Salsa Romántica is a soft form of salsa music that emerged between the mid-1980s and early 1990s in New York City, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic. It has been the most commercially successful form of salsa in the last 20 years, despite criticism that it is a pale imitation of "real" salsa, often called "salsa dura."{{Citation needed|reason=There is no source to this fact|date=February 2023}} Description and origins Salsa Romántica is a slower, lighter sounding type of salsa music that La Palabra, a Cuban musician, introduced in the mid-1980s. {{Citation needed|reason=No credible reference for attribution|date=February 2023}} Salsa romántica arose at a time when classic, big-band salsa, popularized by Fania Records was growing on the Latin record charts, including the rise of Latin pop. Salsa Romantica was an adaptation of melodic love songs to a smooth, light salsa backing. The style spang from a single album, Noches Calientes, created in 1984 by Fania producer Luis Ramirez.{{Citation needed|reason=There is no credible reference for this claim|date=February 2023}} Young salseros such a Lalo Rodriguez and the Puerto Rican Eddie Santiago were creating salsa with light frothy songs, with suggestive lyrics." Salsa romantica is distinct from other salsa music styles because it uses a softer/quieter sounding orchestral sounds, ballads set to a slowed down salsa rhythm, and romantic lyrics. Because of the softer orchestra and leisurely rhythm, some have nicknamed this genre "limp salsa".{{cn}} Criticism Salsa romántica was heavily influenced by the balada style (or, pop style) of salsa, and is widely criticized by dancers due to the simple compositional style of both types. Traditional salsas give more improvisational ability to the musicians and dancers involved. Though it bears the moniker of a salsa, salsa romántica is considered by most to be inauthentic to the true spirit and style of salsa music. In Cuba, some critics refer to it as the “white” style to differentiate between salsa romántica and traditional salsa. Critics have also focused on the fact that "true salsa" involved qualified musicianship alongside the intricate composition, while salsa romántica was too systematic. Some say that one of the reasons salsa romántica even came about was due to the cocaine cartel's affinity for it.{{cn}} Critics of salsa romántica, especially in the late 1980s and early 1990s, called it a commercialized, watered-down form of Latin pop, {{Citation needed|reason=Which critics?|date=February 2023}} in which formulaic, sentimental love ballads were simply put to an Afro-Cuban beat—leaving no room for