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.
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.
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.'
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 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.
My little boy loves mambo, and my daughter, besides Justin Bieber, likes bachata - in our house, we're always singing.
Bachata is expensive to produce because of all of the instruments.
I feel bad [about Lil Wayne going to jail], because I don't think anything like this has happened in music since Elvis got drafted into the Army. Let's just keep it real - Lil Wayne is not just the biggest rapper, Lil Wayne is the biggest pop star right now. Maybe Susan Boyle is on his level. But when you talk about music, nice times out of ten, Lil Wayne's name is gonna come into the conversation.
Merengue is a fast rhythm, you know, and danceable. Bachata is like a slow, romantic Caribbean bolero.
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 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.
My intent is never to leave Latin music. I definitely still want to release bachata albums.
I thought there was a way of marrying what I wanted to do with filmmaking with pop videos, which I found out through a couple projects just wasn't possible. That's not saying anything about the artist. If you're making an Usher video, you're making an Usher video, not a film with an Usher song in it.
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.
I grew up around salsa, merengue, bachata, bass music, freestyle, hip-hop, techno, house, rave.
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 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.