Prince Royce scoring a 5 or 6 is pretty much deja vu around here.
[Video][Website][6.67] Alfred Soto: Prince Royce, please fucking stop releasing buoyant, perfect singles. I’ve long since affirmed my suspicion of Shakira when she’s not playing a hellcat, but “Deja Vu” sounds like two people in the same room acting like they haven’t met before and pleased as hell about sustaining the allusion.[7]
Crystal Leww: Credit to Prince Royce and Shakira for making a duet called “Deja Vu” that actually pretty good compared to a pretty untouchable duet also called “Deja Vu.” This one feels more romantic rather than the sizzle that is Beyonce and Jay Z’s version, and it plays right into eternal bae Prince Royce’s strengths. Shakira’s delivery feels a little closer to the tone of the Beyonce and Jay Z version, and it takes me out of it somewhat, but not enough to enjoy this after all. [6]
Thomas Inskeep: What I love most about bachata is its airiness; it’s the most almost-ethereal genre of pop music I can think of. (I’m excluding new age as it’s not really pop music to my ears.) Prince Royce, like many of the genre’s leading lights, has a high voice and a light touch perfect for his preferred musical form. What’s surprising here is that he seems to have teased something similar out of duet partner, whose voice is typically quite throaty and full-bodied. She reigns in those qualities on “Deja Vu,” to its profound benefit. This is a sexy duet which is actually sexy. [7]
Ryo Miyauchi: “Deja Vu” brings me back to classic Shakira. There’s the soft guitar, but it’s the dialog she shares with Prince Royce that does it for me. As tender as the guitar sounds, they talk of a complicated passion with a history of wounds they both bowed not to repeat. And it’s these narratives of almost forbidden attraction that keep me drawing me to Shakira records.[6]
Cassy Gress: “Deja Vu” is accompanied by guitars redolent of a breezy May afternoon; it’s a song that is probably supposed to be a winking “oh who me no I’ve had my heart broken too many times” sort of song, but lyrically I think it pushes the sentiment over into sincere. These are words about Shakira and Prince Royce definitely wanting to be broken up for good this time, alongside a sound and a video of a longstanding couple going through familiar, flirtatious, happy motions. I’m not sure it quite gets to where it was going, but it sounds nice while trying, anyway.[6]
Peter Ryan: For such a singular voice, duets have somehow ended up being Shakira’s bread-and-butter — since her international breakthrough she’s used them to cannily dabble in genres outside of her wheelhouse, but then again what is or isn’t Shakira’s wheelhouse has been beside the point for well over a decade. For her first(!) foray into bachata of course she chose Prince Royce — they’re both keen melodicists, but more importantly people forget that bachata trappings aside, Shakira’s no stranger to his type of soapy balladry. They could both probably do this in their sleep, but there’s something to be said for short, sweet, and utterly, gorgeously dour; Royce’s usual buttery tones showing just the slightest hint of wear, Shakira’s voice at times dropping to just above a sigh, guitars alternately encircling them and wedging them apart. For the jaded, but not too jaded to dance.[8]
