Bad Bunny is Redefining Latin Pop
Bad Bunny is arguably one of the most influential artists of the past five years. His smooth flow and unique voice allow his music to communicate any message he wants to deliver to his audience, whether it be a song about smoking insane amounts of kush or making his audience aware of ongoing sociopolitical global issues such as those confronted within Puerto Rico in 2018. It is not a surprise that his rapid rise to stardom has many people wondering how this former Puerto Rican supermarket bagger is now traveling the world singing alongside other a-listers with many of his songs continually playing on the radio. The answer is simple: Bad Bunny’s musical success, filled with fame and a vast audience of multiple backgrounds, is due to his originality.
Aside from the obvious, which is a good beat and a unique baritone voice, Bad Bunny always delivers a unique experience to his listeners through his fresh approach to common life themes such as love, his non-conformist fashion trends that create a strong impression, and his support for current social issues that trend especially with the younger generation of adults. The frankness with which Bad Bunny describes his past relations, whether they may be transactional or sentimental, has no filter. Many of his songs include explicit content about him being involved with past partners in almost any place and ways imaginable to spare graphic details. Although this could be confused by others as misogynistic content, Benito Martinez, or Bad Bunny, went o to explain in an interview with El Pais that this approach to songwriting derives from his cultural background. Salsa, merengue, and bachata, all commonplace in Puerto Rico, often include a ballad singer seducing a woman with the same goals in mind.
With this being said, Bad Bunny is aware of the impact his lyrics can have on his listeners. In 2018, amongst the rise of femicides in Latin America, his well-known single “Solo de mi” contains lyrics that can be translated to “You say that you loved me, I thank you for that, but I do not belong to you.” His music video features a young woman singing with her voice as bruises appear on her face until they finally disappear, and she smiles. Following this, in his 2020 album “YHLQMDLG,” he released “Yo perreo sola,” which not only communicates to the audience about women’s rights to feel comfortable in any social environment in which dancing and sharing is involved but also has him dressed as a woman highlighting these themes in his music video.
