Having established himself in the Latin music world with a buttery smooth bachata cover of the pop classic "Stand By Me," Prince Royce is now ready for his crossover.
Following in the footsteps of many a Latin pop star, Prince Royce, born in the Bronx, NY, is used to straddling two worlds. The 21-year-old rising star was raised speaking Spanish at home with his Dominican family, but learned English while in school. Perseverance, fate and the Internet fueled then-18-year-old Prince Royce as he decided to derail his college plans and take a chance on the music industry.
Now that he's prepping his English-language debut on Atlantic Records and on tour with Enrique Iglesias, it's safe to say that Prince Royce made a smart bet. We had the opportunity to chat with the Latin pop star and he answered a few questions and shared his story with us.
Q: Prince Royce. Where did that name come from? It's interesting because we have Lady Gaga and now you with Prince Royce. There seems to be a royalty thing going in pop.
A: *laughs* I don't know. You know Royce is my middle name. Royce means royalty, or of a royal family. My MySpace name was Prince Royce because Royce was too simple. It wasn't my intention for it to be my stage name, but I started growing a fan base on MySpace and all the girls were like, "Oh my God! You're my prince, I'm your princess." The record label was like, you know I think we should leave it Prince Royce. And I was like, "Are you sure? It doesn't sound kind of cocky?" So we left it Prince Royce. And I think it works.
Q: Your new song "Addicted" sounds like a sweet, Cassanova R&B ballad. What was the inspiration behind it?
A: It's a very romantic song and I haven't heard songs like that in a long time. It kind of reminds me of back in the day when a lot of pop songs were very romantic, making love songs. I wanted to put out something like that so people can kind of get a feeling of what's coming on the album. So hopefully at the end of the year, we're most likely going to drop the official first single.
Q: Which producers are you working with and what kind of sound are you building for your English-language debut?
A: We're working with a lot of people. People who've done stuff for Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, Enrique Iglesias…a bunch of other stuff. I've actually recorded 15 or more songs already, but we're just trying to find that right sound where I can have a little bit of Latin on it and still have that urban pop. Keep it radio and keep it catchy. Just find that right balance.
Q: You mention that balance between Latin and mainstream pop styles of music, and it's something that artists like Shakira, Enrique Iglesias and Jennifer Lopez have had to go balance, to varying degrees of success. What have you learned from the paths that they've traveled?
A: I think the crossover acts like Marc Anthony, Enrique, Shakira...like Enrique right now, I follow up with him a lot, especially now that we're going on tour. The guy's everywhere. He's doing interviews on the Latin stations, he's doing interviews on all the American stations and that's one thing that I wanna follow. I gotta go in on all the Spanish stations and promote the Spanish singles and I gotta go on all the English stations and promote all the English singles. You gotta keep it balanced. They're two different audiences.
In my case, I'm doing two different albums, so I think that helps actually a little bit. Cause I know which songs to promote where. But we don't really know, it's the first time that I'm doing it. We're just playing it by ear.
Q: Traditionally Latin artists attempting crossover do what you're doing, by splitting up the audience by language and creating two different products to suit each market. But we've seen songs in Spanish receive some success on American radio, like Daddy Yankee's "Gasolina" and Shakira's "La Tortura." Do you think as we move toward a more global sound, that one day it could be normal for a non-English song to find success in the States?
A: Yeah and that's the difficult part, finding that right hit. Something could be really hot but people just ain't feelin' it, or something you might think is not so hot, people could fall in love with it. So, it's kind of a puzzle for us.
Q: As someone who is bilingual, what advantages or disadvantages have you found in singing in Spanish versus English?
A: It depends. They both have their advantages and they both have their disadvantages. For me, I spoke Spanish at home and I learned English in school, so there are certain words in Spanish that sound more romantic. And there are certain things you can say in English that make more sense than in Spanish. But it makes you see things differently and it makes you appreciate music more.
For me, I think music is music, especially since I'm doing different genres. I'm doing bachata and then doing English pop, it's just a whole different ballgame. It's a very good experience learning both at the same time, but it's a little complicated as well.
Q: What was your big break in the music industry?
A: I basically started on MySpace. That's where I used to upload music and where I started a fan base. I used to work selling cellphones at 18. I was going to college, studying to become an English teacher. I was a full-time student, working a full-time job and with that money I'd get selling cellphones, I created my demo. I spent a couple thousand dollars creating my demo and with that demo I started going places, I started taking it.
Eventually, I ended up meeting Sergio George, who is the president of Top Stop Music, which is my Latin label, Atlantic is my English label, so I started over there. I went over there with four or five songs, he liked the songs and we started working, I signed. And that's when I did a cover of "Stand By Me." It was bachata-style, mixed in with Spanish. The song shot up to number one and then I ended up singing with Ben E. King, who's the original singer and composer of the song, at the Latin Grammys and from there the rest is history. So many other things there came from there but now I'm on tour with Enrique.
Q: So you pretty much got your start on the Internet. It seems that we're just now starting to see the fruits of the seeds that the Internet planted 3 to 5 years ago. Does that mean you're really comfortable with social media and interacting with fans online?
A: Definitely. I think it's a great way to put out music very fast. The fan doesn't have to be watching TV, or listening to the radio. You just tweet something and they get it right there on their phone. It's an easy way to get news quick so I definitely use it to my advantage.
Q: Who were some of your inspirations growing up? Because "Addicted" recalls some modern R&B stars but then you also have the distinct latin sounds that pull from something else. Was it a mixture of the two?
A: Yeah, I mean it's been Usher, Michael Jackson, Craig David, and then you know Latin stars like Enrique, Marc Anthony, Luis Miguel. I grew up in the Bronx, where it's literally a melting pot. So I grew up listening to salsa, hip hop, rock, techno, everything.
Q: If you had to sum yourself up as an artist, what would you say?
A: I'm just a kid from the Bronx just trying to follow my dreams. I'm 22 years old and there's so much talent out there in the streets, so many young kids that are singers, songwriters, dancers, producers and there's so much talent out there and I'm just here to try to represent where I'm from and just follow my dreams. That summarizes me.
