"Promise" is a song by Romeo Santos, featuring Usher, from Santos' debut studio album '' Fórmula, Vol. 1'' (2011). The track was co-written and produced by Rico Love. It was released as the album's second single in Latin America and the United States. The song combines elements of bachata and R&B and peaked atop the ''

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''s Latin Songs chart, becoming the second consecutive number-one song in the chart for Santos and the first for Usher. It is recognized as one of Romeo Santos's

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s. The music video for "Promise" was directed by Anthony Mandler, who previously worked with

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and

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Background

After the temporary separation of the band, Aventura, Romeo Santos signed a record deal with

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

and recorded his debut studio album, ''Formula, Vol. 1'', which includes most of the tracks in bachata rhythm and

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songs such as the lead single "You", which peaked at number-one in the ''Billboard'' Latin Songs, and "Promise", with vocals by American singer Usher. The collaboration came through because Santos' manager Johnny Marines introduced Usher to Santos. Usher was impressed by Santos ability to perform after seeing him on YouTube, saying: "This is the thing that people will remember". "Promise" was co-written and produced by Rico Love and features Usher singing on bachata rhythm for the first time. According to Carlos Quintana of About.com the song and the rest of the tracks included on ''Formula, Vol. 1'' may be classified as Latin

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contemporary r ...

with R&B and

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influences. The track was named "fluttering" by Mikael Wood of ''

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'' on his review of the parent album.

Music video

Anand Bhatt Usher and Romeo Santos Arrive on Red Carpet

The music video for "Promise" was directed by Anthony Mandler who worked previously with

and

. Usher and Santos spent 24 hours on set, with a highly specialized a scenic setting, full lights, cameras and special effects. The video shows both performers singing to their love partners about the love they feel for them and asked them to promise to never leave them without their love. Upon release the video has had a heavy rotation on MTV reaching the top of the most-played list, even with Santos performing in Spanish language, something noted by Ruben Leyva, Sony U.S. Latin president, commenting that Santos has been "able to do what other artists have been able to do-reach a dominant-English-speaking audience-only by singing in Spanish".

Live performances

The song was performed by Santos and Usher for the first time in the Latin Grammy Awards of 2011 on November 11, 2011 in Las Vegas, and received a standing ovation.

Chart performance

"Promise" was released as the second single from ''Fórmula, Vol. 1'' to airplay and digital download on September 2, 2011. The song was the highest debut at the ''Billboard'' Latin Songs chart on the week of September 24, 2011 at number 24, climbing to the top ten the following week. The song reached the top of the chart the week of October 29, 2011 replacing Ricardo Arjona's " El Amor". "Promise" became the second number-one single for Santos in the chart, following the seven-week reign of his previous single " You". The song is also the first number-one in the chart for Usher surpassing his highest-placement in the chart with " DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" which peaked at number 16 in 2010. According to

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the track has sold 49,000 digital downloads in the United States.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Track listing and formats

Original Version #"Promise" – 4:13 English Version #"Promise (English Version)" – 4:13

References

{{Usher singles 2011 singles Romeo Santos songs Usher (musician) songs Macaronic songs Spanglish songs Music videos directed by Anthony Mandler Songs written by Pierre Medor Songs written by Rico Love Songs written by Romeo Santos Song recordings produced by Rico Love Sony Music Latin singles Contemporary R&B ballads