‘Do I Really Want to Put My Business Out There?’ How Prince Royce Dove Into Heartbreak on His First Album in Four Years
Prince Royce has a “weird relationship” with his new album, Llamada Pérdida, out today. The new album has 23 songs that he describes as “bachata in 4K,” as he explores genre fusions while getting in touch with his emotions. The lyrics show a more vulnerable side of the singer, including some of the difficult moments surrounding his split from his longtime partner Emeraude Toubia in 2022.
Though the music captures the singer dealing with both the heartbreak and the healing after the breakup, he’s in a much happier place now. (When Rolling Stone caught up with him, he was preparing to run a marathon in Japan.)
“I think listening back to the songs now, I’m like, ‘Damn. Weird.’ That was hard for me. Now that I’m thinking differently than when I was then, that’s the hard part,” Royce says. “As much as maybe I don’t like getting personal with things, it’s inevitable. It’s almost inevitable for me to not use my personal experiences as inspiration. It’s thinking, ‘Damn. People are going to hear this.’ I still feel weirded out about the album.
“I think that it was difficult for me to put some of these songs out,” he adds. “I was like, ‘Man, do I really want to put my business out there?’ Ultimately, I had fun with it, and I think it was a therapeutic experience for me. It gave me closure.”
Royce compares listening to the album to returning to a diary and reading through it after you’ve already healed. He’s ultimately proud of the songs he made for the album, though, which sees the singer continue his legacy of keeping bachata alive through fusions with hip-hop, R&B, and even corridos tumbados, thanks to “Cosas de la Peda,” with Gabito Ballesteros.
Mixing sounds, especially regional Mexican music, is nothing new to the singer, and a defining aspect of his legacy, 14 years since his debut. He sang a mariachi-bachata fusion of “Incondicional” with the late Mexican legend Joan Sebastian at the 2012 Latin Grammys, and dueted with Mexican star Gerardo Ortiz on “Moneda” in 2016.
“Seeing how regional Mexican has grown so much, it’s pretty cool to see, because I think the genre is very close to bachata as far as it’s live music, it’s musicians, it’s strong lyrics. So I always try to fuse,” Royce says. “A lot of people expect bachata from me, and I try to be that representation of the genre.
“Even if I’m mixing genres, even if I’m in another country, even if I’m singing an urban song, I’m still representing bachata. I try to take bachata out to places that have never been before,” he adds. “I’m proud of that.”
On Zoom from Miami, Royce breaks down five of his favorite songs off Llamada Pérdida, his first album in four years:
‘Boogie Chata’ feat. Boogie wit da Hoodie
A Boogie, first of all, he’s from the Bronx. I’ve been listening to music since he came out. A lot of times when you collab, you just show each other songs, whatever. This is one of the few records that we did from scratch in the studio. We were in New York. He records really late. We started at 12 midnight to six in the morning. I got footage of him dancing bachata on top of the fucking console. I thought he wasn’t so familiar with my genre, but he knew the vibe by being surrounded by Dominicans. He did his verse from scratch in front of me, all the things he’s saying, like, “You took my heart like the lot.” All these punchlines that I didn’t understand until I listened back. It was just cool fusioning this hip-hop with bachata. Once you listen to the song, you could really hear that we were both in the room together, working it together, because you could see the back and forth. And I think that’s when music becomes fun.
‘Frío en el Infierno‘
For most songs I record, I record them to guitar and voice, and then we turn them into bachata, and then I rerecord the voices. This song had a very nostalgic feeling to it. It’s very heartbreaker. So I decided to leave the original vocal, the original guitar. We wrote the song in DR. And I was like, “Let’s not even make it bachata. Let’s just leave it how it is.” This was done in the living room in DR. It felt special to leave it raw, how it was created. That song is about feeling something and never telling the person how you feel, which I think is really sad. Imagine feeling a certain way and never being able to tell anyone how you feel. It’s almost like some things are better left unsaid, and I’ve said before, it’s much harder to be quiet than to say something.
‘¿Cómo Salimos de Este Lío?’ feat. Lenny Tavarez
That’s the only urban R&B song on the record. We’ve had this song for a while. We did it maybe four years ago actually, or more, and I didn’t include it on my last one for whatever reason. It was a song that I always kept coming back to and listening to. There are actually references to bachata songs in that song, and I still try to keep my tone of voice: to be still Prince Royce. It’s a song that I enjoyed. I think Lenny’s a super-talented dude. He dances. He sings. We did this song from scratch. He’s a good dude.
‘La Corriente‘
I think “La Corriente” cuts deep. This song is more sexy. I had originally recorded the whole song in one key lower, and my producer’s like, “Yo, I think it’s too low. We should bring it up.” So we had to rerecord everything. Bachata is complicated: Everything’s musician-played. It’s not AI or computer vibes, so we recorded all the instruments again. I’m like, “Damn, we just lost all that. The investment, you got to pay everybody again?” I was like, “Why don’t we keep the intro in the original key, and then we just jump up the key?” And they were like, “Oh, that sounds weird.” But we did that, and I think it came out pretty cool. I just think it’s a sexy song. It’s hard in bachata to mix a lot of sounds without it being disturbing to the ear. This is bachata in 4K. It has a lot of elements that are very tucked in that I think the producers did an incredible job at mixing in well.
‘Morfina’ feat. Paloma Mami
I did The Voice in Chile for six months. And I was like, “Oh, I’ve never recorded with somebody from Chile.” I’ve always heard about Paloma, and I know she’s from New York. So I was like, “Oh, let’s record.” I’m always looking for new people and new vibes. When I go to these places, I turn the radio on. I see what’s going on. I like to see what type of music they’re vibing into. If I think someone has talent, I try to collaborate. It’s a mixture: Like collaborating with Nicky Jam on this album. I really enjoy singing in different tones and giving the fans different energy.