Bad Bunny: Bringing Puerto Rican Music and Issues to the Forefront

As the temperature is rising and summer is approaching, many people are looking for energetic and engaging hits like those found in Bad Bunny’s most recent album: DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOTos. Released in January of this year, the album was an immediate hit, reaching #1 on Billboard’s Top Streaming Albums chart the week following its debut. The “album of Puerto Rican music” is notable for bringing the sound of salsa music back into the mainstream along with elements of all kinds of genres from the island- from jíbaro to plena. The Afro-Latino sounds of the tracks have proven to be popular with “BAILE INoLVIDABLE” being the first salsa song to ever reach #1 on Apple Music and many fans openly obsessing over the song online for weeks after its release. Described by many as a “love letter to Puerto Rico,” the album is chock-full of references to the island’s culture, historical music, and political struggles. Through this passion project, Bad Bunny has been quoted as saying that he wants to show the world “who Benito Antonio is, and who Puerto Rico is.”

  In addition to being a strong display of Puerto Rican music, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOTos has strong political themes and symbolism. The utilization of salsa within “BAILE INoLVIDABLE”  has brought newer Latin music back to an older Hispanic generation that experienced the peak of salsa in the ‘70s, many having witnessed this through watching the emotional reactions to this song from Puerto Rican parents and grandparents. Many lyrics within the songs, as well as the cover of the album, similarly serve to connect the younger and older generations of the island. The lyrics in the song “DtMF” hit close to home for many listeners who resonate with the idea of missing what one once had and wishing that family and experiences were cherished more; this is summed up in the title phrase which roughly translates to “I should have taken more photos.” Meanwhile, the album cover features an iconic and nostalgic scene of two empty monobloc chairs with a backdrop of plantain palms: the visual that is distinctly familiar to many people from the Caribbean brings back memories of family gatherings and the small joyful moments that define the cultures of the region.

     The album art can also serve as an unfortunate reminder of a lost way of life. Many families no longer meet up like they used to and throughout the years countless Puerto Ricans have had to make the painful decision to leave their homes, forced out by natural disasters and financial hardships. The empty chairs may be acknowledging the fact that they were once filled but have now been left behind. It’s worth noting that the financial hardships endured by too many Puerto Ricans are no fault of their own. Over the years the island has continually lacked the resources to properly recover from hurricanes, and U.S. corporations exploit the area as a domestic yet relatively lawless tax haven. Harmful usage of the land has been done on a smaller level too, with many wealthy people from the American mainland choosing to move to the island for lower taxes, creating a gentrified island with an even higher cost of living. These ideas can be heard when listening to the song “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAII” where Benito draws a connection between the historical exploitation of both islands. Bad Bunny made sure to carefully curate the imagery surrounding the album, with animations of el Sapo Concho, the only toad native to Puerto Rico, pairing with each song. El Sapo Concho was once thought extinct and, because of that, can represent the quiet strength of Puertorriquenos. It remains endangered to this day though, and for that it functions as a reminder to appreciate Puerto Rico’s biodiversity and as a warning of what happens when history isn’t protected and is ignored instead. Overall, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOTos is an album that is rich with beautiful music and sounds that were once unfamiliar to a larger audience, and full of important messages about family and culture, all whilst drawing attention to long-ignored hardships of Puerto Rican people.