thread of bad bunny

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