Bad Bunny’s ‘DTMF’ is a love letter to Puerto Rico
The opening track on Bad Bunny’s sixth studio album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” released on January 5, doesn’t begin the way many of us expect reggaetón songs to begin. typical. No heavy synths in the intro, no luck”white” melody (as Puerto Ricans call the iconic tune sampled from the Jamaican “Bam Bam” riddim) and without the pounding dembow bass line. Instead, “Nuevayol” opens with a sample from El Gran Combo’s salsa classic “Un Verano En Nueva York,” the first sign that we’re headed for something different. And by the time the album’s 17 songs are finished, we’ve been taken on a tour of Puerto Rico’s rich musical history. This is Bad Bunny’s most emotionally vulnerable Puerto Rican album, in which he uses the island’s music scene as a canvas to comment on many of its sociopolitical issues while also raising Nurturing Puerto Rico’s future terroir music scene.
“Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” which means “I should have taken more photos,” comes at a pivotal time for Puerto Ricans, both on the island and throughout the diaspora. With the administration that plunged the island into corruption and decay about to take office again, there is no guarantee that our traditions or way of life will not be directly affected. It is the march of time and the impact of over 500 years of colonization cannot be underestimated.
Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez, seems to understand this better than most. The album is loosely framed by the idea of the singer entering the new year alone, reflecting on a lost love, which could easily be related to the loss of autonomy, sleep, and a future full of promise that many Puerto Ricans are struggling with. Our beaches are gradually poisoned. Our land is being sold to crypto billionaires. And our light remains won’t stay again.
Given these circumstances, it is not difficult to see how nostalgia for the past can serve as an escape. But Martínez, while his character may be drinking pitorro and reminiscing about his ex, doesn’t wallow in nostalgia. He uses it to bridge the gap between the island’s past and future. While the opening song begins with a salsa verse, praising Puerto Rican legends like salsa sensation Willie Colón and the owner of the last Puerto Rican social club in New York, Maria Antonia Cay (known for name Toñita), the second song on the album, “Baile Inolvidable”, finds Martínez harmonizing his typical urbano rhythms on trumpets, keys and a typical salsa arrangement provided by Libre de Musica San Juan. This was followed by tracks borrowed from less commercial genres, such as boma y plena, música jíbara and bachata. However, although the soundscape of “DTMF” is largely related to the island’s past, the voices it features will shape the island’s musical traditions for years to come.
Puerto Rico’s next big thing, RaiNaois featured on the track “Perfumito Nuevo”, a vibrant, captivating reggaetón track with a rhythmic, alternating dembow beat, perfect for a day trip through the sun-drenched streets of Puerto Rico. The next track, “Weltito”, calls for support from emerging Latin jazz, tropical fusion quartet chuwi.
Martínez may have been a one-time superstar, but he always understood that he was part of a larger musical tradition that included such greats as Hector Lavoe, Andres Jimenez, Olga Tanon, Big Pun, Tego Calderonand much more. And with that comes a certain responsibility. Martínez knows that any artist he introduces will be noticed, and he uses his platform accordingly to ensure that the tradition continues long after he is gone.
There has been a recent “return to roots” movement spreading across the underground PR scene, with new artists experimenting with more traditional sounds, which artists feature on albums, including Chuwi, Rainao, Omar Courtz and Dei V are both famous people. part of. Even Rauw Alejandro stepped up to pursue a more classical style and paid homage to the diaspora on his final album with a cover of Frankie Ruiz’s ‘Tu Con El.” So it’s no surprise that after “nadie sabe lo que vas a pasar mañana“trap masterclass is his final album, Martínez’s latest project will take him in a more eclectic direction and use his platform to help push the island sound in that direction.
But in many ways, Bad Bunny is also in class anti-superstar. While being a pop star often means trading in a more cultivated sound for something with mass appeal, Martínez did the opposite. The more his fame grew, the more his musical trajectory diverged from the typical pop star, taking him down a path of author and activist similar to that of hip hop artists and artists. rapper Kendrick Lamar. Likewise, as his fame grew, his albums became less accessible and more mediocre. DTMF is not an album that caters to an outside audience. It’s not intended to attract tourists, which the artist addresses in the track “Turista,” a cautionary tale about loving superficial things but not being willing to accept or live with someone or in this case the imperfection of a place.
But perhaps the most impactful song on the record is “Lo Que Le Paso a Hawaii.” In it, Bad Bunny examines the similarities between Hawaii and Puerto Rico, how they both became U.S. territories in 1898, and how the transition from colony to statehood served national interests. benefits Americans while increasing the cost of living and marginalizing Native Hawaiians. It’s eerily similar to what Martínez sees happening today in Puerto Rico: the wave of American immigration, the urbanization of cultural centers and the government’s push to become a nation-state. family. No wonder the artist was brought in shed tears during a recent visit to San Juan. The album is filled with such bittersweet emotions.
If “Un Verano Sin Ti” is a love letter to Caribbean culture (Spanish speaking and non-Spanish speaking), and “nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana” is an homage to street life in Puerto Rico , then “DTMF” is a celebration of who we are as people, a testament to our courage and contributions to music as a whole. Certainly, traditional genres are possible Works very well here, but there are also touches Dots about family and words, reminding us. our role in enhancing those arts.
Martínez is using nostalgia as a weapon here, targeting those who would see us pushed out of our lands and erased from history in the most Puerto Rican way: by making noise. And in the process, he became a complete artist and visionary. And that vision puts the island and his people front and center in everything he does. As he says in one of my favorite songs on the album “EoO”: “You’re listening to Puerto Rican music. We grew up listening and singing this. In the projects, in the hoods . Since the 90s, 2000s until forever.”
Miguel Machado is a journalist with expertise in the intersection of Latino identity and culture. He does everything from exclusive interviews with Latin music artists to opinion pieces on issues relevant to the community, to personal essays tied to Latinidad his, as well as thoughts and characteristics related to Puerto Rican and Puerto Rican culture.
