A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.

As new genres of music began to emerge in the early 20th century, their popularity faded, but the association with sentimentality led to the term ballad being used for a slow love song from the 1950s onwards.

[18] In the late 19th century, Danish folklorist Svend Grundtvig and Harvard professor Francis James Child attempted to record and classify all the known ballads and variants in their chosen regions.

[22] Popular sentimental ballad vocalists in this era include Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, Connie Francis and Perry Como.

Major sentimental ballad artists of this decade included Barbra Streisand, Nana Mouskouri, Elton John, Engelbert Humperdinck, Carole King, Cat Stevens and James Taylor.

[27][28][29] Prominent artists who made sentimental ballads in the 1980s include Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, Peabo Bryson, Barry White, Luther Vandross and George Michael.

[32] Newer female singer-songwriters such as Sarah McLachlan, Natalie Merchant, Jewel, Melissa Etheridge and Sheryl Crow also broke through on the AC chart during this time owing to their ballad-sound.

[33] A popular trend in the early 2000s was remixing or re-recording dance music hits into acoustic ballads (for example, the "Candlelight Mix" versions of "Heaven" by DJ Sammy, "Listen to Your Heart" by DHT, and "Everytime We Touch" by Cascada).

[42] According to Charles Aaron, power ballads came into existence in the early 1970s, when rock stars attempted to convey profound messages to audiences while retaining their "macho rocker" mystique.

[44][45] Aaron argues that the hard rock power ballad broke into the mainstream of American consciousness in 1976 as FM radio gave a new lease of life to earlier impassioned songs such as Badfinger's "Without You", Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" and Aerosmith's "Dream On".

[48] In the 1980s, bands such as Journey and REO Speedwagon contributed to the power ballad becoming a staple of hard rock performers who wanted to gain more radio airplay and satisfy their female audience members with a slower, more emotional love song.

Known as "El Principe de La Cancion" (The Prince of the Song), he sold over 40 million albums in his career and became a huge influence to later ballad singers such as Cristian Castro, Alejandro Fernández, Nelson Ned, Manuel Mijares and Lupita D'Alessio.