Written by Alexandra Salazar-Rodó. Graphic by Ana Vergara.
After a year hiatus, Bad Bunny has finally dropped a new album. On Jan. 5, the artist launched his sixth studio album “DeBí TiRAR MáS FOToS,” and it instantly became a hit. An ode to his home Puerto Rico (PR), the whole album pays homage to the island’s culture, past, present and future. Each song is filled with melodies Puerto Ricans can take in with bright eyes, envisioning the beauty of their home. Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has produced a love letter to his home, to his culture.
Maybe Bad Bunny’s best album yet, the artist demonstrates the love for his people, dedicating the album to them. Benito uses his significant platform to share what makes his island so unique. Naturally, the artist incorporates many different musical genres that are the essence of the island’s culture, using notes of Jarabe, Bomba, Plena, Denbow and Bad Bunny’s reggaeton throughout the song list to craft the story. Bad Bunny blends all the sounds of Puerto Rico to share his people’s experience. Through music, audiences can become aware of the lives of those who live on the island and the stories of those who left. Benito communicates small cultural details, expressing what shapes Puerto Rico and its beautiful culture, and merges genres with other Puerto Rican artists, sharing his platform. Both collaborating and emulating other musicians to craft his love letter to his island, Bad Bunny uses the music he listened to growing up, tunes he feels embody classic Puerto Rican identity.
The tone and genre are not the only ode to PR in the album. Many songs pay close attention to the most rattling issues facing the Puerto Rican island today. From natural disasters to rising poverty and an economic crisis, Bad Bunny chooses to stand up for PR and not to shy away from getting too political. Many of the songs in the album are responses to the island’s concern about gentrification and tourism, in “TURiSTA,” along with its status with the United States, in “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii.” Against U.S. colonialism, Bad Bunny’s music is a message to Puerto Ricans on and off the island to love and have pride in their culture and their home, never allowing themselves to let go of that feeling.
A big draw away the general public has had from the album, especially with the title song, is how immigrants are affected by leaving home, the powerful emotion of missing the culture. From Benito’s love of his culture, wanting to write and create the album in PR, to the TikTok trend of immigrants sharing photos of their home, their families and the things they have missed the most, there has been a fluctuation in exhibiting their culture, missing it, but also being proud and displaying it. Bad Bunny has given that emotion a sound for people to relate to, creating a love letter to immigration.
As a child of Hispanic immigrants; when I first listened to the album, it reminded me of the countless stories they had told me of our own country, Costa Rica. Stories that I have treasured, ones that I can listen to time and time again, ones that put the brightest smiles on my parents’ faces. Smiles of joy, happiness, nostalgia and sadness. Songs like “LA MuDANZA,” reminded me of how my parents would introduce a family member or a friend.
Since the release of Bad Bunny’s album, I have been speaking to both my parents about the album’s message of missing home, wishing one could go back to treasure it more and take more photos of the tiniest details. Our long conversations covered topics of missing friends and family, not having them close and the inability to celebrate the most special of days, like a baby shower or even a birthday. On top of that, one misses the land and the views; the difficulty of parting from it when you had grown up with distinctive landforms, like when a beautiful mountain range encompasses your city. Or even what the land can do, what one eats from it, how the water affects how your skin feels, how your hair looks and feels after a wash, and the simple daily activities. In addition, we expressed how different it is to be away and see issues arise in your nation, see how many locals have lost the financial ability to buy property, only rent, and how one can feel helpless just being away. Moreover, when someone is trying to gain citizenship in the U.S., they aren’t allowed to leave the country. So, often, these feelings of disconnect are something one needs to be brave with and push through, and it can be difficult to work past.
The album also made me wish I went to Costa Rica more and made me grateful that even being so far away from it, the culture my parents passed down through the stories of their past is something to be proud of. Those stories have always kept me connected to my culture, and that is something I will always share and celebrate. Additionally, with Bad Bunny’s album, the love letter he wrote to Puerto Rico, to his people, I have been lucky to ask questions similar to the album’s themes. I better understand my parents and who they are, and I will forever be grateful for them, their sacrifices and our culture.
