Inside bachata's supernova night with Romeo Santos and Prince Royce

In a few months, Bad Bunny, a superstar who has transcended music to become a piece of the pop zeitgeist writ large (including but not limited to starring in Happy Gilmore 2), will headline the Super Bowl – arguably one of America’s most culturally important dates.

Being the first Spanish-language musical artist to do so is no small feat, particularly in an America so fractured over its current administration's policies. While Shakira and J.Lo co-headlined in 2020, this booking should signal that Bad Bunny and his reigning and rising cohorts remain unstoppable.

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Synthesising modernity with history, the pair have revitalised a genre once on its way to a forgotten fate. Introducing it to newer generations has made them household names. Bachata is a romantically saccharine and passionate sub-genre, primarily born in the Dominican Republic. Romantic music rooted in the lower classes, Bachata wears this with unabashed pride. Some of the genre’s older lyrics lean on machismo and portray jealousy-driven relationships and alcohol-fuelled heartbreak – reflections of the social conditions that shaped bachata’s early years. Little has been done to shift that perception, but when a culture is this deeply rooted, it's a secondary concern.

It was Santos and his group Aventura who helped bring it back to life with a swirling combination of rap, hip-hop, and R&B in the late 90s. After achieving success, including a breakout 2002 hit with “Obsesión”, the group went on hiatus in 2011. Here, Santos embarked on his solo career, where he’d collaborate with the likes of Usher and Drake across five studio albums to date. It was at a similar time that Prince Royce first appeared. His self-titled debut came in 2010, and he has since released a further six albums. Both born in the New York melting-pot borough of The Bronx to Dominican parents (Santos’ mother is Puerto Rican), Santos in 1981 and Prince Royce in 1989, there’s a mentor/mentee likeness to their relationship.

Both have also garnered themselves a wealth of awards, including Latin Grammys, but, most importantly for the pair, they’ve found a way to take their lineage and infuse it with their childhoods. These two artists distinctly celebrate their Latin heritage with the essence of American mainstream.

As rain falls outside, filling New York with a grim winter reality, the inside is transformed into a small slice of The Bronx, subway carriage and all. But before this, I was awarded the chance to join a cohort of journalists from around the globe in an audience with the pair. An appointment that’s seen me awake for 24 hours straight.

Latin superstar power is the classic, popstar kind that leaves rooms aghast and energised. This is why, when you’re left waiting for them in the anonymous depths of an arena in their hometown, you wait. Arriving hours past the original time, they take the name of their new album to heart. Packing in journalists from across the globe, from the UK to Japan, the one allotted question is answered with great passion and interest, showing the pair, for all their independent success, retain the humble face of their beginnings.

When I ask if the requests for their collaboration, having been so loud for so long, added any pressure, Santos answers up first. "Absolutely, the pressure was something that was part of the challenge, but also a motor for us to produce the best product possible,” he says. “We actually did three records years back that will never see the light, and that was the practice to introduce this project, and give us a guidance on what we should or shouldn't be doing. It was respect for the fans that was the most pressure, that they deserve something that is worthy and genuine,” he explains.

Royce agrees. "I mean, there's always pressure as an artist, not just with a production,” he says. “When you go on TV, when you speak, when you're trying to connect with so many people in general, so many hearts…or maybe we put the pressure on ourselves,” he shrugs with a smirk, “because we want to make it right. At least I speak for myself.

“I definitely felt that need of having to give 110% of my effort, especially on something that's so important for me, so close to my heart and for the culture,” Royce ends. There’s no doubt that there’s immense pressure placed upon the biggest of names in the Latin scene. Given the societal context within which they exist – particularly the ones who co-exist in the mainstream US landscape – now is the time that the culture needs to double down on itself to prove that there is something to behold here, and ICE agents be damned, there’s no silencing it. And with that, and the next flurry of questions out of the way, the pair are hurried away to the awaiting spotlight.

Disappearing back into the corridors of Madison Square Garden, everything becomes a part of the show. As the cameras and lights follow the pair into the blank anonymity, on the other side of the curtain, and the stage, sits a subway carriage, a subway staircase descending below the stage, and a DJ booth disguised as a magazine stall. This slice of their home borough is briefly brought to life via a hustle and bustle of extras before Santos ascends the stairs, taking a call from the Royce he’s waiting on, who appears with the same enthused passion that runs throughout their music. As the album begins, the pair posture and sing-along to the tracks, camaraderie and flirtatious natures melding together in a display that sends the crowd into a frenzy. As Santos addresses the crowd, rattling through Latin countries and their respective delegates, the largest response is for the home of bachata: República Dominicana.

Throughout the event, the deep roots that run through the audience are blissfully apparent. Dancing salsa and various other romantically-driven routines, even at this glimpse into the superstar pairing, is an atmosphere that is encapsulating. As someone as far as possible from the culture surrounding me, my lack of heritage (and rhythm) is sorely apparent, as even the most ardent non-dancers would find themselves with their hips swaying.

As the album playback finishes, the launch into an a cappella back and forth of each other's greatest hits, each goading the other with the reaction the baying crowd rewards them, including launching the songs back at the pair. It’s after a decent length of this that Santos disappears into the subway, leaving Royce to take his final bow with a gleeful look. As a whole, Better Late Than Never is a good document of the pair's strengths, without succumbing too much to the weight of their joint names; it’s sultry, smooth, and still laden with the touchstones that make bachata an irresistible allure for many.

Emerging back out into the New York night, where the rain has abated, Latinas and Latinos spill out into the street, still high from this concentrated dose of sultry sunshine to continue their various parties. As the city that never sleeps is resting for its big day tomorrow, the America of it all is forgotten as the spirit of the Dominican Republic shines bright.