Romeo Santos has won the ASCAP Latin Songwriter of the Year award before, but he says the third time was the charm.
“It’s the first time I’m receiving this recognition alone,” he tells Billboard. The award comes after notching a number of No. 1 singles on Billboard’s Latin charts — including a track with Usher, “Promise.”
“He was amazed that someone was selling out the Staples Center but he didn’t know who it was,” Santos says of connecting with the R&B star.
While Santos prefers not to use social networking sites to talk to his sell-out crowds, the musician interacts with his fans in another way: watching them cover his songs on YouTube. He says he’ll spend “hours, sitting by my computer… I just love ’em.”
They’ll have more to cover soon: his follow-up to 2011’s “Formula, Vol. 1” is on the way, with a lead single out this summer — “sometime, July?” he says.
In the meantime, he may have more awards ahead of him: he’s a finalist at the Billboard Latin Music Awards with 12 nods. The show will air live on Telemundo on April 25.