Earlier this year, Bad Bunny released his sixth solo studio album “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” translating to “I should have taken more pictures.” 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 don’t speak Spanish.
After being released in January, the album— to no surprise— 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 “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” 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, “DMTF,” is an ode to those who he misses and feels nostalgic towards, saying he “should’ve taken more pictures when I had you, should’ve given more hugs and kisses whenever I could.” 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.
“Lo Que Le PASÓ a Hawaii,” which translates to “What happened to Hawaii,” is another song where Bad Bunny speaks about his home, which comes as no surprise to Bad Bunny’s fans—he has continually uplifted his Puerto Rican heritage in other albums with songs like “El Apagón.” However, in this song, Bad Bunny speaks about the issues of colonization coming from the United States and expresses that he doesn’t want Puerto Rico to go through what Hawaii has had to. In the song he repeats, “they want to take my river, and my beach too, they want my neighborhood and grandma to leave,” 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. “Nuevayol,” translating to “New York,” paid homage to Puerto Rican artists Rafael Hernandez and Andrés Jiménez. “Voy a Llevarte Pa PR,” meaning “I’ll take you to PR (Puerto Rico),” was inspired by basic reggaeton, and traditional salsa sound was incorporated into “Baile Inolvidable,” meaning “unforgettable dance.” Bad Bunny also had inspirations from “Boricua R&B” (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, “Nuevayol,” “Baile Inolvidable,” “El Clúb” or “Eoo” may be your pick from the album. If you are looking for a more lyrical or melodic sound,”Bokete,” “Turista,” “Pitorro de coco” or “DMTF” 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 Bunny’s culture and even research the meaning behind the songs; one could find themselves resonating with the lyrics without even knowing it.