Howie Dorough, best known as a member of the Backstreet Boys, released his first Spanish-language solo single on June 17. The track is called "Coqui," named after a small tree frog native to Puerto Rico, and it marks a milestone the singer says he has been working toward for years.
The nearly three-minute song was written by Dominican songwriter Darlin. According to Billboard, which premiered the video exclusively, it blends Afrobeats production with the subtle sounds of the coqui frog and crashing ocean waves beneath Dorough's vocals.
Dorough, born in Orlando to a Puerto Rican mother and a Georgia-based father, has long identified as one of the Latin voices within the Backstreet Boys. The group previously recorded Spanish-language versions of songs including "Nunca Te Haré Llorar" and "Donde Quieras Yo Iré." But a solo Spanish-language project has taken much longer to arrive.
"Making this record, I wanted to identify with things that were true to me, about the culture, the people, and my heritage," he told Billboard. "This is where my mother is from, and where I have the most connection with growing up. With this song, I'm properly connecting with my roots, and I've never fully dived in until now."
He grew up in South Florida in the 1970s and 1980s, an environment he says offered little exposure to other Latinos, which made it harder to develop fluency in Spanish. Learning to record the song in the language was a demanding process. "It was almost like re-training my tongue to understand, it felt like a child learning a language for the first time," he said. "I was very humble, I was corrected a hundred times. I didn't want to accept mediocracy. There were times that were easier, there were other times that I was frustrated, but I got through with Darlin's coaching and my Duolingo app."
"Coqui" is actually Dorough's third attempt at releasing a Spanish-language project. Previous efforts were derailed by self-doubt. "I was a little scared of not being accepted by my own people, because I didn't speak the language perfectly," he said. "I wasn't so much worried about my fans, but of the industry tearing me apart."
He frames the release not as a commercial calculation but as a personal reckoning. "Latin music is so big right now, and people are willing to hear music that's not in their own language," he said. "I don't have major expectations… this is a passion for me, it's more of a journey. It's a story that hopefully people will get to know, of a kid who once wanted to embrace his culture, his roots, and because of society and insecurities over the years, I've held myself back, but now is the time."
