For international superstar Bad Bunny, his island, Puerto Rico, is a fruitful well of inspiration.
The musician, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, was born and raised less than an hour from San Juan in the city of Almirante Sur. In his sixth studio album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” or in English, “I Should Have Taken More Photos,” Bad Bunny travels back to his barrio’s roots.
The album, released on Jan. 5, is an expansive and vulnerable mediation on Puerto Rico’s rich musical influences, experimenting with genres like plena, bomba, salsa, dembow and reggaeton while simultaneously dissecting the territory’s complex socio-political issues.
Critics have hailed the album “a love letter” to Puerto Rico,” and that’s true, but “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” also sheds a harsh light on the plight of everyday Puerto Ricans and the ever-changing landscape that locals are so desperately attempting to hold onto.
The issues plaguing Puerto Rico
“Debí Tirar Más Fotos'” release couldn’t have come at a more pertinent time for Puerto Rico. Just a week ago, a massive blackout hit the island, leaving nearly all of its 3.2 million residents in the dark on New Year’s Eve. Island-wide blackouts have plagued Puerto Rico for years, especially after the devastation caused by numerous hurricanes, pummeling the territory’s crumbling infrastructure, The Associated Press reported.
The island has also been targeted by the U.S.’s polarizing political figures and discourse. Last fall, during a rally for President-elect Donald Trump, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage,” and enforced stereotypes about Latinos. After those comments, Puerto Rico’s most visible figures like Jennifer Lopez and Bad Bunny condemned Trump and Hinchcliffe while emphasizing their support for Vice President Kamala Harris. In an interview with the New York Times, Bad Bunny said he was “angry” at the comment, reiterating “It wasn’t funny.”
But most of all, the territory’s pressing issue has always been statehood. The former Spanish colony was annexed by the U.S. in 1898 and has abided by the U.S. Consitution since the ’50s, becoming an “unincorporated organized territory,” Le Monde reported. Statehood would change Puerto Ricans’ voting rights in the U.S. general election.
A majority of Puerto Ricans, about 59 percent, have voted to move towards becoming the U.S.’s 51st state. However, there is a growing movement led by the youth-led, progressive group, called the Alliance, that has called for the end of America’s colonial influence on Puerto Rico and the territory’s complete and total independence, NPR reported. A November referendum showed that the independence movement has expanded, garnering 29 percent of the vote.
Bad Bunny’s music adamantly rejects and critiques statehood
This anti-colonial movement has caught momentum with high-profile figures like Bad Bunny, who in the past has condemned Puerto Rican statehood and the ruling party supporting the initiative. In “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” Bad Bunny calls for a halt to gentrification and the island’s cultural erosion at the hands of American intervention.
In an interview with TIME Magazine, the musician explained, “Tourists come here to enjoy the beautiful places, and then they leave and they don’t have to deal with the problems that Puerto Ricans have to deal with day-to-day.”
He said the album translates “that analogy to a romance.” In romantic relationships, people “only see the best part of you, the most beautiful part of you,” he said. “And they leave. They couldn’t see that part of each one of us: the defects, the trauma, the worries, the pains, the wounds of the past. It’s like they were a tourist in your life.”
The essence of this criticism is illuminated in the breakout song “Lo que le pasó a Hawaii” or in English, “What Happened to Hawaii?” In the three-minute track, Bad Bunny prophesizes a haunting portrait of the Puerto Rico that he loves vanishing in front of his eyes.
Against the stripped-back instrumentals and the strumming of a guitar, Bad Bunny slowly sings, “You hear the jíbaro (countryside person) crying, another one who’s left/He didn’t want to go to Orlando, but the corrupt ones pushed him out.”
In the intimate track, he draws a deeply resonant connection between Puerto Rico’s embattled identity and the U.S.’s 50th state, Hawaii.
He sings, “They want to take my river and my bеach too/They want my neighborhood and grandma to leave/No, don’t let go of the flag nor forget the lelolai (folk sayings)/’Cause I don’t want them to do to you what they did to Hawaii.”
Hawaii’s Native population also similarly faced cultural decimation and social and economic marginalization as Puerto Rico after the U.S. staged a coup in 1893 against the sovereign country and annexed Hawaii in 1898. Since its statehood in 1959, Hawaii has become highly Americanized but now Native Hawaiians have been steadfast in preserving their fading cultural norms and traditions, reports said.
Ultimately, in “Lo que le pasó a Hawaii,” Bad Bunny urges Puerto Ricans to hold on tightly to their folk songs, traditions, family and land. He sings, “No, don’t let go of the flag nor forget the lelolai/’Cause I don’t want them to do to you.”
Watch the album’s short film starring Puerto Rican filmmaker Jacobo Morale here
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