Óptimo

Óptimo is a New York City-based Dominican Bachata trio comprised of Romántico (Roberto Sánchez), Neit (Starling López), and EMJ (Emmanuel Jiménez). They recently released their debut album Óptimo FDL (Foe Da Ladies), a cooler take on the more traditional sound of Bachata. In other words, Óptimo is what some call crunkchata.

While the trio's looks may be "hustle and flow," these bachateros are as sweet as this romantic genre can be. Their current single, Conéctate, is a plea to their girlfriends to get online and… chat.

We chatted with lead singer Romántico and asked him:

Bachata urbana, crunkchata or just plain bachata?

We like to call it bachata clásica!

Reggaetón vs. bachata, which will win in the long run?

Bachata will win because it's music with a lot of feeling and you can also dance to it.

Do you guys spend a lot of time online waiting for your honeys to get on? Why not just call them on their cell?

I call her at night 'cause cell phone minutes are cheaper and it's almost free if you talk to her online. LOL.

Is Óptimo just foe da ladies? What about da bros?

We do this for the ladies on behalf of our brothers with mad respect. Donde hay mujeres hay hombres. But, as thay say: ladies first. LOL.

Dominican baseball players are pretty well known in America. Who's your favorite?

I like Sammy Sosa for representing the DR in a big way and because he dedicates time to the poor people in the Dominican Republic.

How did the Bee Gees cover happen? Are you guys big disco fans?

The song was presented by Lorenzo – an executive from Sony. I'd heard the song before y pensé que it's a good way of showing our fans that we are versatile and wanted to bring back the old days so all our fans can feel good with our record.

Who would be your biggest musical influence?

Phill Collins, Juan Luis Guerra y Ricardo Montaner.

How are you guys keeping it real against Aventura, Xtreme and Toby Love?

We love all of them, we think that our fans deserve more. United we can make wonders. Mad love to all the new groups. Lets keep giving our people the best of bachata. Mad respect.