Song You Need to Know: Prince Royce, 'Cita'

“This album gonna make you cry, love, & fuck,” tweeted Geoffrey Royce Rojas, better known as Prince Royce, about his upcoming double album, Alter Ego, out February 7th via Sony Music Latin. “Cita,” the newest song from the Dominican-American pop star, unabashedly steers listeners towards the latter impulse. With the help of a Nineties R&B interpolation, Royce takes a detour from the path he started 10 years ago as bachata’s squeaky clean teen heartthrob — and swerves daringly into uncharted territory.

“If you’re horny, let’s do it,” Royce sings, directly invoking the down-to-business chorus of Ginuwine’s 1996 hit, “Pony.” Royce then translates his unbridled thirst into Spanish, describing a night filled with freaky, NSFW fun. (“Only /Love doesn’t exist here,” he purrs in Spanish.) He skillfully cranks up the heat in two languages — living up to that ‘Get You a Man Who Can Do Both’ meme.

The bilingual star further plays up his versatility throughout Alter Ego, which is split into Side A and Side B, like an old-school mixtape. Whereas the “Génesis” side pays respects to his beginnings as a tropical star, the “Enigma” side shows the 30-year-old singer flirting with fresh música urbana and Latin pop sounds. In “Cita,” or “date” in English, Andy Clay, the producer behind Colombian reggaetonera Karol G’s bed-squeaking smash “Mi Cama,” tailors a slow-burning Latin trap sound fit for the Prince.

“Cita” follows a stream of 2019 singles like Prince Royce’s bubbling tropical hit, “Morir Solo” and collaborations with reggaetoneros like Colombia’s Manuel Turizo on “Cúrame,” as well as Puerto Rican duo Zion & Lennox on “Trampa.” Four out of six of Prince Royce’s previous albums appeared on Billboard‘s top-selling Latin albums of the last decade list; his self-titled debut album, released in 2010, reached its highest peak at Number Four.

To commemorate a decade in the music industry, Royce will kick off his Alter Ego U.S. tour March 4th in Seattle. It will be his first-ever headlining arena tour. For a full list of tour dates, visit PrinceRoyce.com.

Find a playlist of all of our recent Songs You Need to Know selections on Spotify.