Audio By Carbonatix
Keep Miami New Times Free
We’re aiming to raise $7,500 by April 26. Your support ensures Miami New Times can continue watching out for you and our community. No paywall. Always accessible. Daily online and weekly in print.
For a certain kind of music snob, there’s nothing more annoying than all that saccharine radio-pop stuff called bachata. At best, it’s elevator muzak. At worst, it sounds like a sad baby wailing over a karaoke tape full of stuttering guitar, bongo, and maracas.
But there are millions of people who absolutely love it. And the latest irrefutable proof of bachata’s megapopularity is a Bronx-born Dominican phenomenon named Prince Royce. Only 21 years old, this bachatero broke out last year with a Spanglish cover of the old Ben E. King soul-pop hit “Stand by Me.” It shot to the highest rung of Billboard‘s Latin charts, sold like smack on iTunes, and even crossed over into English-language radio land.
So all music snobs, stay home this Saturday when the Prince swoons into BankUnited Center. The rest of you, though, should get ready for his cute face, suave pencil mustache, guitar, bongo, and maracas.
