ETERNO

Album ∙ Pop Latino ∙ 2025

Prince Royce

From at least as far back as the days when boogaloo reigned, Latin artists have been inventively covering English-language hits in their own style. Bronx-born star Prince Royce kept that informal tradition going, opening his eponymous 2010 debut with a bachata-fied take on Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me.” Following 2024’s genre-affirming album LLAMADA PERDIDA, his ETERNO revisits the not-so-secret formula behind that early hit, offering tropical interpretations from a predominantly 20th-century songbook.

As expected, he takes certain bilingual liberties with the material almost immediately, the opening pair of “Dancing in the Moonlight” and “How Deep Is Your Love” made malleable through his approach. His preceding catalog of romantic works, and that silky smooth voice, makes every tweak and quirk a gratifying one, his versions never overstepping the original ubiquitous smashes from Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and Stevie Wonder, among others. Though his takes on stone-cold classics certainly shine, Royce’s plays on relatively more modern cuts, like Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way,” stand out in the best way.