Earlier this year, Bad Bunny released his sixth solo studio album βDebΓ Tirar MΓ‘s Fotos,β translating to βI should have taken more pictures.β Although the album was released in January, its impact and popularity continue because of the deep-rooted cultural sound and the message that it brings to so manyeven if they donβt speak Spanish.
After being released in January, the albumβ to no surpriseβ reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 after its first week of release. All 17 tracks charted, and Bad Bunny remains the ninth most streamed artist in the world on Spotify as of March 25.
Bad Bunny has never been an artist to shy away from his culture and inspiration from his home, Puerto Rico, but this album especially highlights the beauty and importance of his culture to him. His vulnerability about some of the topics he sings about makes this album the work of art that many have claimed it to be. With βDebΓ Tirar MΓ‘s Fotos,β Bad Bunny has achieved, in my opinion, the perfect balance of deep-rooted cultural statements and his fun reggaeton dance music sound.
The title track of the album, βDMTF,β is an ode to those who he misses and feels nostalgic towards, saying he βshouldβve taken more pictures when I had you, shouldβve given more hugs and kisses whenever I could.β The song gained a lot of popularity; many people resonate with the beauty of the song, which says over and over how much they miss and love those who might have passed away or moved to a faraway place, or even if they just feel nostalgic for their younger years and their families at that time.
βLo Que Le PASΓ a Hawaii,β which translates to βWhat happened to Hawaii,β is another song where Bad Bunny speaks about his home, which comes as no surprise to Bad Bunnyβs fansβhe has continually uplifted his Puerto Rican heritage in other albums with songs like βEl ApagΓ³n.β However, in this song, Bad Bunny speaks about the issues of colonization coming from the United States and expresses that he doesnβt want Puerto Rico to go through what Hawaii has had to. In the song he repeats, βthey want to take my river, and my beach too, they want my neighborhood and grandma to leave,β touching on the issues that many islands and other countries face when colonization happens.
Throughout the entire album, Bad Bunny incorporated many different aspects of Latin and Puerto Rican influences. βNuevayol,β translating to βNew York,β paid homage to Puerto Rican artists Rafael Hernandez and AndrΓ©s JimΓ©nez. βVoy a Llevarte Pa PR,β meaning βIβll take you to PR (Puerto Rico),β was inspired by basic reggaeton, and traditional salsa sound was incorporated into βBaile Inolvidable,β meaning βunforgettable dance.β Bad Bunny also had inspirations from βBoricua R&Bβ (as Bad Bunny called it), Bomba and many others, all according to his interview with Rolling Stone.
The album gives an extremely large variety of genres and sounds to choose from, so it is all-encompassing to any listener willing to give it a try. If you are a dance-music fan, βNuevayol,β βBaile Inolvidable,β βEl ClΓΊbβ or βEooβ may be your pick from the album. If you are looking for a more lyrical or melodic sound,βBokete,β βTurista,β βPitorro de cocoβ or βDMTFβ would be the way to go.
Whether you can understand Spanish or not, one can tell from the sound and passion how impactful and important this album is. I recommend anyone to listen to this artistic representation of Bad Bunnyβs culture and even research the meaning behind the songs; one could find themselves resonating with the lyrics without even knowing it.