thread of bad bunny

been processing the debut bad bunny LP. at first i was mostly unimpressed, but a good few tracks and the overall aesthetic have really started seeping in. dynamic star of latin trap, or overhyped atlanta diluter?

i adore him tbh. i like his voice & he seems sort of weird.. ❤️ the album is the best thing i've heard in a long time.

also his fashion sense is super fun

yes i love his nails

i've listened to the album once and enjoyed it! my thoughts will hopefully solidify into something more concrete than 'oooh ~beat switches~' over time

the album is the best thing i've heard in a long time.

― ¯\_(🏈 )_/¯ (daria-g), Thursday, December 27, 2018 11:52 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Pretty much sums up my skepticism ... unless I’m missing it lyrically (totally fair critique) I don’t get what makes this any better/worse than gunna, lil baby, Travis Scott album cuts, latter period future — all of which is “good” but hardly exciting

Except that it’s in Spanish and the descendants of “rap is just about hoes and bling” love anything that’s like rap but slightly different

If you’re not Spanish-fluent and you love this and hate post malone idgi

i could not get into this at all. that said he's hot and looks good in expensive streetwear so i get it

This might be the best trap-album I've heard since Culture. Yeah, it's a lot like Travis Scott, but more rhythmically varied. The way the drums are mixed in a track like 200MPH is almost psychedelic. Love it!

If Post Malone has the same thing, I should listen to more Post Malone :) I do kinda like his singles, but they're not as good as this.

he's hot and looks good in expensive streetwear

v true!

d-40, confused - was your skepticism summed up by a woman saying she liked a record?

If you’re not Spanish-fluent and you love this and hate post malone idgi

i don't really try to listen to post malone, not my cup of tea. i love future in general (except juice wlrd album - no) but.. he sounds so unhappy all the time. totally different feeling.

do speak a little spanish, understand better than i speak. actively working on it - but to understand song lyrics I def have to look up translations, which helps fill in what i didn't catch. but translations of lyrics are awful, they're just plugged in from google translate. flat and far less creative and funny than the original, so i compare back and forth. suppose i can learn to swear fluently while i'm at it.

I can help you translate a couple of his songs if you want me to

d-40, confused - was your skepticism summed up by a woman saying she liked a record?

Yes, the only possible objection I could have to “best thing I heard in a long time” is that you’re a woman, exactly

So what I’m hearing is a bunch of people who don’t listen to current rap and don’t know what post malone sounds like have decided this is great. Got it

This might be the best trap-album I've heard since Culture.

I’m not the world’s biggest Travis Scott fan but this is not better than his album. Lol

it seemed weird to me to have said little more than i like this album & someone drops in pointing at me like this is exactly why i'm skeptical. por que?

I can help you translate a couple of his songs if you want me to

heh. nah i'm good. not everything translates. spanish would be my third language & ime even if i didn't have to look up some words, it isn't the same as being a native speaker of a language & really getting cultural references - to puerto rico in particular, to musical genres that were popular at a specific time and place.

only like 5 ppl have posted in this thread so far, all of whom seem to be familiar-to-fanatical re: current rap music and are well aware of what post malone sounds like? where is the overwhelming and undeserved enthusiasm for this record that you're referring to coming from?

I also prefer it to Damn ¯\_('^')_/¯ 

I just really like the drums, maaaaan

This argument would be both tedious and predictable even if the Travis Scott album were somehow critically underappreciated which it clearly is not.

Critically underappreciated has nothing to do with it in responding to the claim this is somehow the best trap album since “culture”.

But for that matter What makes this better than Lil baby’s “harder than ever”? Gunna’s “drip season 3”? can someone even evaluate if they are vaguely making out lyrical content in a genre built around elaborate lyrical interplay that’s intertextual & working between local & broader cultural lingo?

Multiple ppl on this thread said they haven’t even heard post malone (somehow) that doesn’t sound very familiar w rap music

I’m not even opposed to the idea that this album is as good as everyone is saying (though compostionally this feels several steps down from the Travis Scott at least) based on some especially great writing that’s going over my head as an English speaker but I’m not going to listen to ppl who aren’t appreciating it on that level either tell me this is the best trap album in two years .. how could you even know?

I'm Danish. All the rap I hear is in a second language (except Malk de Koijn. Sigh...) And honestly, I don't give a fuck if you listen to me or not, I'm just writing my opinions on a message board. Who cares what you think?

xpost re: post malone, i've heard him, but i don't listen to him. why not try listening to more than anglophone artists

album still 🔥🔥🔥

caro
la romera
estamos bien

better than damn would certainly be pushing it for me... to say the least, lol. about on the level of a lil baby full-length seems about right. which is good imo!

Multiple ppl on this thread said they haven’t even heard post malone (somehow)

i reread the thread to see if perhaps i had misread but nope, this is not actually what was said at all lol, and am finding it hard to believe that this is what you actually believe was meant by those users who mentioned him.

going back to your initial posts, since that's where post malone first came up here...

Except that it’s in Spanish and the descendants of “rap is just about hoes and bling” love anything that’s like rap but slightly different

is this what's really going on here? i won't be obtuse enough to deny the latter part of this sentence refers to a v real phenomenon but you really think being in spanish helps to gain acceptance among those types? latin trap is generally pretty inseparable from a pretty narrow brand of machismo and the types you are referring to are not exactly known for their affinity for hypermasculine music/images from members of racialized groups.

so if this phenom is actually in play, what's helping assuage the typical hesitation? is it his shorts? the nails? his clumsy but '''endearing''' gesturing toward a contemporary feminist cause? i have trouble believing it's the language/barrier, as most rap-anxious whites do not even listen to the lyrics of english-language rap music before deciding it's offputting. (it could even be the drake collab, or perhaps even a feature of the music not related to image-production.)

like, idk. afaict most of the ppl who are enthusiastically discussing this album (not here, b/c little discussion of the album itself is going on) are already pretty familiar with latin trap and spanish-language music more broadly and still consider it to be a noteworthy release. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

i don't really try to listen to post malone

If Post Malone has the same thing, I should listen to more Post Malone :)

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I’m not saying it’s not noteworthy even I’m just questioning absurd hyperbole like “best trap album since culture” (culture isn’t even the best trap album since culture)

fuck deej you like Travis Scott now? thought i was still safe hating/mostly ignoring him

ILX's bad boy upset by the use of casual hyperbole to describe an encounter with music on I Love Music.

Snark aside, what is the best trap album since Culture?

xp

woahwoah we calling TS albums “compositionally good” now??

Article in the wake of the killing of openly gay trapero Kevin Fret in Puerto Rico last week:

https://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/article/ev3yjm/kevin-frets-death-highlights-latin-traps-homophobia-problem

Posting it here because Bad Bunny is mentioned in the article (Anuel AA plays a part in this story too).

this video is quite old news now but i still like it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg64AFnRnkc

huh i didnt know thats what he looked like

nobody:#BadBunny: pic.twitter.com/TSeWhqsvwV

— chaaa 🍒 (@charis_edian) March 8, 2019

There’s also a video w/ a little kid as Bad Bunny

Don’t tell me he makes out with him at the end as well.

la cancion is a really excellent song, my god

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsGnCt-gT44

https://jezebel.com/bad-bunny-used-his-fallon-performance-to-spotlight-the-1841974571

Really enjoying his new album as well.

is he still bad and overhyped by those who only like(d) his music for being hip rap music in spanish?

please let’s not invite ilx’s bad bunny back to this thread

Damn sorry for asking for ppl to not uncritically moon over stuff itt

new album is pretty solid, very consistent for 20 songs. so far, it doesn't have the highs of x100, and it probably suffers from lack of callaita, and tainy, in . kinda funny, i listened to the album in full without looking at the credits, and three of the four tracks that immediately stood out to me were tainy productions.

*tainy, in general

generally agree with that take. I think even the tracks that come off as filler right now will grow on me as Vete and Ignorantes did. standouts so far: La Dificil, Solia, A Tu Merced, Safaera, 25/8

yeah, safaera is a highlight for me too. the 'la romana' of the new one, though it doesn't reach those heights.

Yes, good but uneven and not quite the heights of last one , sounds right.

Forgot BB had own thread & commented on Rolling reggaeton and more one

Rolling Afro-Latin Music 2020: Reggaeton, Salsa, Bomba, Latin Jazz, Bachata, Merengue, Urbano and more Latinx

no mention yet of the arguably already-iconic "yo perreo sola" video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtSRKwDCaZM

Not super into the new album. Too many guitars, not enough straight-ahead bangers (although obviously that's the point).

i've found i enjoy it if i ignore everything before "dákiti". not sure what the last track is doing there but i like it too

this thread completely died after early enthusiasts on here were informed that maybe-kinda-liking his first album wasn't as woke as they perhaps thought :( lol

oh well at least he's still putting out good music and might be better-known now than ever

Indeed. He was the #1 most streamed artist on Spotify this year.

La difícil was my top played track on spotify for this year

coming round on the album, it's good actually

"yonaguni" song and video both really good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doLMt10ytHY

yep.

As the westernmost inhabited island of Japan, Yonaguni has also been constantly associated with the myth of the island of women (Nyōgo no Shima) since the Edo period.

im listening to this too much.

un verano sin ti is so compulsively listenable

it is

man was the most streamed artist on spotify 2 years in a row, has the highest grossing tour in the world atm, and has the most streamed album of the year so far. but yeah go ahead and tell me how ed sh**ran is the king of pop!

— Isabelia Herrera (@jabladoraaa) July 25, 2022

case in point: the way that US pubs continue to write about bad bunny is fascinating to me, as though he is a niche artist and not the biggest pop star on the planet lol. not even trying to be a stan or a sycophant; i have my critiques. but it's just quantitatively true.

— Isabelia Herrera (@jabladoraaa) July 25, 2022

Are people trying to argue with science again ?

can't find a list where he's #1, looks to me like he's maybe #2 of all time (behind drake, ahead of ed) and currently #7 globally? anyway being on the top of a pile of shit is nothing to be proud of

part of being a responsible poptimist is calling out bad pop

here’s some damn fine pop for your responsible poptimist ass(es):

“Andrea” ft. Buscabulla: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjvTQTGogUM

“Ojitos Lindos” ft. Bomba Estéreo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10EX-_h4pYc

okay I knew which beat both songs were going to have beforehand, but I didn't know one was going to be half the speed of the other, that is progress

In reggaeton it counts as a change of time signature
Interesting that Bomba Esteréo is credited and not just Li Saumet

calling out reggaeton for using the drum pattern that makes a song reggaeton is not an own

i find it funny that people don’t get the same joy out of pointing out that every garage song uses the same beat, or the 90 million uses of funky drummer

I guess for some people it comes off as a novely beat, like calypso

what this attempt at derision gets right is that the beat is central to the genre, as when techno or house is described as untz untz music

calling out reggaeton for using the drum pattern that makes a song reggaeton is not an own

def not an own, in fact it is (imo) ignorant

"andrea" is one of my favorite songs of the year. incredible sound design on that one.

I guess for some people it comes off as a novely beat, like calypso

what this attempt at derision gets right is that the beat is central to the genre, as when techno or house is described as untz untz music

can't find a list where he's #1, looks to me like he's maybe #2 of all time (behind drake, ahead of ed) and currently #7 globally? anyway being on the top of a pile of shit is nothing to be proud of

― corrs unplugged, Tuesday, July 26, 2022 4:25 AM (eight hours ago)

his album has the most weeks at no 1 of any album this year. he's also already had the biggest streaming year in spotify history (10.3 billion streams) thru only 7ish months & is consistently their most streamed artist globally. there's also this

Prior to the May release of Un Verano Sin Ti, Bad Bunny’s El Último Tour del Mundo, which played arenas across North America from February to April, grossed $116. 8 million and sold 575,000 tickets, according to Billboard Boxscore. The trek was No. 1 on the 2022 mid-year Top Tours chart, and topped the chart for February and March, breaking several local Boxscore records.

it's pretty indisputable that he's the biggest artist in the world rn

eleven weeks in, BB still has ten tracks of the album in this week’s Hot 100 - for comparison, after only five weeks since his album dropped, Drake has only four tracks left. there’s also this:

Bad Bunny and Chencho Corleone‘s “Me Porto Bonito,” at its No. 6 best, takes over as the most-streamed song in the U.S. – and becomes the first all-Spanish-language No. 1 in the history of the Streaming Songs chart

now replace the genre names with any of your own favourite genres and see how ignorant (not “imo”, this is ILM for crying out loud) you sound.

and sorry, can’t accept the “for some people” deflection, you were being derisive yourself, and again, this is ILM for crying out loud.

I didn't mean to sound derisive with the pile of shit comment, just find it a bad measure of anything who's topping those charts, and by "some people" I didn't mean posters here. Techno is one of my favorite genres?

Andrea is great

it's pretty indisputable that he's the biggest artist in the world rn

I don't mean to dispute it, just can't figure out where to source reliable data

according to this list https://chartmasters.org/spotify-most-popular-artists/ he has more than twice the streams of Drake but according to this one https://routenote.com/blog/most-streamed-artists-on-spotify/ he's #7 in the world

fine, I am going to put my money where my mouth is and give Bad Bunny a fair shake. all 81 minutes. going in now

half the bleedin' planet can't be wrong, eh

Well blow me down, first three tracks are kinda great. Fuck

Every track has featured thoughtful sonic design and at least one surprising switch-up, and they've all sounded distinct from each other

Track 4 is straight up prog or something

These synths!

according to this list https://chartmasters.org/spotify-most-popular-artists/ he has more than twice the streams of Drake but according to this one https://routenote.com/blog/most-streamed-artists-on-spotify/ he's #7 in the world

― corrs unplugged, Wednesday, July 27, 2022 2:37 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

one list is "monthly listeners," the other is "daily streams."

This should, to be fair, have been two albums. The first can end with La Corriente and it's pretty complete, and good

the second half has some absolute highlights tho, like "andrea," "el apagón," "efecto," "ojitos lindos," etc.

I'm just getting to the second half (after a pause)! Just saying where a natural break feels it should be

The song 'Party' has been the only out and out filler so far

all major albums in the streaming era are gonna be bloated, but i think un verano sin ti uses its bloat for good–more experimentation, unexpected collaborations, more explorations of the wide swaths of latin music styles

Yeah, I'm finding that. I didn't know he used his powers for good tbh!

There's indeed a v strong run on the second half, broken up regrettably by Dos Mil 16, which...I guess not every experiment was going to work

i was a little disappointed with "party" too, considering how sharp and genre-fluid rauw alejandro's own album was. it sounds too much like a commercial ploy, and i think even reggaeton fans felt that, since the true big hits from the album have been "me porto bonito" (beat-switching reggaeton with a great melody) and "titi me pregunto" (dembow assault gives way to '00s r&b throwback)

if you don't like "dos mil 16" i wouldn't check out much of his pre-2020 stuff lol

i still have space for some of that stuff, but i much prefer the artist he's become

Yeah those two were huge xxp. The people want it proggy, what can I say

so yeah - lose Party, Aguacero, Dos Mil 16, the title track and Agosto, split the remaining 18 tracks into two albums, done

enjoyed that though!

Lol it’s fun reading imago enjoying Bad Bunny.

As a latinamerican yeah it’s a bit weird how it seems most US/UK is unaware of him and the rest of the world seems to love him. I still remember how confused I was hearing artists like Luis Fonsi, Ricky Martin, J Balvin, Enrique Iglesias and Bad Bunny being played non-stop as party music in Singapore and Thailand when I went there.

i don't think most americans are unaware of him... he's had the biggest selling album in the country this year bar none. apple music has top 25 charts based on cities around the world, bad bunny is all over the charts for nyc, LA, chicago, miami, houston, dallas, san francisco, DC, seattle, philadelphia, phoenix, san diego. can't speak for the UK tho

uk charts still have quite a phobia of non english lyrics yet i hear bad bunny everywhere i go here. maybe because i am happy to hear his music i notice it more?

americans whose familiarity w/ pop music extends solely to what has been ratified by (anglo) hits radio + similar center-of-mainstream avenues of exposure are likely still relatively unaware of bad bunny, or may know who he is + vaguely recall that he was on cardi's "i like it" but otherwise not rly know his other music. his amazing success is a reflection of the feverish level of consumption of his music among, generally, younger listeners (especially but far from exclusively latino). his songs that have been riding high in the top 10 of the singles chart have essentially zero anglo airplay aside from a smattering of weekend mixshow spins

it is bizarre to me that these mainstream outlets still basically ignore him as much as possible. the situation is different when you go to some of the cities that j0rdan mentioned, but not by a whole lot

it was funny to me when i saw some article about pop radio ppl deciding what to do about the encanto song "we don't talk about bruno" being a streaming smash. someone was quoted as saying, "these are drake-level streaming numbers, we have to pay attention." it was like, um, you mean, the artist whose material you routinely ignore and whose streaming numbers you generally dismiss as being irrelevant to your target audience? in the end they didn't acknowledge "bruno" much, and "running up that hill" is really the only out-of-nowhere streaming-first phenom they've bothered with in recent memory

got around to this and it's pretty good but absolutely way too long! enjoyed it more than his previous albums which i never really managed to vibe with

haha good, now we need to hear how YOU would shorten it

there aren't any obvious dud tracks so idk that i'd necessarily cut anything, just split it into two for convenience

it almost gets away with the length, there's enough ideas to go around, but it's just too much at once as is

yeah, that was kind of my answer except for the 5 tracks i would cut obv lol

did we ever find a satisfactory reason as to why he, two albums and three years later, added "caillaíta" to the end of this album? great song, regardless

The song was released through Rimas Entertainment on May 31, 2019 as the first single from Bunny's fourth studio album, Un Verano Sin Ti (2022), appearing as the last song from the album acting as a bonus track.

Fun show seeing Bad Bunny at Nationals Park stadium in Washington DC. A big production with an island beach with palm trees, a portion of which elevated above the crowd with Bad Bunny on it. Lots of backing visuals, fireworks, a team of dancers and for encore some horn players. He had a beach chair he sat in at times . They were giving out light up wristbands before the show to members of the crowd too. A little over 2 hours

Emphasis was on new album songs but he dug back too

Bad Bunny is scheduled to do 2 shows this weekend at Yankee Stadium. Old-school salsa fans love that a 70s salsa multi-act bill filled Yankee Stadium one night. This is topping that.

Bad Bunny brought on a number of special guests at Yankee Stadium— Romeo Santos, ArcAngel, Jowell & Randy and more. Plus per Rolling Stone even folks who didn’t splurge for tickets , enjoyed the show:

Elated cheers filled the stadium, but the people inside weren’t the only ones listening: Massive crowds flooded the surrounding area, with fans dancing and celebrating outside the security gates, overjoyed that the music was loud and clear enough to travel across multiple city blocks. Entire families and throngs of children packed the nearby Macombs Dam Park to the brim, picnics and Puerto Rican flags in tow. It wasn’t just an event for people who got a ticket; it was one for all of the Bronx. His links there are deep: Bad Bunny famously drove through the borough during his memorable pandemic concert atop a moving van in 2020, and recorded part of his video for “Tití Me Preguntó” there.

One song from Yankee Stadium Sunday gig was live on MTV Awards .

A friend who had seen him on earlier tours liked the DC stadium show also. A pretty quick rise to mega- stardom -- saw some tweets from folks who had seen him in clubs not that many years ago

I can't express how huge Bad Bunny is in South Florida across every young demographic.

he's absolutely the biggest pop star that i can remember, maybe in my lifetime. like i think he's on mj levels at this point.

He has already done way more live performances than MJ iirc

His concerts this year have sold out in minutes and people buying from scalpers at ridiculous prices.

I saw people buying tickets to see him in Monterrey for prices above $900

Real prices were around $150/$200

What no mention of his WWE antics itt? They should set up a match between him and (also surprisingly good) Logan Paul.

also no mention of his role in the brad pitt vehicle bullet train lol

And his upcoming leading role in a DC film.

He also played a character in Netflix’s Narcos Mexico

He has already done way more live performances than MJ iirc

His concerts this year have sold out in minutes and people buying from scalpers at ridiculous prices.

I saw people buying tickets to see him in Monterrey for prices above $900

Moka meant Montell Jordan

Eheh that said as a solo artist, MJ has played around 270 gigs in 3 tours (roughly 1year+ each): Bad, Dangerous and History. So at this point BB has already toured longer than MJ !

I thought we were all talking about Montell Jordan.

Hahaha Well, I was googling Michael Jackson and it gave me his solo shows. I was impressed that he didn’t seem to tour so much but didn’t consider Jackson 5 weren’t inside those stats.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/bad-bunny-releases-documentary-for-el-apagon-1234594915/

Bad Bunny Puerto Rican activist

Most streamed artists on Global Spotify in 2022 #SpotifyWrapped:

#1. Bad Bunny
#2. Taylor Swift
#3. The Weeknd
#4. Drake
#5. Ed Sheeran pic.twitter.com/PJPhbwlVWB

— Pop Base (@PopBase) November 30, 2022

he deserves it!

I love this album. It feels good to catch the slang and his sudden use of English words.

Don't just run up to take a picture:

Adivina... fuaaaap pic.twitter.com/T96HighoxQ

— Felix Victorino (@donfelixSPM) January 2, 2023

His non-apology after the fact:

La persona que se acerque a mi a saludarme, a decirme algo, o solo conocerme, siempre recibirá mi atención y respeto. Los que vengan a ponerme un cabrón teléfono en la cara lo consideraré como lo que es, una falta de respeto y así mismo lo trataré yo. #SINCOJONESMETIENE

— ☀️🌊❤️ (@sanbenito) January 2, 2023

tbrr, that seems fair

Un Verano Sin Celular

Seeing Some funny tweets about this’d phone grabbing now

Nice opening performance on the Grammys

Also just this

https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/opportunities/thinking-with-bad-bunny-cultural-politics-and-the-future-of-puerto-rico/

To examine the significance of the Bad Bunny phenomenon and its impact, CENTRO is hosting a Thinking with Bad Bunny symposium on May 11-13, 2023 at Hunter College in New York City. The event will bring together scholars and music industry leaders to discuss the role of reggaetón and trap as genres in Puerto Rican culture and society, the politics of race, gender, and Latinidad, the social context of Bad Bunny’s music, including the impact of gentrification and displacement on Puerto Rican culture, and the role of celebrity in political activism (and vice versa

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/newsletter/2023-04-06/latinx-files-bad-bunny-colorism-tego-calderon-racism-time-interview-latinx-files

La Times piece re Bad Bunny Time magazine story:

In the lengthy cover story, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio was asked questions on fame, politics and his desire to be “the biggest star in the world.” Among them, he was asked what role colorism and race play in the reggaeton industry.

“Because I haven’t seen it or lived it, I can’t say,” he said. “It’d be irresponsible of me to say yes.”

He then offered the success of Tego Calderón as an example of someone who he considers to be “the biggest singer in the industry,” as possible evidence that the industry is a meritocracy and that anti-Black racism doesn’t limit the possibilities of Black artists.

Unsurprisingly, his comments set some parts of the internet aflame

…. This isn’t the first time that Bad Bunny has fallen short in people’s eyes when it came to the subject of anti-Black racism. He was accused of being silent in the wake of the George Floyd protests and at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement. It was a surprise to many, considering the Black foundations of the music that made him famous.

I feel like people are disingenuous and refuse to consider the position of the musician as an individual, setting weird expectations that the current superstar has a passionate inspirational tirade ready. The music press echoing with exaggerated collective expressions like "setting the internet aflame", or using ambiguity like "accused of being silent", and trying to hint at a narrative hours after interviewing. Really ? When humbly acknowledging the limits of your position and offering a rather strong positive message that anti-Black racism is real but isn't enough stop the development of Black artists is really no bad response at all if you leave it at that. At least, that's certainly one thing that helps slowly shift the lines of discrimination. Any positive example to be found in a complex social reality should not be opposed to the (generally shared) view that racism is setting back society.

It also doesn’t make much sense if you’re coming from a latin american background. not sure if Puerto Ricans see themselves as involved in US politics as in Latin American ones, but Bad Bunny has made it clear he identifies as latino.

Why are they expecting latin americans to chip in on US centric problems and get enraged if they don’t give a response.

I'm pretty sure these issues are also relevant in puerto rico

it's not a great response although its being perceived as disappointing might say something about how much expectations for pop stars have changed in recent years

have you guys seen the j balvin documentary that's on amazon? the whole thing is essentially (if accidentally) about a colombian teen being killed by cops during protests there and how all of colombia expects j balvin to say something about it, but he has no desire or ability to say anything meaningful, and so ppl start to turn on him, and he further collapses under the pressure of having to write, like, 4 sentences on instagram supporting this kid. (scooter braun eventually flies in and convinces him that he needs to say something.) there was also the whole tokischa video thing which inflamed colorism debates, and he handled that really poorly.

anyway, bad bunny isn't j balvin. but i do wonder if bad bunny is bearing the weight of past sins by other light skinned latin stars who have generally handled this debate poorly. i'd throw rosalia in there too even tho she overlaps w/ him as opposed to preceding him

That L.A. Times piece doesn't seem to accurately capture the quote in the Time profile (to the point of being nonsensical – BB wasn't asked "what role colorism and race play in the reggaeton industry," and indeed “It’d be irresponsible of me to say yes” wouldn't follow from that non-yes/no question). Why didn't they just quote the actual (short) paragraph, rather than attempting to paraphrase it?

(also, yeah, a pet peeve of mine is articles that say things like "set some parts of the internet aflame" and then offer three random tweets. I would hope they're representative of many more, for there to be an actual controversy)

I feel like people are disingenuous and refuse to consider the position of the musician as an individual, setting weird expectations that the current superstar has a passionate inspirational tirade ready. The music press echoing with exaggerated collective expressions like "setting the internet aflame", or using ambiguity like "accused of being silent", and trying to hint at a narrative hours after interviewing. Really ? When humbly acknowledging the limits of your position and offering a rather strong positive message that anti-Black racism is real but isn't enough stop the development of Black artists is really no bad response at all if you leave it at that. At least, that's certainly one thing that helps slowly shift the lines of discrimination. Any positive example to be found in a complex social reality should not be opposed to the (generally shared) view that racism is setting back society.

― Nabozo, Wednesday, April 12, 2023 6:35 AM (five hours ago)

i think what you're saying here about the media & ppl's expectations for artists in interviews is largely true, as the vast majority of interviews these days are not set up for, like, genuinely interesting and thought provoking conversation between the interviewer and subject. the idea of a confrontational question feels almost like kayfabe these days? that being said, "passionate inspirational tirade" could also just be... a not unreasonable expectation that certain artists have thought critically about their positions, why & how they got them, structural aspects of industry/society that may have greased the skids etc. i think a lot of famous people would do great to have ppl close to them prompt them to think critically about their statuses as celebrities! in a sense this is "media training" (which does happen, i'm sure bad bunny has been thru it) but i'm talking about something deeper. he may actually have interesting or profound things to say about colorism somewhere in there, but the 5,000th interview he's done is prob not the place where those thoughts are going to come out if he's not already been having those conversations & debates privately w/ ppl he can trust to bounce his opinions off of. which is really just normal friend shit most of us have access to, but i don't think lots of famous ppl have friendships like that. so these conversations are mediated entirely thru social media, the media, the star, the star's team etc. not conducive to introspection & such

not qualified to weigh in on anything else here but I will say that "US centric problems" invariably affect the whole world and the George Floyd protests in particular were a huge international event, I went to blm protests around that time here in the UK and my friends in Portugal and Brazil did likewise

Black Puerto Rican reggaeton pioneer Tego Calderon not getting his due attention and not acknowledging the reasons for it, or the struggles Tego endured, is more than an "US centric problem"

I also feel like the practice of not rendering interviews fully, but picking and choosing extracts in the frame the journalist chooses is super disrespectful. If you're taking apart a conversation, you're also killing it. And the reader is forced to accept a narrative, can't check the context, only invited to have ephemeral emotional reactions, and the artist goes from subject to object. And yes, tweets reacting to past declarations being quoted together with fresh declarations by the artist, wtf ?

To Jordan S: Yes, but that's also the job of the journalist to have thought about it, instead of trying to trip the artist into a sensitive debate and see if he doesn't say something clumsy. "What role has colorism played in the reggaeton industry" sounds more like a question for a university thesis. I'm doubting the honesty and genuine interest of the journalist.

I will also say that he gave me the exact same answer three years ago. He’s had time to educate himself since then—as he’s already done wrt other issues. As journalists, we should not uncritically accept lines celebrities have used before to deflect difficult conversations. https://t.co/l9oCdaZgEV

— Carina del Valle Schorske (@FluentMundo) April 2, 2023

What do you mean by the post? (Not being snarky)

Just that another journalist (Carina has written for NY Times and has a book coming out) who had interviewed Bad Bunny, also thought Bad Bunny's comments to her re racism 3 years ago weren't that well-informed , and that as he has educated himself and spoken out re other issues, she thought he should on this one as well

If he had said, in the Time interview, "I do agree that race and colorism play a role in the success of a reggaeton artist," how would it change the story or reporting on the subject (colorism and racism in reggaeton)?

Obviously it’s complicated, but when an artist as massively popular as Bad Bunny says something it’s going to get a little more attention than if just some obscure writers say it on twitter. Bunny financed and showed a film doc on the political situation in Puerto Rico that he showed before his gig on the stadium tour I saw . The writers and critics here are hoping he will speak out more on these issues as well

He kinds of addresses his discomfort with that point a little later in the interview (“You’re not going to ask Daddy Yankee something like that”).

I can understand fans & critics being upset by his answers. I don't think (just my pov) that "journalism" involves not being satisfied with a celebrity's attempt to deflect difficult conversations. I think those attempts can def. can be part of the story – "The genre's biggest (white-identifying) star isn't able to acknowledge..." etc. And noting that if a figure like BB were able to acknowledge these issues, then he may be able to take certain steps to effect change. But I don't think that pushing back on his statements is a "journalistic" role.

To put it another way, reporting on the issue is asking him the question. Pushing for a different answer is something different.

otm

I know it’s important for celebrities to use their star power to inform people and seek support for NPOs, but another part of me wishes celebrities would stay on their lanes of expertise. The pandemic and the aftermath has shown me that most of the time when a celebrity has a big, loud opinion on something is usually embarrasing and downright dangerous.

So many celebrities I kind of liked have revealed themselves as uninformed morons and I would’ve preferred not knowing what they have to say about anything other than what they are working on or what inspires them.

Sure, there are also celebrities whose whole thing is being deeply involved in politics but I consider those as speaking from an area of expertise. And in that case it’s better they show you their cards before listening to where they’re coming from.

Bad Bunny has pretty much only one political song in his repertoire (El Apagon) that was written by someone else (mag + young paci). It’s probably for the best he’s not very vocal about politics.

What about Compositor del Año? I had a student write about that song and she mentioned it was not an album track but it does address some of these issues (BLM specifically)

Also features a line about Little Richard & samples Tutti Frutti!
https://genius.com/Bad-bunny-compositor-del-ano-lyrics

Bad Bunny also was involved with Residente in the protests against ex-Governor Ricardo Rosselló

yep, def weird to paint BB as some kind of apolitical figure. there’s also this for example - notably for an American audience:

https://www.insider.com/jimmy-fallon-bad-bunny-paid-tribute-to-murdered-transgender-woman-2020-2

bad bunny has been marketed as political so I think its fair to ask him to weigh in on things, to challenge him as an interviewer, and to also recognize the limits of a pop star's ability to meaningfully speak to political issues ... something like colorism though isn't just a 'political issue,' its existential. anyway

Bad Bunny was just 1st Latino headliner at Coachella. Here’s Rolling Stone re part of his set:

Toward the middle of his set, a video explaining the history of salsa began playing, honoring legends like Celia Cruz, La Lupe, Johnny Pacheco and more. Several dancers came out and performed to salsa classics before Bad Bunny transitioned into the Grammy-nominated Cardi B track “I Like It.” He also paid tribute to old-school reggaeton with another video about the roots of the music that called out the Black influences and biggest names in the genre. Quickly, the beloved reggaeton duo Jowell Y Randy came out with Nengo Flow for the hit “Safaera.

I stand corrected. 'Compositor del Año' is definitely political. And hey looking at those lyrics that most definitely prove he wasn't silent about BLM, George Floyd and Police Brutality - I went back to look at the accusations of him being silent on the whole thing and what would you know: their source for 'outrage' is a pair of isolated tweets by users with like 1,000 followers.

and he also gave a statement on TIME

https://time.com/5852446/bad-bunny-black-lives-matter/

I was misguided by the internet fake outrage machine. Anyways it's easily disprovable that he was in fact supportive of the movement and that reports on his 'silence' were heavily exaggerated. That said, I still think celebrities lack of opinion on politics shouldn't be a reason to rally against them.

New Bad Bunny single out . Performs with Mexican act Grupo Frontera

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3inw26U-os4

Grupo Frontera is actually from the US

Oh yeah, Texas rooted "Regional Mexican" music.

https://remezcla.com/music/watch-bad-bunny-jams-to-peso-pluma-at-coachella/

https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/event/the-bad-bunny-symposium-thinking-with-bad-bunny-beibi-2/

May 12 & 13 symposium in person and virtual

symposium coming.

symposium on Bad Bunny in NYC (and on zoom friday and Saturday daytime et)

Symposium is gonna be put on youtube . I heard a bit and found it interesting

New song “Where She Goes”

Eh , it’s ok

Long Rolling stone mag cover story interview by Julyssa Lopez:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/bad-bunny-coachella-el-apagon-controversy-future-interview-1234770225/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll2rA7IpeNI

New song Preview

Sexy in a handful of scenes in Cassandro.

New album out

A review from a Brit’s perspective that popped up in a search

https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/music/bad-bunny-nadie-sabe-lo-que-va-a-pasar-manana-album-review-b1113274.html

I haven’t heard it yet

the new one feels like a real step down, doesn't have enough ideas to sustain its 80 minute runtime (unlike the last album) and working in this trap mode for most of the album doesn't really play to his strengths much at all

made it about halfway through and yeah, it’s not nearly as good as un verano. seems like a conscious effort to return to the latin trap style that it felt like he’d grown pass. in some cases it works (love the song with young miko), and i appreciate the variety, it’s just not as joyful or chock full of ideas as the last one.

un verano was also over 80 mins long, but there was never a lack of inspiration. he was operating at peak power for like 20 of those 24 tracks. it never felt like a slog, like this one does at several moments

i've only listened to "monaco" (bc of the video) and while i don't dislike it exactly it doesn't rly get me interested in engaging w/ a long album

same as dyl, I need to hear a strong single to get me in the mood

voodoo chili completely otm

So far it’s not as good as the previous one (I’m not sure it was better to better it!) but I like the new one. It’s darker, rougher, more minimalist. Going the more pop/mainstream way may have been easier sure but maybe that wasn’t the best way to go after the fireworks of Un Verano.

Oups : not sure it was possible to better it !

He’s hosting and performing on Saturday Night Live October 21

Saw him live on one tour and it was fun. Missed his Washington DC arena gig last night . Video clips online look exciting