Since leaving Bronx boy band Aventura a decade ago to go solo, bachata icon Romeo Santos has been teaching graduate soap opera seminars. He is a disciplined theater person, especially with his ‘Fórmula’ series, a collection of albums driven by bold, cross-genre collaborations and daring experiments with pop, hip-hop and reggaeton.
Santos, 41, has an unwavering dedication to bachata. Bachata is a Dominican genre with black and working-class origins and is known for its foundation of Amargue, an unparalleled brand of bleeding heart bitterness. Still, he wasn’t really a traditionalist. (his 2019 album, “Utopia,” is a rare exception, an LP that yields to and adopts genre-defining ancestors like Laurin Rodriguez and Anthony Santos. )
Instead, he has consistently sought new ways to revamp the bachata template, while developing some of his own trademarks. Incorporating English lyrics and his R&B hints, he ventured into the world of reggaeton.“Ella y yo” 2005), Daddy Yankee and Nicky Jam (“Bella y Sensual” from 2017). Anglo His Pop Years before the music industry was obsessed with his artists singing in Spanish, his albums feature the likes of Usher, Nicki Minaj, Drake and many others from the hip-hop and his R&B world. His artist was appearing. Moments when other notable stars are experimenting with bachata (see Rosalía and The Weeknd from “La Fama” and the intro to Bad Bunny’s “Titi Me Pregant”), Santos’s global popularity and There is much potential for creative rethinking.
Formula Vol. 3, the latest 21-track in the series and fifth solo album overall, includes an unexpected team-up between Justin Timberlake and local Mexican star Christian Nordahl. increase. He also doubles down on his theatricality, further immersing the listener in acerbic torch songs about cruel betrayal, bitter vengeance and unrequited love, sometimes with mixed success.
Among the collaborations, “El Pañuelo” with Spanish star Rosalía immediately stands out. Her merismatic vocals take center stage in the intro, while in the chorus a call-and-response lament between her two singers recalls her 2002 hit. “Te Quiero Igual Que Ayer” by Monchy y Alexandra. Bringing together the genre heavyweights Toño Rosario, Ruby Perez and Fernandito Villarona, 15,550 Noches is nostalgic, pathetic and explosive at the same time. Also, in the burgeoning Christian Nodal feature “Me Extraño,” a song about coming back to yourself after being wronged by a mistress, Santos finds himself between mariachi and bachata thematic parallels. finds the perfect balance in
His dramatic exploits make the most of cohesive tropes and strong storytelling, such as “Ciudadana,” a diasporic tale about border-separated romance, where flight attendants land This is most evident when you have an aerial sound effect that announces the . Santos’ longing, crisp falsetto works best in the following situations: In the corrosive opener “Bebo,” in a booze-soaked, drunken send-off to a double lover, his voice trembles with despair and pretends to be drunk in the outro of his speech. A vocal performance that brings out the best of bachata’s theatrical core.
But Santos fails when it falls into religious and gendered tropes. In the ballad “Nirvana,” written as a monologue to God, he attempts to reconcile the existence of social and political injustice with God’s supposed mercy. It escalates into low-level political signals such as the name-not-guilty of Dominican Denbaugh Starr and Toxian-Puerto Rican rapper Anuel AA, who have been accused of facilitating crime and drug use.
Both “La Última Vez” and “Suegra” recreate good old gender stereotypes. “Suegra”, though expertly produced and arranged by Iván “Mate Traxx” Chévere, Martires De León, and Santos, is the bigger disappointment. Nylon-string guitar picking complements his shrill tenor as Santos sings about the clichéd image of an intimidating mother-in-law. But then his lyrics turn violent, describing him poisoning her coffee and pushing her body off a cliff with her car (the song ends with a car crash sound effect). increase).currently the second highest country rate About the murder of women in Latin America, the gag doesn’t land as a lighthearted farce. It feels irresponsible and out of place.
A collaboration with Timberlake, “Sin Fin” is perhaps the most quintessential song on the album, rooted in both the past and the future. Its sweet celebration of endless love, at times bordering on hilarious idolatry, makes the most of Timberlake and Santos’ pop sentimental flair. This track is a full circle moment for Santos. With Aventura’s second album, the band transformed ‘N Sync’s. “lost” To the bilingual Bachata Requiem. Here he again finds common ground between his two worlds, once considered irreconcilable, and shows that bachata can extend beyond both real and imagined boundaries.
Romeo Santos “Formula Vol. 3”
(Sony Latin)