Last year, New York duo Xtreme rode their hit track “Shorty, Shorty” to the top of the Latin charts. This year, Steve Styles and Danny D are set to drop more bilingual bachata jams with their follow-up, Chapter Dos.

We got a hold of the cornrowed crooners before they got on a plane and talked to them about their new album, their influences and their love for the shorties.

What's up with your new album?

Steve Styles: We are proud that we’re about to release Chapter Dos. We worked really hard on this album to give it our feeling and sound, ese sonido urbano de Xtreme. We feel it’s the next chapter of many more Xtreme albums to come.

Danny D: En este disco tenemos muchas canciones para las “shorties” que siempre nos apoyan cuando estamos sobre la tarima en los conciertos, comprando nuestros discos o con sus mensajes en MySpace y en Facebook.

What will we hear on Chapter Dos?

Danny: We've got thirteen songs on Chapter Dos and a bonus track that you can get if you the album buy online. Son canciones con batacha, sentimiento y mucho amor.

Steve: En nuestras canciones hablamos de como nos sentimos, de lo que nos pasa en nuestras vidas y también en nuestra carrera como cantantes. Hasta tenemos una canción dedicada a nuestras fans, se llama “Súper Fanática.” Lyrically, we mix our languages – Spanish and English – more this time around. Desde el titulo que es Chapter Dos y también lo van a escuchar en muchas caniones. Somos Dominicanos that grew up in the Bronx so what we sing is a reflection of our upbringing.

Growing up in The Bronx, why did you choose bachata instead of hip-hop or R&B?

Steve: Nosotros crecimos con la bachata y música Latina en nuestras casas con nuestras familias, esas son nuestras raíces musicales que nos conectan con lo que somos Latinos del Caribe. But we also grew up listening to R&B and hip hop so there’s that urban flavor in our sound and lyrics as well.

Danny: Nos encanta lo que hacen nuestros hermanos Aventura, Toby Love and Óptimo. We've got mad respect and love for them, we are all taking bachata to another level. Plus, we also look up to what Usher and Justin Timberlake do on their albums and onstage.

What's the difference between Chapter Dos and your last album, Haciendo Historia?

Danny: We are more mature as singers and performers. So when we went into the studio, Steve and I were more precise in what we wanted. We've had the opportunity to perform a ton since Haciendo Historia, so we know what our fans want. Así que grabamos canciones con nuestras fans en mente. Les queremos dar lo mejor de Xtreme.

Haciendo Historia went platinum. Do you feel any pressure to match that success?

Steve: At first we felt a little pressure, we can’t deny that. But as we kept working on the album, we realized how much fun is to be doing what we do: writing songs, recording them and performing them live for our fans, las shorties.

Danny: Para nosotros grabar un disco es como ir la escuela, es hacer la tarea para tener la recompensa después que es el recreo, el subir a la tarima a cantar y poder compartir nuestra música con nuestras fans.

Speaking of “the shorties,” there are videos on the Internet of you surprising your fans with phone calls. How did the idea come about?

Steve: Yeah! We try to stay in touch with las shorties, the girls, as much as we can. We check out MySpace messages and comments they send us. They can still do it the old-fashioned way, too, by calling our hotline. So one day, we decided to get their digits and call them. Those calls are for real, the fans didn’t know were calling them, it’s a way to show our love to them. We are going to keep calling them by surprise to watch out!

With so much screaming coming from the phone, do you ears hurt after those calls?

Danny: [Laughs.] Nah, the girls are super sweet. Besides, ellas necesitan guardar algunos gritos para los conciertos! [Laughter.]

Which song do you like performing most for your shorties?

Steve: That song would definitely be “Shorty, Shorty.” Esa fue la canción que nos dio a conocer. Con “Shorty, Shorty” hicimos historia. [Laughter.] It’s the song that gave us the opportunity to share our music with people all over the world.

Danny: We always sing it like it’s the first time we perform it. The girls all over know it’s their song and we can’t help but to try to make them happy, por las shorties hablamos hasta Francés.

Steve: We are already performing our next single, “Through That Window (Enamorado Estoy),” live, and we get the chills when we realize the girls already know the lyrics and the album isn’t even out yet!

When does the album drop?

Danny D: Chapter Dos comes out on November 25, 2008. So go buy it as soon as it drops!

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.