I want to try different things but, most importantly, always be true to my roots and keep it organic. I'm never going to leave bachata behind. I'm always going to be a bachatero first.
My parents are Dominican. I would always go to the Dominican Republic, and I fell in love with Bachata, which comes from the Dominican Republic.
I listen to a lot of crazy stuff like pop, techno, rock, hip-hop, rap, baladas, bachata...my iPod is crazy. I like listening to a lot of stuff in different languages, so my music is always out there for me.
Bachata is expensive to produce because of all of the instruments.
Merengue is a fast rhythm, you know, and danceable. Bachata is like a slow, romantic Caribbean bolero.
I'm not just selling out Yankee Stadium; I'm selling out stadiums in Mexico, in Argentina - with my bachata. I try to stay true to what I do.
This song 'All Aboard,' that tune allowed me to expand and kind of offer my audience something totally different because it's not bachata - I'm singing English, and that was really fun.
In bachata, you had these guys that used to wear suits and had a really traditional style. We looked different. Baggy jeans. We had the Spanglish going on, and I knew that was going to work to our advantage.
When I was producing 'Formula Vol. 2,' I knew I needed to come hard with the features and do something I hadn't done with Aventura. Collaborating with Drake was definitely one of those big steps that helped bachata go to the next level.
There are two sides of me, the bachata/tropical Latin side and the English pop as well. They're both equally important, so I'll always make sure to keep both roots in my music.
I grew up in my neighborhood with salsa, of course bachata, but also hip-hop, Nirvana - it was just like a mixed culture. It was a beautiful thing for me because at the moment I started creating music, having all these different sounds and elements, it was very organic because I grew up with all these types different music.
I feel blessed to even be able to put out an English album. Not too many Latin artists get the opportunity to come out and record another genre that's so different to Bachata.
My intent is never to leave Latin music. I definitely still want to release bachata albums.
My parents and grandparents listened to bacheta heavy, the true bachata from back in the day - Juan Luis Guerra, Anthony Santos. I liked the genre, but I remember thinking, 'OK, enough of this.' I would sing Usher's 'U Remind Me' to the girls in school.
I always want people to expect the unexpected, to hear me in records that have nothing to do with bachata. 'Golden' is the golden opportunity for them to appreciate me on other records.
I was born and raised in the Bronx, and growing up here, you would go down the block, and on one corner you would hear bachata, on another corner some salsa, and of course there was hip-hop and R&B all over the place. So for me, it is very organic to have these combinations.
I grew up around salsa, merengue, bachata, bass music, freestyle, hip-hop, techno, house, rave. Miami is special for that. It's a city where you don't know if it's more a part of the US, or of the Caribbean, or of Latin America, or of Europe.
My little boy loves mambo, and my daughter, besides Justin Bieber, likes bachata - in our house, we're always singing.
I grew up listening to bachata, to some of the greats of the genre. But it was very natural for me to create this type of fusion and to incorporate new beats.
I've got a superstar like Usher singing bachata, a tune featuring Lil Wayne. I'm offering people more than just bachata. That captures a new audience that would listen to bachata because Usher is singing.
If tomorrow I want to release a rock album or I want to release a bachata album, nobody can tell me anything - why can't I?
I grew up around salsa, merengue, bachata, bass music, freestyle, hip-hop, techno, house, rave.
Part of my success with urban bachata is reinventing yourself as an artist and continuing to give people different kind of fusions, mixing up the elements and concepts without changing the beat.
If you think of any strange fusion with bachata, most likely, we've done it. It's bachata mixed with different elements. We don't follow any style.
My dad is Dominican, my mother's Puerto Rican, and I got into bachata at the age of 10 or 11. When I started listening, it had a reputation for being music for hick people. I thought that had to be changed. I was born and raised in the Bronx, and I knew you make something cool if you're cool.
I do proclaim myself king of bachata because I have to represent my genre. I have to always come out and put on the Superman cape. I'm pretty much representing my culture. I'm not going to change that. But I definitely don't want there to be a misconception where people are like, 'The only thing he likes to do is bachata.'
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