Prince Royce busca expandir su reino

To get the 12 tracks that comprise his first English-language album, Prince Royce recorded more than 100. He cut uptempo R&B and straight-up ballads, tracks with urban grooves and ones with Latin rhythms.

For Double Vision, out July 24, Royce knew he needed music that could introduce him to a broader audience without alienating the fans who have made the 26-year-old bachata singer one of the hottest young acts in the Latin market.

"For me, it was finding that pocket," says Royce, who'll open concerts on a three-month leg Ariana Grande's The Honeymoon Tour that begins Thursday at Amelie Arena in Tampa. "I want to represent New York City; I still want to represent the Dominican Republic and my Latin culture."

A native New Yorker raised in the Bronx by Dominican parents, Royce hopes to be the first Latin-music star to successfully break into the English-speaking U.S. market since Ricky Martin and Shakira more than a decade ago.

On his tour with Grande, Royce says, he'll perform songs from Double Vision along with his Spanish-language hits like Darte un Beso "because I know some of my core fans are going to be there."

In Latin-American countries, as well as U.S. cities with large Hispanic populations, Royce can headline arenas on his own. A seven-time Latin Grammy nominee and winner of 18 Billboard Latin Music Awards, Royce began his career in 2010 with a cover of Ben E. King's Stand by Me. He followed that with several songs that topped the Latin and Tropical music charts, including Córazon Sin Cara, Las Cosas Pequeños and Darte un Beso, a triple-platinum Latin smash in 2013.

Royce has recorded in English before. His last album, 2013's Soy el Mismo, included a duet with Selena Gomez called Already Missing You, but Double Vision will be his first on which English is the primary language. To help introduce him to U.S. audiences, the album features cameos from Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull, who appear on single Back It Up, as well as rappers Snoop Dogg, Tyga and Kid Ink.

Of course, Double Vision has a double meaning.

"My whole life, I grew up with this double vision, this vision of America but also Latin community," Royce says. "I love American food, but I also love Latin food. This album's about bringing those two worlds together. That's what we want to show onstage with Ariana Grande."

In the song Double Vision, though, the singer finds himself caught between his love for two women.

"He's talking about the qualities of one girl and the qualities of another, and why he has to get rid of one of them," Royce says. "It kind of sounds like he's serious, but it also sounds like he's joking and making fun of himself."

For reasons he hasn't quite figured out, Royce says he found himself favoring the lower register of his voice for the songs in English.

"In Spanish, for whatever reason, I lean more toward the high notes," he says. "On this album, I explore my lower octaves more.

"When I hear the songs Dangerous or End of My World, I go, 'Wow, I didn't even know I could go that low!' And when I played them for my family, they said, 'That doesn't even sound like you.'"

But Royce hopes his old fans, and the potential new ones at Grande's shows, will like the sound they hear.

"Whatever I present on this album, whatever I present in this show," he says, "is going to be their first perspective."