “The intention with the album was a bit similar to ‘Stand by Me.’ I wanted to bring that nostalgia of a time when there was no Auto-Tune, when everything was very raw, very real, to the world of today.”
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 that it took his team about nine months to secure all the rights, but in the meantime, he was “frying and eating.”
“When I saw that a song was going to make it, I already thought, ‘OK, it fits in bachata,'” he explains about the selection process. “For me, the important thing was that the songs sounded good in bachata, that the Spanish was good, that it flowed with the genre. I also didn’t want to force the songs – it was important to maintain the essence of Prince Royce and at the same time respect the original song.”
Among the classics he believes couldn’t be missing, he mentions “Dancing in the Moonlight” as a song with a “positive vibe” that always reminded him of bachata; “Can’t Help Falling in Love” as a perfect “wedding song” that wasn’t easy to adapt; “My Girl” by The Temptations as an iconic “doo wop” that he wanted to do even though it reminded him of “Stand by Me”; and “Stuck on You” by Lionel Richie as one of his favorites.
ETERNO follows Prince Royce’s 2024 album Llamada Perdida, a highly personal set that included some painful heartbreak songs. This new project was very different, and Royce says he had fun learning and researching about the original artists, and tackling the challenge of adapting himself to their songs.
“It was a project that I really enjoyed,” he says. “It was a way to pay tribute to these great artists and their timeless songs, while also putting my own spin on them. I hope my fans enjoy listening to these classics in a new way, and that it brings back some good memories for them.