“DeBI TiRAR Mas FOTos” by Bad Bunny Review
After waiting for a year, Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny (Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio) surprised his fans with a completely different approach for his new album, “DeBI TiRAR Mas FOTos” (yes, spelled just like that). Fans all over the world were expectant to see what this new album was going to be about and once again, Benito surprised them with an album dedicated to the Latino community and that you can easily feel identified with.
One of the first and more clear references to the Hispanic culture is the album cover, two white plastic chairs, native vegetation, and a plantain tree in the back, which are the perfect representation of how the backyard of many Hispanic families look like. The plastic chairs are very representative since they’re used in most Hispanic houses, especially during gatherings or events. For many, it was a simple and unplanned cover, however, for the Latinos it was a clear and truthful representation of their houses back home.
Bad Bunny uses a sample from the worldwide known song “Un Verano En Nueva York” from “El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico” (one of the most recognized and beloved salsa groups in the world) to start this album, and it’s perfect for giving listeners context about what they will find in the rest of it. An album full of different genres, which reunites multiple Puerto Rican artists and shows the musical diversity the country has to offer. Certainly, what differentiates this album the most is the message behind many of the songs, lyrics about migration and gentrification, topics he has never made songs about before.
Each of these sounds represent different aspects about the island’s history, culture and influences. Bomba, for example, is a unique music genre where the dancer sets the rhythm for the musician instead of the other way around, as usual. In the 16th century, African slaves brought this rhythm to the island, as a method to express themselves and what they were going through while working in the sugarcane plantations. Plena is another very important genre representative of Puerto Rico, this rhythm has a very similar origin to Bomba. It’s a genre that blends Latin American and African musical traditions; Plena has been mostly used by the working-class Puerto Ricans in a way to communicate their struggles. In this new album we can see how Bad Bunny explores these different genres, an example of this, is his song “Cafe con Ron” with “Los Pleneros de la Cresta”, a group of young musicians that have returned to this classic genre as a way to express the political and social reality their country is going through.
His love for Puerto Rico and his fear of seeing his country being more gentrified every day are some feelings we can see expressed throughout the album. The gentrification and the uncertainty of having a good future in their home countries are feelings most Hispanic people can relate to. The incrementing gentrification in Puerto Rico is well explained in his song “Lo que le paso a Hawaii” where he talks to his country and says (“Quieren quitarme el rio y también la playa, quieren el barrio mío y que tus hijos se vayan, no, no suelte’ la bandera ni olvide’ el lelolai, que no quiero que hagan contigo lo que le paso a Hawaii”/ “They want to take away my river and also the beach, they want my neighborhood and for your kids to leave, no, don’t let go the flag, don’t forget the lelolai, that I don’t want them to do to you what happened to Hawaii”), explaining how he’s afraid that the island may be going through the same issues and problems Hawaii went through, wealthy people exploiting the island’s natural resources and incrementing the cost of life, while natives struggle to survive.
References about the hardships of having to migrate are clear throughout the album. One of the most listened to songs, with more than 100 million streams across platforms, is “DtMF”, an abbreviation from the album name (DeBI TiRAR Mas FOTos). People feel strongly identified with this song, where he combines a catchy rhythm mixing reggaeton and plena (a genre performed with different percussion instruments, like maracas and güiros) with lyrics expressing a feeling most migrants can relate to, missing their home country and regretting not taking enough pictures or saving enough memories of the moments they enjoyed the most.
It’s impossible to deny the impact that Bad Bunny has had on the Hispanic community and how he has contributed to the Latin American culture. Some people may disagree and believe that his music is not contributing anything relevant to the industry, however, the millions of views and reproductions of his albums say otherwise. One thing is clear, Bad Bunny is making a great impact in showing the world the Hispanic culture, using his music and performance as a way to communicate his feelings, in the same way as the first Afro Americans who brought these sounds to Puerto Rico decades ago. This album is a great example of how music is an excellent resource when trying to communicate our feelings and how easily people can relate to others. Music can have an extremely powerful impact on people and if you haven’t heard any of Bad Bunny’s music yet (which I believe is nearly impossible these days), I think you should give this album an opportunity, think about it as an opportunity to explore and discover different sounds and to listen to the feelings of millions of people who felt identified with it, maybe, at the end, you will feel identified too.
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