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Bad Bunny, king of the music world, wears the crown lightly at SoFi Stadium

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Bad Bunny didn’t need to strap himself to a fake palm tree and fly just over the heads of his audience to make anyone feel close to him Friday night.

To be clear, that’s just what the Puerto Rican singer and rapper did near the end of his sold-out concert at SoFi Stadium — a fine bit of stagecraft in a road show, not inaccurately billed as the World’s Hottest Tour, that also featured fireworks, fog cannons and a pair of giant, drone-propelled inflatable dolphins.

Yet Bad Bunny’s special sauce as a pop superstar is the intimacy of the bond he shares with his fans, many of whom call the 28-year-old by his real first name, Benito. Through his quirky charm, his expansive ideas about gender and sexuality, his dedication to the needs of his homeland — and, of course, through his music, which feels deeply personal and attuned to history at the same time — Bad Bunny has cultivated an international following whose intense devotion has a kind of tight-knit familial vibe. People know him (or believe they do); more important, they believe he knows them, which is why SoFi erupted when he shouted out some of the many countries — Mexico, El Salvador, Cuba — to which members of the crowd could proudly trace their roots.

What’s all the more remarkable about this sense of mutual belonging is that it’s only increased along with Bad Bunny’s fame since he scored his first chart hit in 2016. Friday’s show was the first of two at the cavernous SoFi to wrap the U.S. leg of his tour before he heads to Latin America for another couple of dozen stadium dates behind his latest blockbuster studio album, “Un Verano Sin Ti,” the biggest LP of 2022 by far and the reason Bad Bunny is the most nominated act at next month’s Latin Grammy Awards. (“Un Verano Sin Ti” — which pulls from reggaeton, bachata, hip-hop, dembow, synth-pop, mambo and reggae — is widely expected to pick up a nod for album of the year at 2023’s non-Latin Grammys, in which case it would become the first Spanish-language project to be nominated in that category.)

This week the L.A. City Council even designated Oct. 1 as Bad Bunny Day, with Councilman Kevin de León saying that the artist’s “cultural impact will have a tremendous and positive influence on future generations and will redefine Latino culture in Los Angeles for years to come.”

For global phenomenon Bad Bunny, Puerto Rico remains his playground, battleground and muse

At a moment in his career when the American music industry and Hollywood are fighting for a piece of Bad Bunny, he’s fighting for his identity too.

May 13, 2022

This level of fanfare can make a guy go all Bono. Before the flying and the pyro, though, Bad Bunny began Friday’s 2½-hour performance chilling in a beach chair next to a basic red-and-white cooler on a set designed to look like a beach. All night he carried himself casually but with enough swag to show he relishes the privilege of his fans’ adulation; his tender baritone vocals — which he delivered into a microphone customized to resemble the sad-heart figure on the cover of “Un Verano Sin Ti” (whose title translates to “A Summer Without You”) — had a conversational quality, as though he were trading confidences with tens of thousands of his closest friends.

At one point he sat down onstage with 20 or so dancers — men and women of varying racial backgrounds and body types — and passed around a bottle of wine as he sang “Yo No Soy Celoso,” a winsome acoustic ballad about romantic jealousy. Moments later, Bad Bunny was back up, bouncing around to rapid-fire snippets of his harder-edged Latin-trap oldies. In both modes his lightly held charisma made the stadium feel somehow smallish even as the Bad Bunny bracelets his team had handed out twinkled all the way up toward the roof.

To what ends does Bad Bunny use this special closeness? He’s challenging conventional notions of masculinity, as in a gorgeous rendition of “Ojitos Lindos,” about someone rediscovering his feminine side, for which he was joined by the song’s featured guest, Liliana Saumet of Colombia’s Bomba Estéreo, who wore a pink overcoat emblazoned with a fabric vagina.

He’s laying out a clear musical lineage — especially valuable in an era when digital streaming has made it easier than ever to take an ahistorical view of pop. (Think of “Un Verano Sin Ti” alongside Rosalía ’s “ Motomami ” and Beyoncé’s “ Renaissance ” as key artifacts in a developing push among A-list stars to show their reliance on the work of trailblazers.) At SoFi, Bad Bunny brought out several important figures from reggaeton’s past: Chencho Corleone of Plan B, Jowell y Randy and Ivy Queen, the last of whom he gave the stage so she could do a brief performance of her own.

He’s also — and maybe here’s a touch of Bono after all — advocating for political change. For his next-to-last song, Bad Bunny performed the throbbing and rave-y “El Apagón” (or “The Blackout”), which he wrote after a private company took control of Puerto Rico’s vulnerable power grid last year — and which felt all too relevant Friday given the island’s recent power failures in the wake of Hurricane Fiona. The song is a furious critique of colonialism and its legacy, and Bad Bunny followed it by inviting a live drummer and horn players to help him close the show with an extended jam on “Después de la Playa” — a horny post-swim come-on in which the musicians, and the audience, found ecstatic solidarity.

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Why Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti is such a big deal

The Grammy-nominated artist is making Latinx music mainstream, while expanding what it can be.

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Once again, Bad Bunny is breaking records. His latest album, Un Verano Sin Ti , is the first Spanish-language album to ever receive a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. The feat in and of itself is huge — acknowledging the sheer growth and dominance of Latin music in the American mainstream in the last decade, regardless of whether he wins Sunday night.

It’s a nomination well deserved, after what can only be described as a blockbuster year for the Latin trap artist. Bad Bunny kicked off 2022 wrapping up a stadium tour for his previous album, followed straightaway by launching Un Verano Sin Ti with a sold-out world tour. He then co-starred alongside Brad Pitt in Bullet Train , and won a Video Music Award , becoming the first non-English-language performer to become Artist of the Year. He accepted his award moments after smooching a male and female dancer during a livestream performance of his song “Tití Me Preguntó” at Yankee Stadium.

“I always knew that I could become a huge artist without changing my culture, my slang, and my language,” he told the audience in Spanish. “I am Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, from Puerto Rico to the world.”

Generating more than 4 billion US streams across several platforms last year, Un Verano Sin Ti (A Summer Without You) was arguably the biggest album of the year. Globally, that’s true, too, according to Spotify . The ambitious album boasts 23 tracks, spanning electronic dance and reggaetón, dembow and indie pop. It’s banger , after banger , after banger . There’s a reason it catapulted Bad Bunny to global stardom after years of steady, genre-defying work: The vibes are immaculate. It feels like getting ready for a party on a hot August night, after spending all day toasting on the beach. You can feel it even if you don’t entirely understand what Bad Bunny’s singing about (depending on the song: heartbreak and partying, gender violence , or Puerto Rico’s political problems ).

But the album wasn’t nominated for a Grammy because it has the right energy (although that’s certainly part of it). Un Verano Sin Ti is a historic heavyweight — it refuses to pull punches or dumb itself down for English listeners. As Bad Bunny has declared in the past, he’s going to do whatever he wants . That goes for sticking to Spanish, as well as rejecting the misogyny and homophobia that’s rife within reggaetón and Latin trap. His unapologetic politics, sonically experimental approach to genre, and dedication to making music for Puerto Ricans and Puerto Ricans alone defied cultural norms. At first, it made him generationally divisive. Now, his music is popular internationally because he has playfully transgressed against the crutch of machismo and the burdens of the American imagination — in a way no other Latin artist has been able to achieve.

“These political and feminist narratives split him from the rest of the pack, making him a more palatable artist for global consumption because he’s not necessarily pigeonholed like all the other reggaetón artists,” said Carlos Chirinos, director of the NYU Music and Social Change Lab . “He stands out.”

Who is Bad Bunny, explained

Bad Bunny’s rise to stardom is folkloric in the way that most modern musicians these days are: he got his start on SoundCloud . Growing up in the projects in the Almirante Sur barrio of Vega Baja, Benito was very much a child of the late ’90s and early 2000s, witnessing the crossover of reggaetón into American markets courtesy of Daddy Yankee’s iconic “ Gasolina ” and the birth of Latin trap into the 2010s. Being in the periphery informed his fluid style, which had started to form by the time he started college at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, where he studied communications. He dropped “ Diles ” — the sexy trap track that grabbed the attention of record label Hear This Music — in 2016 while he bagged groceries at ECONO.

His first few songs and features, “ Soy Peor ,” “ Te Boté (Remix) ,” and “ I Like It ” acquainted both Spanish and English-language audiences to his heady, slurred vocals. He racked up even more features, ditched his label , and finally released his debut album in 2018: X 100Pre (“Por Siempre” or “Forever”). It’s a bombastic entry in conversation with the rest of the diaspora, with tinges of hip hop, reggaetón, dembow, and even a little pop punk. (Latin trap, of course, is a direct progeny of Atlanta’s trap music scene .) X 100Pre ’s raw melancholia superimposed over dreamy drone synths also flirts with tradition before spinning it on its head .

In doing so, Bad Bunny became perfectly positioned to be a trailblazer in Latin trap. Not only is his music offering an emotional and technical complexity to the genre, he successfully brings English-language artists (Diplo, Drake) into Spanish, instead of the other way around. It doesn’t hurt that Benito opts to sing about loneliness and centering female pleasure in a deeply relatable way that braggadocio alone couldn’t support. It makes for perfect Gen Z and young millennial bait.

Given Latin trap’s vulgar lyrics around sex and drugs, it’s not always easy, radio-friendly listening. Reggaetón, too, is still pretty sexual, but it’s softened a bit since moving out of the underground and into the international spotlight. Both genres, however, have treated women horribly with objectification , disdain, and sometimes even violence. (It’d be remiss to not mention the women reggaetón artists, like Ivy Queen , who challenged sexism and highlighted the contradictions within urbano music.)

But Bad Bunny is among the first men to embrace a more progressive approach in Latin trap. In X 100Pre , he’s rocking nail polish and crooning about how women belong to no one . Most of his songs remain sexual and explicit, but challenging to the norms present. His style of gender presentation and defiant music became a source of controversy within Latin media, making him especially controversial among older people. He didn’t start his career with such a feminist and quasi-queer perspective, but his growth is parallel with the political bubblings in Puerto Rico over the years.

“What we’re seeing is the evolution of an artist as he’s growing up with us,” said Vanessa Díaz , a Chicano/a studies professor at Loyola Marymount University. She’s currently teaching a class on Bad Bunny and political resistance in Puerto Rico. “What’s so appealing about him is his refusal to accommodate. It’s not as if he’s out there saying, ‘I’m an out queer man.’ He’s not identifying as such. But we are getting an openness, a flexibility, a fluidity. I don’t think that it’s about shock value. It’s actually about the refusal to be confined.”

Come 2019, Bad Bunny is much more active politically. He’s moved past broad, feel-good proclamations that American audiences tend to expect from musicians. At his core, Puerto Rico is what’s important to him. The island, post-Hurricane Maria, had become mired in another political scandal. Gov. Ricky Rosselló’s Telegram group chat leaked , revealing his disdain for hurricane victims and sparking protests across the island. Bad Bunny was one of the few Puerto Rican celebrities who were in the streets. He released a song with Residente and iLe — “ Afilando Los Cuchillos ” or “Sharpening The Knives” — calling for the governor’s resignation. Rosselló stepped down within 15 days. Soon after, Bad Bunny began speaking out against femicides and transphobia that plague Puerto Rico.

“There was a particular audience consuming this and it was divided along generational lines,” said Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, a Caribbean historian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is co-penning an article for the Bad Bunny Enigma , a bookanalyzing the star. “ It’s really interesting how Bad Bunny became this global superstar while in conversation with things that were happening in the archipelago. He was basically making music for people in the archipelago, referencing things that only Puerto Ricans would understand.”

Then Bad Bunny does something absolutely phenomenal: drop three albums in a year. And not just any year. Just before lockdowns in early 2020, Benito released YHLQMDLG (A Spanish acronym for “I do whatever I want”). It’s a garage-y, nostalgic ode to early reggaetón and hip hop with powerhouse features from Daddy Yankee, Anuel AA, Arcángel, and more. In May, Bad Bunny followed up with Las que no iban a salir , a compilation album of unreleased songs as well as ones written during quarantine. Finally, he dropped El Último Tour Del Mundo , a Latin trap-rock baby.

The songs from YHLQMDLG and El Último Tour are stronger conceptually than his first album, reflecting that political and personal growth. “ Yo Perreo Sola ” — an anthem for women everywhere telling men to fuck off when they’re dancing — features Benito in drag with body prosthetics, to much acclaim and controversy . “ Maldita Pobreza ” chronicles the struggle of wanting to shower your lover with expensive gifts, but not being able to. El Último Tour became the first all-Spanish album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

“Bad Bunny is one of those phenomena that contributes to changing culture because it challenges stereotypes,” Chirinos, the NYU music professor, said. “It creates a body of work that’s genius in the way he raps, the way he sings. It’s also the simplicity of his music. His music is very elaborate in terms of production, his performance is very simple — that’s why people connect with it so much.”

The strategic brilliance of Un Verano Sin Ti

Everyone loves a summer album, and 2022’s Un Verano Sin Ti proves it on an international scale. Right as travel became a more viable option globally in early May, Bad Bunny drops Un Verano Sin Ti with immersive 360-degree visualizers on YouTube. The first track, “ Moscow Mule ,” opens with gulls cawing, atmospheric synths, and an undeniably tropical beat. You know instantly this album is going to be played on beaches everywhere.

From the infectious electronic mambo of “ Después de la Playa ” to the breathy bittersweetness and indie pop sensibilities of “ Otro Atardecer ,” there’s something for everyone. If you couldn’t gel with Bad Bunny before, it’d be hard to find something you couldn’t vibe with on the 23-track album. It bridged the generational gap that eluded him before. “You know, I was a bit resistant to Bad Bunny — I’m an old Latino man,” said Chirinos. “At the very beginning, I was like, ‘I don’t know. I don’t get this guy.’ I didn’t know why people were so crazy about him until I listened to Un Verano Sin Ti . It became my number one album last year by far. There are some songs that I think are some of the best songs not just on the album, but ever.”

The album, easily, is a love letter to the music of the Caribbean. It pulls from bachata, bomba, merengue, dembow, reggae, cumbia, and bossa nova with electricity. It features reggaetón greats like Tony Dize and Plan B’s Chencho Corleone while also advancing the next generation of Latinx music makers, like The Marías, Buscabulla, and Bomba Estereo. (Bad Bunny probably could have put more effort in featuring Afro-Latinos, given how heavy their influence is here.) The breadth of genre and interplay in Un Verano Sin Ti was sonically familiar globally — after all, who hasn’t felt the irresistible tug of bachata drums, begging you to dance?

“You can hear the Dominican Republic, the Lesser Antilles, and of course, Puerto Rico,” Meléndez-Badillo said. “Although he is paying a tribute or an homage to the Caribbean, particularly summers in the Caribbean, it’s a record that did not have a particular listening audience. That is why it made it such a huge deal when it came out.”

It’s a funny paradox: Un Verano Sin Ti is simultaneously Bad Bunny’s most global album and his most Puerto Rican. While the music clearly brings in influences from elsewhere that can attract listeners from around the globe, lyrically Bad Bunny is singing to the specifics of the Puerto Rican experience. In “ Andrea ,” he sings alongside Buscabulla’s Raquel Berríos about a woman who wants to live her life free from societal pressure. The album’s star song, though, is “ El Apagón ,” a lively EDM track where Benito champions the beauty of Puerto Rico and critiques the gentrification and regular blackouts happening on the island. “I don’t want to leave / let them go,” sings Gabriela Berlingeri (Benito’s partner) in Spanish. “This is my beach / this is my sun / this my land / this is me.”

Authenticity like that can’t be manufactured. The music video for “El Apagón” could have been a cute little dance number, but is instead a 22-minute documentary explaining the context behind the song. When he launched his sold-out world tour, Bad Bunny started in Puerto Rico with affordable tickets and streamed the first of three nights on public television. No matter where you were, it was a massive party .

“He is making music for the people of Puerto Rico, and if other people enjoy it, then wonderful,” Díaz, the professor teaching a course on Bad Bunny, said. “But the music is for them. And guess what? Other people have enjoyed it. It’s this really beautiful example of the fact that you can create for a particular people, you can create for your nation, you can create with this particular kind of purpose. You can deal with it or not. And everyone is dealing with it and loving it.”

The rise and rise of Latin music

Bad Bunny does not need the American Grammys. For all intents and purposes, he is already at the top of the charts, has a burgeoning film career , and moonlights as a WWE wrestler when he finds the time. His two tours last year combine for the highest gross earnings for an artist in a calendar year at a slick $435 million. And he’ll be headlining at Coachella this year. He will be fine whether or not he wins. But what Un Verano Sin Ti means for the future of music consumption cannot be ignored.

If Luis Fonsi’s “ Despacito ” remix with Justin Bieber and Daddy Yankee cracked open the nutshell of American markets, Un Verano Sin Ti might absolutely pulverize it. “Despacito” was the first Spanish-language song to be nominated for Song and Record of the Year in 2018, but lost to Bruno Mars on both counts . You might be thinking: Okay, who cares, the Latin Pop and Latin Urban categories are there, too. But language shouldn’t be siloed, when you can sing any song in any language. If Shakira sang “Hips Don’t Lie” in Spanish, she wouldn’t have been nominated for Best Pop Collaboration in the 00s. It’s historic that Bad Bunny’s album has the honor of going up against Beyoncé.

The nomination also signals a readiness and openness for American audiences to embrace non-English music. We’re already seeing this happen with Pharrell singing in Spanish and the proliferation of K-pop with BTS (although K-pop stars do tend to incorporate English). Bad Bunny sticking with Spanish is exciting, and indicative of a cultural shift. “We might start seeing other folks who are artists who don’t speak or don’t want to speak English in their music getting huge at this global level,” Díaz said. “He’s setting a completely new precedent that actually is going to change the trajectory of global music.”

According to data from music tracker Luminate , consumption of Latin music grew by 28 percent in 2022, and Bad Bunny’s responsible for the top four albums in the genre. That’s only expected to grow as Latinx populations grow in the next few decades, says Chirinos. Latin genres are spreading far and wide, with streaming only increasing the possibilities in genre fusion and exploration.

“Reggaetón is becoming, in a way, a dominant pop music format, or a format that many international artists would probably choose to use because it appeals to international audiences,” Chirinos said. “Streaming is opening the doors that were perhaps closed before in Latin America. Right now, one of the largest markets for streaming music consumption is Mexico. Another one is Brazil. And these are markets poised to grow. It’s an appealing idea for the music industry, looking at Latin America as well as Africa, as the emerging markets for music consumption. That’s where young people are being born.”

Latin music or culture can’t be ignored in a world where Bad Bunny is a superstar, which is true regardless of how the Grammys shake out. He’s an artist who’s helping to explode the reach of his genres, while simultaneously exploding what the genres have to offer. That kind of expansion, it can’t be denied.

“We can’t take that for granted or underestimate the long-term cultural value of the moment,” Díaz said. “All of these things create this really important cultural opening. On a Puerto Rican level, on an American level, on a global level.”

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Rucha Sharma writes about entertainment, pop culture, and sports. She also assists with events and edits for the web team. She has an MBA in Finance from Pune University and worked with DNA India and Fork Media Group as a features writer for more than six years. She loves comparing comic book storylines with their silver screen incarnations and wears the nerd badge with pride. When not planning her next hike with her dogs, she can be found obsessively improving her doodling skills.

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• Gross: $300,804,808
• Average Ticket Price: $253.56
• Average Tickets Sold Per Show: 53,923
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2) Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band—2023 Tour*

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• Average Gross: $3,647,070

4) Elton John—Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Tour

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• Average Ticket Price: $163.95
• Average Tickets Sold Per Show: 20,392
• Total Tickets: 672,950
• Average Gross: $3,343,284

5) Ed Sheeran—+–=÷× Tour

• Gross: $105,309,873
• Average Ticket Price: $104.20
• Average Tickets Sold Per Show: 40,424
• Total Tickets: 1,010,616
• Average Gross: $4,212,394

6) Red Hot Chili Peppers—2023 Global Stadium Tour

• Gross: $91,488,134
• Average Ticket Price: $123.87
• Average Tickets Sold Per Show: 38,873
• Total Tickets: 738,601
• Average Gross: $4,815,164

7) Coldplay—Music Of The Spheres Tour

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Bad Bunny arrived on horseback and went hard with a full orchestra in wild Phoenix concert

In 2022, Bad Bunny drew an estimated crowd of more than 43,000 to a packed Chase Field with the promise of delivering the World’s Hottest Tour.

Not quite two years later, the Puerto Rican superstar returned to downtown Phoenix on Tuesday, Feb. 27, for a two-night stand at Footprint Center, treating fans to an epic, career-spanning set that Benito Martínez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny, has said is aimed at longtime, hardcore fans.

Which certainly appeared to be the case in a set that took a journey from his early trap hits to the lion’s share of his new album, 2023’s acclaimed “Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana.”

At 29, the global superstar remains one of the most-streamed artists in the world on Spotify, where his previous album, 2022’s “Un Verano Sin Ti,” was last year’s most-streamed album.

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Bad Bunny's Phoenix concert: A live orchestra and fireworks

The fourth date on a tour the King of Latin Trap has confidently titled the Most Wanted Tour began with an orchestral suite performed by the 24-member Philharmonic Orchestra Project led by Grammy-winning conductor Carlitos Lopez.

After 9 minutes of scene-setting music, Bad Bunny appeared on the video screens above the audience wearing a black suit, his features partly covered by a head scarf, to open with the song that sets the tone for “Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana,” a dramatic title track of sorts called “Nadie Sabe,” backed by the Orchestra Project.

As the song progressed, he made his entrance, rising from beneath the stage to the rapturous applause of his adoring fans, who emphatically chanted “Benito” at the song's conclusion.

"Nadie Sabe" gave way to the next four songs on his new album, including the huge hit single, “Monaco.” His crew of 20 dancers joined in on “Fina,” which also brought the night’s first fireworks.

Bad Bunny's Most Wanted Tour 2024 has 4 acts and an encore

It was a fast-paced concert that lasted just over two hours, divided into four acts, each with its own personality, performed on two crescent-shaped stages at opposite ends of the arena.

By the time the night was through, he’d made his way through nearly 40 songs , some performed in shortened versions just to fit more songs into the mix.

Bad Bunny commanded the room throughout with the charisma of a natural entertainer, speaking often and at length in Spanish.

Bad Bunny arrived on horseback for his 2nd act

The 10-song first act was devoted to the new release and ended with his dancers dressed in shrouds and skull masks overpowering Bad Bunny, who disappeared beneath the stage at the close of an ominous “Baticano.”

He made his entrance for the second act on horseback in a blue suede rhinestone cowboy suit with fringes after a narrated video showed him riding through the desert on a horse, returning to the new release for Teléfono Nuevo."

From there, he reached back to 2017 for “Tú No Metes Cabra” to kick off a medley of his early trap songs, from the brooding, emotional balladry of “Pa Ti,” “No Te Hagas” and the Daddy Yankee collab “Vuelve.”

Bad Bunny built that section to a climax with “Tú no vive así,” “Chambea” and a massive singalong to his Soundcloud breakthrough “Diles” before boarding a floating bridge to close the act with “25/8,” “Vuelve Candy B” and “Thunder Y Lightning” while suspended high above the crowd.

Act III was an acoustic mini-set that featured “Gracias Por Nada” and a gorgeous, understated reinvention of "Un x100to," a Grupo Frontero collab, performed to piano accompaniment.

Bad Bunny closed his Phoenix concert with a crowd-pleasing Mix Perreo

Act IV was a Mix Perreo reggaeton set that brought the show to a crowd-pleasing climax, from the throbbing beats of “Baby Nueva” and "Perro Negro" to “Un Preview” before treating the fans to one last song, the new album’s lead single, “Where She Goes.”

Surprisingly, he only did two songs from “Un Verano Sin Ti" — "Efecto" and "Me Porto Bonito," played back-to-back as the final act was building to a fevered pitch.

Bad Bunny will be back in downtown Phoenix on Wednesday, Feb. 28. If you plan on being there, here's our handy guide to tickets, parking, the Footprint Center bag policy and what time to arrive.

Bad Bunny setlist 2024

Here's every song Bad Bunny played on Feb. 27, 2024, at Footprint Center in Phoenix:

• "The Orquestra"
• "Nadie Sabe"
• "Mr. October"
• "Mercedes Carota"
• "Cybertruck"
• "Telefono Nuevo"
• "Tú no Metes Cabra"
• "No Te Hagas"
• "Tú No Vive Así"
• "Vuelve Candy B"
• "Thunder Y Lightning"
• "Gracias por Nada"
• "Un x100to"

ACT IV (Mix Perreo)

• "Baby Nueva"
• "Perro Negro"
• "Yo Perreo Sola"
• "Me Porto Bonito"
• "Un Preview"
• "No Me Quiero Casar"
• "Where She Goes"

Reach the reporter at   [email protected]  or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter   @EdMasley .

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Bad Bunny Kicks Off 2022 World Tour - Set List Revealed!

Bad Bunny has officially kicked off the World’s Hottest Tour and you can check out the setlist right here!

The 28-year-old music superstar launched the tour with a sold-out show at Camping World Stadium on Friday night (August 5) in Orlando, Fla.

Bad Bunny ‘s new movie Bullet Train hit theaters that same day, so it was a big day of celebration for him!

The tour will continue with stops in Boston, Chicago, New York, and more before wrapping at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on October 1. Bad Bunny will then head to Latin America for the rest of the year.

Special guests on the tour for select dates include Alesso and Diplo .

Click inside to check out the set list…

Keep scrolling to see the set list for the tour…

1. Moscow Mule 2. Me porto bonito 3. Un ratito 4. Efecto 5. Party 6. Tarot 7. La Corriente 8. Neverita 9. NI BIEN NI MAL 10. 200 MPH 11. La Romana 12. Estamos Bien 13. Te bote Remix 14. I Like It 15. Si Veo a Tu Mama 16. La Dificil 17. Bichiyal 18. La Santa 19. Vete 20. Yo Perreo Sola 21. Safaera 22. Titi me pregunto 23. Dakiti 24. Yo no soy celoso 25. Aguacero 26. AM Remix 27. Yonaguni 28. Callaita 29. Dos mil 16 30. Diles 31. No Te Hagas 32. Vuelve 33. Me Mata 34. Tu No Metes Cabra 35. Chambea 36. Soy Peor 37. Un verano sin ti 38. Un coco 39. La Cancion 40. Andrea 41. Me fui de vacaciones 42. Otro atardecer 43. Ojitos lindos 44. El apagon 45. Despues de la playa

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Bad Bunny Puts His Vacation Responder Up and Creates for a While on ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’

By Julyssa Lopez

Julyssa Lopez

Exactly how much bigger can reggaeton get? This is a perpetually grating question that’s followed the genre around as it’s skyrocketed to the very center of the mainstream over the last few years and become one of the most omnipresent sounds on the planet. To naysayers, the music represents an annoyingly large bubble that’ll pop and fizzle out any day now, while fans and artists are hell-bent on proving that there’s limitless space for it to keep growing. Unfortunately, certain acts — driven by the popularity, profitability, and commercialization of Latin music — haven’t exactly helped the situation by churning out an endless cycle of albums, stuffed with mass-produced, factory-style tracks that have oversaturated the market and left the scene feeling uninspired.

From the second he shot out of Puerto Rico , a former grocery bag boy turned full-fledged superstar, Bad Bunny has been the lovable weirdo who represents an expansive future for reggaeton. He’s been the most-streamed artist on earth for two years in a row, and each of his full-length albums — his 2018 debut, X100Pre , 2020’s YHLQMDLG , and last year’s El Último Tour Del Mundo — have broken up boring formulas by mixing up touches of old-school reggaeton, trap, pop-punk, rock, and electro-pop. Yet every Bad Bunny project now comes with increasingly gigantic hopes and expectations, the anticipation often boiling on high, like a pressure cooker. So, on Un Verano Sin Ti , Bad Bunny decides to take the edge off. Rather than feeding into speculation about the ever-expanding scale of the genre and what peak he’s out to conquer next, he chooses to lean back and have fun with a loose, leisurely set of 23 songs, his longest tracklist ever.

In interviews, Bad Bunny said he was thinking about visits he took to the coast of Puerto Rico as a kid, inspiration that informs some of the album’s Caribbean sounds and laidback spirit. His carefree, seafaring approach works at its absolute best when Bad Bunny dives into the glowing waters of the alternative scene and brings the talent of indie luminaries such as Bomba Estereo (“Ojitos Lindos”), Buscabulla (“Andrea”), and the Marias (“Otro Atardecer”) to the masses. More expected, and less compelling, collaborations include Rauw Alejandro on “Party” and Jhay Cortez on “Tarot,” though it’s also nice to see pioneers like Tony Dize get love on “La Corriente.” So much time affords him more room for genre-hopping than ever, and he livens Un Verano Sin Ti up with mambo on “Despues De La Playa” and throwback trap on “Dos Mil 16.”

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Bad Bunny adds a little longing and heartache to the lyrics, striking a balance between summer and sadboy vibes. But there’s also remarkable political and social depth to the content. Fans have speculated Bad Bunny wrote “Andrea” about Andrea Ruiz, a 35-year-old woman who warned a court about her dangerous ex-boyfriend; nothing was done, and the man confessed to killing her after her partially burnt body was found on the side of a road in Puerto Rico. The song’s emotion is heightened with vocals from Buscabulla ’s Raquel Berrios, who uses the opportunity to talk about the perspective of women on the island, where domestic violence and femicides have been on the rise. Another charged moment comes on “El Apagón,” which refers to the power outages that have affected Puerto Rico since the island’s power grid was decimated during Hurricane Maria. The song is a raging electro-banger, full of the energy and frustration of a blackout. Bad Bunny enlists his girlfriend, Gabriela Berlingeri, for an outro that touches on Puerto Rico as a colony and tax haven for uber-wealthy American outsiders: “ Lo que me pertenece a mí se lo quedan ellos/Que se vayan ellos/Esta es mi playa, este es mi sol ” (“What belongs to me they keep/Let them go away/This is my beach, this is my sun”).

Un Verano Sin Ti does fall into some of the problems of modern reggaeton. Many have pointed out that though Bad Bunny draws inspiration from the Dominican Republic in particular, no Dominicans appear in the actual features. And the length of the album produces some lulls and selections that are pretty mid: Unsurprisingly, the most mainstream reggaeton songs on here land among the least interesting. Still, the album is already an overwhelming success by streaming standards especially. When Un Verano Sin Ti dropped on Friday, Bad Bunny became Spotify’s most streamed artist ever in a single day, as he reached 183 million plays and surpassed a record previously held by Drake. The album also became the most-listened-to album on Spotify so far in 2022, and seven of the songs are currently duking it out on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs Global chart (“Moscow Mule” sits at Number Two, while “Ojitos Lindos” is at Number Three.) Those kinds of stats are a reminder of what Bad Bunny can do if you just let him put his vacation responder up and create a while.

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Featured stories, bad bunny's 'un verano sin ti' is a caribbean love letter to puerto rico.

Stefanie Fernández

On his new album Un Verano Sin Ti , Bad Bunny opts for personal intimacy and cultural specificity, anchoring his music in the Caribbean. Eric Rojas hide caption

On his new album Un Verano Sin Ti , Bad Bunny opts for personal intimacy and cultural specificity, anchoring his music in the Caribbean.

Un Verano Sin Ti is not Bad Bunny 's first heartbreak album, but it is his most grounded. On his latest release, Bad Bunny anchors his most in-depth exploration of lost love in the Caribbean, with the sound of its unceasing movement, the gravel of its Spanish, its dembow, its thick rain. And while Un Verano Sin Ti is ostensibly about a person and their absence in Benito's life, its joy and yearning is always rooted in the ground beneath him.

Bad Bunny has always put Puerto Rico front and center in his work since his breakthrough in 2016. His full-length projects have told a distinctly Boricua story in theme and sound, remaining grounded in his personal authenticity, his flow and his community while attempting bigger, more daring experiments. His debut X 100PRE was his first showcase of his genre agility; YHLQMDLG squared in a scholastic reverence to the canon and legends of old-school Puerto Rican reggaeton; El Último Tour del Mundo was the introspective alt album, nu-metal riffs and all. But rather than sell audiences another big, genre-bending experiment, on Un Verano Sin Ti Benito opts for personal intimacy and cultural specificity, which the music cultivates at every turn.

Recorded partly in Puerto Rico and partly in the Dominican Republic, Un Verano Sin Ti 's most notable moments come when it infuses Benito's extraordinary flow and pop sensibility with hyperlocal touchpoints. Benito is adept at delivering a surprise and he's constantly one-upping himself on this album. Following "Moscow Mule," the first single and summer hit opener analysts might have forecasted well enough, comes the left-field "Después de la Playa." After Benito warms up the chorus over a few, spacey opening synths, he taps the mic and transforms into a mambero , his "¡Zumba!" detonating a volcanic merengue concocted by Dominican merengue architect Dahian el Apechao. It's a living, breathing track that evokes the intimacy of great live albums past, reverberating with the acoustic warmth of a room and the bodies moving in it.

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His production team closes the deal, with Marco "MAG" Borrero's string riffs, Tainy's auteur experimentation and original crewmember La Paciencia creating a cross-genre soundscape that creates room for innovation on even the album's more formulaic tracks. "Tití Me Preguntó," a tongue-in-cheek dembow turn of phrase on the natural law of pestering metida aunts, features a wistful acoustic riff threaded throughout a warped Kiko el Crazy sample and a melancholy synth bridge. His collaborations are meticulously curated, opting this time to center not just reggaeton heavyweights but indie innovators alike. The stunning "Ojitos Lindos" makes the idea of falling in love after heartbreak feel brand new with a duet with Colombia's Bomba Estéreo , whose silvery guitars, bright distant horns and refrains from Li Saumet are an encyclopedic entry in what modern Caribbean music is becoming. And following YHLQMDLG 's precedent of featuring reggaeton forefathers, the album spotlights Plan B's Chencho Corleone and Tony Dize in tracks that sound lifted from 2005.

Not all the callbacks to the past have the same effect. "Dos Mil 16," while full of nostalgic references to his beginnings in 2016 — including his original " Bad Bunny baby " tag up top — is more wrapped up in its concept than its execution. The inclusion of "Callaita" as the final track, at this point three years old, is at best a reminder of how reliably Benito can curate the sound of the summer (its ambient seagulls recur throughout the album), but at worst makes an otherwise exacting record feel carelessly overrun at 23 tracks with a familiar, if less daring closer.

Unlike a lot of the Latin pop industry project, Bad Bunny's subjects and musical references are precisely focused. In April, Puerto Rico experienced an island-wide blackout , the latest in a series of outages after its electrical grid was damaged by Hurricane Maria. In 2021, the power grid was privatized, a move met with public protest over soaring costs, continued outages and concerns regarding transparency.

"El Apagón," which references the blackouts, stitches together samples of a song, performance and interview from salsero Ismael "Maelo" Rivera, a chorus sampled from a DJ Joe mixtape, and his girlfriend Gabriela Berlingeri's voice with a sovereign vindication focused on this reality. The song's repetition of "Puerto Rico está bien cabrón" is as urgent as Gabriela's outro pointed at rich, white settlers displacing Puerto Ricans for tax benefits: "Que se vayan ellos / Que se vayan ellos." ("Let them leave / Let them leave.") Like YHLQMDLG's "Safaera" before it, "El Apagón" is in constant conversation with the musical ground laid before it and possesses a breakneck capacity to draw connections between seemingly disparate material and expressions. In reflecting the reality of neglected infrastructure and displacement as a byproduct of continued colonization, the song's celebration is as resolute as its resistance — an integral component in the lineage of Puerto Rican music, from Maelo to Benito, and one older than them both.

Un Verano Sin Ti is as emotionally intimate as it is specific. Its most character-driven track "Andrea" with electronic duo Buscabulla is a meditation on the interior life of a Puerto Rican woman navigating her dreams, desires and anxieties independent of the constraints placed on her by men she disdains, her family's expectations and finances. She doesn't want to leave Puerto Rico for the United States. Ironically, Benito compares her at once to the saint Joan of Arc and the oft-reviled, oft-iconic cabaret vedette Niurka Marcos. But even amid all this character-setting, the song doesn't claim to understand her struggles — she is slightly beyond its full grasp, as she should be.

Un Verano Sin Ti is a vehicle for longing in every sense — full of musical movements that push forward and backwards and a sun-tired feeling that accompanies finding comfort in the present in spite of everything. It's a dialectic familiar to the Caribbean. There's a steadfastness in finding peace amid so much change and yet not enough of it, as Buscabulla's Raquel Berrios sings in the chorus of "Andrea": "Que digan lo que sea / Yo subo y bajo como la marea." ("They can say whatever / I go up and down like the tide.")

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Planning to Go to Bad Bunny’s Puerto Rico Shows? Here’s What You Need to Know

Tickets to his Un Verano Sin Ti shows will only be sold in person at the venue.

By Griselda Flores

Griselda Flores

Senior Editor, Latin

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During an Instagram Live on Saturday (July 2), Bad Bunny announced three shows at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico to help kick off his summer stadium tour.

The Puerto Rican hitmaker will perform July 28, 29 and 30 at the Choli, but if you’re thinking of buying tickets to one of the shows and don’t live in Puerto Rico, you may have to move quickly come up with a plan.

See latest videos, charts and news

Tickets to the three shows will be sold in person at the venue only on July 9. According to a press release, fans can start lining up outside the venue as early as July 8 at 10 a.m. (local time) — and bring food with them but not a cooler — with tickets officially going on sale the morning after at 8 a.m.

Bad Bunny Back at No. 1 on Billboard 200 With 'Un Verano Sin Ti' | Billboard News

People can buy up to four tickets per person, and prices range from $15 to $150. Once they’ve sold maximum capacity, fans will not be allowed to line up anymore. The reason behind selling tickets only in person, he explained during his Live, was to avoid ticket resales at a “crazy” price. Additionally, to be able to enter the venue to buy tickets, concertgoers will have to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test.

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The three Coliseo shows are set to take place just days before his highly anticipated stadium tour , which will kick off Aug. 5 at Campus Stadium in Orlando, Fla., and will make 15 U.S. stops, including Yankee Stadium in New York, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, and Fenway Park in Boston.

In the U.S., Bunny will feature Alesso as a guest for 11 dates and Diplo as a guest at two dates, including the final show at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Sept. 30. The tour then continues to Latin America for 14 stops in October, including Estadio Velez in Buenos Aires and Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.

In April, Bad Bunny wrapped up his El Último Tour del Mundo, which grossed $116.8 million and sold 575,000 tickets, according to Billboard Boxscore.

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Bad Bunny kicks off Most Wanted tour in Utah with a horse, floating stages and yeehaw fashion

SALT LAKE CITY − If there's one thing Bad Bunny is going to do, it's drive his fans insane.

Before the first concert in his Most Wanted tour began , fans could be heard asking "Where is this dude?" Everyone's necks jerked left, right, up, just to get a glimpse of him. Sardined between two crescent-shaped stages, fans scurried from one end of the GA floor to the other trying to guess which stage Bad Bunny would hit first. ("No, he's going to come out from that side, but people think it's the other way around.")

The Puerto Rican superstar's performance in Salt Lake City Feb. 21 could only be described as an unpredictable marathon. Throughout the two-hour set, Bad Bunny revisited every chapter of his career.

From 2016's Soundcloud hit "Diles" to treating fans to an acoustic snippet of "un x100to," his joint effort with Mexican music group Grupo Frontera , and ending the night with a few perreo anthems to throw it back − in more ways than one − Bad Bunny proved to fans that as elusive as he may be, Benito isn't going anywhere.

BAD BUNNY SET LIST: Here are all the songs at his Most Wanted Tour

Bad Bunny outdoes himself with Most Wanted Tour staging. There's even a horse.

Conversation and beer flowed, selfies were taken, a group of young women were seemingly escorted out of the venue before he performed, and to kill the two-hour wait time after doors opened at 7 p.m., fans speculated about the set list and stage setup.

Pointing to a 65-foot runway stage above our heads on the GA floor, one fan said: "Look, that's going to be another stage he walks through between the other two." Eager to start dancing and singing along, another fan asked: "Do you think he's going to play old stuff?"

As we neared the second hour since doors opened, the floor kept growing tighter and empty arena seats were few and far between. Once 9 p.m. hit, an orchestra on one stage began playing and fans went feral.

As we neared the second hour since doors opened, the floor kept growing tighter and empty arena seats were far and few in between. Once 9 p.m. hit, The Philharmonic Orchestra Project on one stage began playing a 10-minute musical prelude as fans went feral.

Still no Bad Bunny in sight.

Finally, he appeared on the opposite stage, starting his set with "NADIE SABE," wearing a black Prada suit and a headscarf nearly covering his face. Upon removing it, Bad Bunny was yet again rocking a curly-haired wig attached to a hat ; a hair look he tricked fans with during the album rollout.

In many ways, Bad Bunny's Most Wanted show felt like an ode to the different eras of his career, from swaggering rapper to devil-may-care reggaetonero. "For those that don't know me, my name is Benito Martínez Ocasio. In some parts of the world they know me as Bad Bunny," he said to the audience.

Or if you've been here since Day 1, you might also know him as El Conejo Malo. So it's no coincidence he split the show's production into three different stages − or three acts.

Performing all but three tracks off "Nadie Sabe," he started at the present; his demeanor cagey and calculated, possibly a reflection of the at-times frustrating relationship between him and his fan base.

After an interlude and an outfit change into a CNTRA-designed navy suede suit, he rode out from backstage on a horse before taking it back to the beginning, performing a string of back-to-back trap songs. (On Feb. 23, PETA slammed the performer , calling him "irresponsible" for using the horse "for your spectacle.")

He also treated fans to "Un Verano Sin Ti" and "YHLQMDLG" throwbacks and performed acoustic versions of "GRACIAS POR NADA" and "un x100to" accompanied by a pianist. Though it felt like a missed opportunity to perform "Amorfoda," which begins with piano notes, perhaps Bad Bunny will rotate those songs with each tour date.

Fans go from World's Hottest Tour beach fashions to Most Wanted Tour yeehaw fits

For this rodeo, Bad Bunny fans traded in their bikini tops and platform heels for Western wear and cowboy hats.

In 2022, his World's Hottest World Tour inspired concertgoers to channel the carefree tropical beach vibes of his fifth album, "Un Verano Sin Ti." The tour, which kicked off late summer that year, saw fans rocking neon hues, micro miniskirts, crochet tops, bucket hats, baggy cargo bottoms and an overall brighter, edgier fashion sensibility.

When Bad Bunny released "WHERE SHE GOES" in May last year, fans immediately knew the vibe had shifted and began planning their outfits accordingly. Bad Bunny, too, began to step out at events and awards shows rocking a more Western flair: bolo ties, denim on denim, cowboy hats and snakeskin boots. (And lest we forget, he was pictured riding horses with a certain someone.)

Naturally, fans at the Utah stop showed out in their yeehaw best. A sea of cowboy hats roamed outside the venue, cowboy boots danced the night away, and the denim and leather jackets − fringe included − kept fans warm throughout the 39-degree night.

Overheard: Bad Bunny fan pays $800 for floor ticket

Who, among the 15,500 people expected to attend Bad Bunny's show, dished the most money to be there? One fan told their friends they paid $800 for a single floor ticket.

Another fan, Giselle Galiana, told USA TODAY she paid a little over $1,000 for floor tickets for herself and three friends. "It took us two hours to book the tickets," she added. Her friend chimed in excitedly: "She's the reason we're here."

Other fans, like Camila Baltazar, traveled from Idaho and attended the show with her cousins hoping for special guest appearances. Miguel Ortiz, a fellow Puerto Rican, was excited to see Bad Bunny for the first time in concert. "In Puerto Rico, the tickets sell out way too fast," he said, waiting in line for merch before heading inside.

Hours before doors opened, a massive merch truck parked outside in front of the venue (with prices ranging from $35 "Men Are Trash" hats, $50 shirts and $135 hoodies), and dozens of fans dished even more cash all in the name of their favorite artist.

But being the first group of fans to witness Bad Bunny's Most Wanted Tour? Priceless, sort of.

His impact: How Bad Bunny's gender fluidity is shaking up a genre, empowering the Latino LGBTQ community

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Bad Bunny Announces Release Date of New Album 'Un Verano Sin Ti'

Also unveiling an extensive tour that kicks off this summer..

Bad Bunny has officially announced the release date of his upcoming album, Un Verano Sin Ti .

Scheduled to drop on May 6, the 23-track project will be his first full-length solo release since 2020’s GRAMMY winner El Último Tour Del Mundo . Bad Bunny will also be hitting the road beginning this summer in support of Un Verano Sin Ti , with the extensive four-month engagement taking him across North and South America.

Bad Bunny 2022 Tour Dates: 08/05 – Orlando, FL @ Camping World Stadium 08/09 – Atlanta, GA @ Trust Park ^ 08/12 – Miami, FL @ Hard Rock Stadium ^ 08/13 – Miami, FL @ Hard Rock Stadium # 08/18 – Boston, MA @ Fenway Park ^ 08/20 – Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field 08/23 – Washington, DC @ Nationals Park ^ 08/27 – Bronx, NY @ Yankee Stadium # 08/28 – Bronx, NY @ Yankee Stadium # 09/01 – Houston, TX @ Minute Maid Park ^ 09/02 – Houston, TX @ Minute Maid Park ^ 09/07 – San Antonio, TX @ Alamodome ^ 09/09 – Dallas, TX @ AT&T Stadium ^ 09/14 – Oakland, CA @ RingCentral Coliseum ^ 09/17 – San Diego, CA @ PETCO Park ^ 09/18 – San Diego, CA @ PETCO Park ^ 09/23 – Las Vegas, NV @ Allegiant Stadium ^ 09/24 – Las Vegas, NV @ Allegiant Stadium ^ 09/28 – Phoenix, AZ @ Chase Field ^ 09/30 – Los Angeles, CA @ SoFi Stadium # 10/01 – Los Angeles, CA @ SoFi Stadium # 10/21 – Santo Domingo, DR @ Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez 10/22 – Santo Domingo, DR @ Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez 10/28 – Santiago, CL @ Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos 10/29 – Santiago, CL @ Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos 11/04 – Buenos Aires, AR @ Estadio de Vélez – José Amalfitani 11/05 – Buenos Aires, AR @ Estadio de Vélez – José Amalfitani 11/11 – Asuncion, PY @ Estadio La Nueva Olla 11/13 – Lima, PE @ Estadio Nacional 11/14 – Lima, PE @ Estadio Nacional 11/16 – Quito, EC @ Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa 11/18 – Medellin, CO @ Estadio Atanasio Girardot 11/19 – Medellin, CO @ Estadio Atanasio Girardot 11/20 – Bogota, CO @ Estado El Campín 11/22 – Panama City, PA @ Estadio Rommel Fernández Gutiérrez 11/24 – San Jose, CR @ Estadio Nacional 11/26 – San Salvador, SV @ Estadio Cuscatlán 11/29 – San Pedro Sula, HN @ Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano 12/01 – Guatemala City, GT @ Explanada Cardales de Cayalá 12/03 – Monterrey, MX @ Estadio BBVA 12/04 – Monterrey, MX @ Estadio BBVA 12/09 – Mexico City, MX @ Estadio Azteca 12/10 – Mexico City, MX @ Estadio Azteca ^ = w/ Alesso # = w/ Diplo

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Behind Bad Bunny’s Summery Surprise, ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’

“I’ve made it clear to people that I’m never going to make a record that’s the same as another,” the pop star said. His fourth album was inspired by a spectrum of Caribbean music.

By Isabelia Herrera

Most pop stars would move heaven and earth to attend the Met Gala . But for Bad Bunny, one of music’s most idiosyncratic figures, it’s just another Monday night. “Obviously I’m happy that they invited me,” he said, twirling from side to side in a high leather swivel chair at New York’s venerated Electric Lady Studios about 48 hours before the exclusive fashion fête. “I know that day is going to be an exciting thing,” he continued. “But I’m working a lot this week!”

Last Monday, he announced his casting as the lead of a live-action Marvel movie, playing a character from the Spider-Man universe named El Muerto . Two days after that, he was filming music videos in Puerto Rico. Throughout it all, he was preparing for the release of his fourth studio album, “Un Verano Sin Ti” (“A Summer Without You”), which dropped on Friday.

At the gala on Monday, Bad Bunny — born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — wore a custom cream boiler suit and skirt with puff sleeves, designed by Riccardo Tisci for Burberry. At Electric Lady, calmly putting the final touches on the album and working on some new material, he sported a quintessentially Benito look: pastel pink swim trunks, a checkered blue cardigan and a wide-brimmed sage fisherman’s hat. His left thigh was covered in tattoos, including the sad-faced cartoon heart that appears on the artwork for his new album, and an outline of his home, Puerto Rico. His right thigh bore only one design: the logo for Pokémon Go.

Since his genre-crushing debut in 2018 , Bad Bunny, now 28, has been nearly unstoppable, colliding pop punk, synth-pop, bachata, dembow and reggaeton on his way to becoming a global superstar. He released two LPs in 2020, including “El Último Tour Del Mundo,” the first fully Spanish-language album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. He’s been the most streamed artist on Spotify two years in a row.

The story of Bad Bunny’s mythical ascent from a grocery bagger in the small town of Vega Baja to a torchbearer for a new generation of reggaeton and trap artists has become nearly folklore. In the past few years, he’s also transformed into a fashion renegade, an emerging social critic, a semiprofessional wrestler and a budding actor. In July, he will make his feature film debut in “Bullet Train,” a bloody action movie in which he fistfights Brad Pitt. Bad Bunny said he trained with stuntmen for weeks to prepare.

“I always wanted to act and the opportunity came along, but I didn’t know that one of the first ones was going to be with Brad Pitt,” he said incredulously.

“At the end of the day, I’m still the same person I’ve always been,” he added. “That’s what’s important, what you have to know. I shouldn’t care how the world sees me, but rather, who I know I am,” he continued. “With that, I’ll be very happy.”

Bad Bunny has approached each of his albums with an explicit goal. “Since forever I’ve made it clear to people that I’m never going to make a record that’s the same as another,” he said. But beyond the ambition to warp genres, he’s also refused to genuflect to industry conventions, especially ones for Spanish-speaking artists.

“I could have done a track with, who knows, Miley Cyrus or Katy Perry,” he explained, referring to his first 2020 album, “YHLQMDLG.” “But no, I was making ‘Safaera’ with Ñengo Flow and Jowell y Randy. And I was putting the whole world onto underground from Puerto Rico, you know? That makes me feel proud of what I represent.”

He approached “Un Verano Sin Ti” with a bit of a lighter touch: “It’s a record to play in the summer, on the beach, as a playlist.” He drew on both recent experiences and nostalgia for dog days of the past. “When I was a little kid, my family would go to the West on vacation,” he said, referring to the coast of Puerto Rico. For “Un Verano Sin Ti,” he decided to explore the eastern side, near Río Grande and Fajardo. The majority of the album was recorded there and in the Dominican Republic.

“Un Verano Sin Ti” is a pop album, but not necessarily a straightforward one. Bad Bunny infuses it with electrifying beat switches, raunchy raps and astral synths. The record was inspired by an expansive spectrum of Caribbean music: the deep cuts of the beloved salsa singer Ismael Rivera; Dominican dembow; and groups like Buscabulla , who appear on the song “Andrea.”

“The album is very Caribbean, in every sense: with its reggaeton, its mambo, with all those rhythms, and I like it that way,” Bad Bunny said. Though his career often takes him far from home, he’s always kept Puerto Rico close — sometimes, he still pronounces his “Rs” with the guttural, back-of-the-throat intonation so common in the countryside. And he still has that Caribbean sense of humor. When asked about what he hoped to do at the Met Gala, he joked, “I want my hookah,” cackling.

On the mutant mambo of “Después de la Playa,” Bad Bunny sings on a live mic over the Dominican band Dahian el Apechao, echoing the style of the merengue experimentalist Omega El Fuerte. “Titi Me Preguntó,” a shape-shifting dembow track with a horror-movie synth outro, samples Kiko El Crazy, the pink-haired dembow eccentric.

“Un Verano Sin Ti” also contains collaborations with indie artists like the Marías and Bomba Estéreo , and plunges deeper into gauzy dream-pop textures and wistful synth interludes that feel vast and intimate all at once. The aural landscape is reminiscent of indietronica artists like M83, but Bad Bunny and his producers Tainy, MAG and La Paciencia immerse it in Caribbean gloss.

Both MAG and Bad Bunny were partially inspired by Buscabulla’s lush synth pop, and Bad Bunny said he listened to the duo’s 2020 album, “Regresa,” on repeat during quarantine.

“It was Easter Sunday and we got a call from a bunny,” the duo’s multi-instrumentalist, Luis Alfredo Del Valle, joked in a phone interview. On “Andrea,” Bad Bunny renders a portrait of a Puerto Rican woman hoping to live life on her own terms, and Buscabulla’s vocalist, Raquel Berríos, assumes the character’s voice. “I felt that the chorus had to carry a lot of weight about what it means to be a woman from the Caribbean,” Berríos said. “I had never worked this hard for a song.”

Del Valle remarked on Bad Bunny’s “indie bend”: “It’s pretty noble that he has that platform and he’s down to bring in people who are usually not in that realm,” he said. Berríos agreed: “Music should just be like that,” she said. “It should be free.”

Bad Bunny has a musical sensibility that exemplifies how the mainstream relies on cues from the underground and it’s one way he likes to make grand industry statements. On other tracks, he engages in more overt social commentary.

Much like “Estamos Bien” before it, “El Apagón” is a torch song that captures both the beauty and tragedy of Puerto Rican life. The track references the blackouts that persisted after a private consortium took over the island’s energy distribution last year. But it also incorporates laugh-out-loud citations of old school reggaeton, including a salacious lyric from DJ Joe’s “Fatal Fantassy” mixtape. It even ends with a send-off for the mainland investors who have descended on the island in search of tax breaks, driving up home prices and displacing locals. “Que se vayan ellos,” sings Gabriela Berlingeri, Bad Bunny’s girlfriend. “Esta es mi playa/esta es mi tierra” (“Let them leave. This is my beach/this is my land”).

“This is a song from the heart,” Bad Bunny said, explaining that he wrote the lyrics for Berlingeri to sing. “I didn’t want to get a famous artist,” he added. “I wanted someone to sing it out of love, because it’s a sincere message.”

At one point on “El Apagón,” Bad Bunny declares in Spanish, “Now everyone wants to be Latino,” a reference to a sudden spate of musicians who “don’t have a thing to do with Latino culture” singing in Spanish or playing with reggaeton. “Even though you can feel proud and happy about that, deep down, you’re like,” he paused. “‘Now, cabrones? Why not before?’” For so long, the music industry scorned Latino artists, segregating them into confining sounds and aesthetics, he said. “It was like a huge line, a wall — us over here, and you over there.”

“It’s not a critique, like, ‘Don’t do it!’” he added. “But remember that it’s from here, and that we know how to do it like it’s supposed to be done.”

Bad Bunny knows he is constantly evolving. Much like the musical luminaries whose LPs line the forest-green hallways of Electric Lady, he understands that his career is defined by authentic reinvention. “I don’t think I’m going to be making reggaeton at 40,” he said. “That I’m sure of.”

He’s not certain what awaits him in the next 10 years — maybe a few more albums or more prominent Hollywood roles. He swiveled around in his tall chair, a small grin crawling across his face. Of course a man this busy is plotting his eventual exit from the limelight. “I hope to be chilling, in a house with a farm and a horse — two horses,” he said of his future. “Tranquilito, tranquilito, tranquilito.” At peace.

An earlier version of this article misquoted Buscabulla’s Luis Alfredo Del Valle. He said “It’s pretty noble” that Bad Bunny brings other artists into his music, not “It’s pretty notable.”

How we handle corrections

Isabelia Herrera is an arts critic fellow. She covers popular culture, with a special focus on Latin American and U.S. Latino music. She was previously a contributing editor at Pitchfork and has written for Rolling Stone, Billboard, GQ, NPR and more. More about Isabelia Herrera

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Un Verano Sin Ti

Best New Music

By Jennifer Mota

Rap / Pop/R&B

May 14, 2022

Bad Bunny moves with intention. Quickly after releasing Un Verano Sin Ti , he made stops that reflect two major themes of the album. The first was a cute, intimate celebration at the last Puerto Rican social club remaining in Williamsburg, Brooklyn: the Caribbean Social Club (also known as “ Toñita’s ” after one of its owners, Maria Antonia Cay). As one of the most regarded Latinx-owned bars to survive the area’s gentrification while also preserving Boricua history, its existence symbolizes resistance. The day after, he appeared in the Bronx to record a music video for one of the album’s highlights, the upbeat hip-hop dembow fusion “Tití Me Preguntó.” Sporting a T-shirt honoring bachata legend Anthony Santos—whose “ No Te Puedo Olvidar ” is sampled at the beginning of the track—he was seen turning up with Dominican youth, taking part in the street revelery known simply as teteo. This release-week schedule reflects two of Un Verano Sin Ti ’s animating forces: Benito’s bori pride and appreciation of Dominican culture.

Recorded in his native island of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, Un Verano Sin Ti is a cohesively packaged voyage through the various sounds synonymous with the Caribbean region—reggaetón, reggae, bomba, Dominican dembow, Dominican mambo, and bachata, among others. The album’s 23 tracks are conceptualized through an A side and B side scheme that separates high-energy party and fun sonidos from tranquility and conscious thinking. Its enticing musical patchwork further lures listeners into El Conejo’s universe of experimental arrangements, sharp and nostalgic synths, and unexpected genre fusions. It’s a loving ode to Caribbean culture that embraces marginalized scenes within Latin America, from the ostracization of Black-rooted genres like bachata, dembow, and mambo to the criminalization of reggaeton.

Since his early Latin-trap beginnings (which he nods to here on “Dos Mil 16”), Bad Bunny’s adventurous tastes have catapulted him to become one of the most prolific global tastemakers. That versatility, paired with impeccable delivery, wordplay, and lyricism, has permitted him to exist creatively in a way no one else in Latin music, specifically within El Movimiento—to push the boundaries of gender conformity and fashion, for example, while simultaneously branching out to wrestling and acting. His range is represented throughout his discography, which spans pop-punk-meets-trap tracks like “Tenemos Que Hablar” (from 2019’s X 100PRE ), “Hablamos Mañana” (2020’s YHLQMDLG ), and “Yo Visto Así” ( El Último Tour Del Mundo , his second album of 2020 and the first all Spanish-language album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200). As he’s gone on to become Spotify’s most-streamed artist two years in a row, Bad Bunny has set records never before seen in the industry. Yet, despite all the accolades and fame, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio can still be found in a narrow, Puerto Rican-owned bar in Brooklyn.

In this tiny, symbolic bar in New York City, he celebrated another muse for the project: the vacations he spent on the west coast of Puerto Rico as a kid. The album’s gratifying transitions illustrate a summer in el caribe —what it feels like to be on those beaches, the colloquial phrases and dialects of the Spanish-language Caribbean. The sound of seagulls in the track-to-track transition between “Agosto” and “Callaita” perfectly evokes the texture and atmosphere of the beach. With dazzling eclecticism, Bad Bunny touches on nu-disco, psychedelia, electro-pop, and house on reggaetón-based songs like “Party” with Rauw Alejandro , “Tarot” featuring Jhay Cortez, and one of its most political tracks, “El Apagón.” The second half brings a wealth of unexpected collaborations: On “Ojitos Lindos” and “Otro Atardecer,” respectively, Colombian cumbia-electro group Bomba Estéreo and indie-pop band the Marías adapt seamlessly into the project’s world.

The B-side also serves as a melodic discourse on Puerto Rican livelihood. Puerto Rican duo Buscabulla joins for “Andrea,” an indie-pop song that touches on femicide and gender violence. “El Apagón” (“The Blackout”) is a middle finger to those privatizing the island’s electrical grid and beaches, furthering the displacement and gentrification of communities in Puerto Rico, the world’s oldest colony . “Que se vayan ellos/Lo que me pertenece a mí/Se lo quedan ellos” ( Let them go/What belongs to me/They’ll keep it for themselves ), sings Bad Bunny’s girlfriend, Gabriela Berlingeri, in the outro. “Esta es mi tierra” ( This is my land ). The song’s beginning rhythm is the pulse of bomba, a genre birthed by enslaved Africans to preserve tradition that today symbolizes resistance and liberation.

The truth is: perreo, whining the waist, and shaking ass are all forms of protest and expression, and activated equally throughout the album. While the B-side feels designed for whining down and deep thinking, the A-side sets the tone for teteos, cookouts, and beach parties, keeping reggaetón culture at the forefront with appearances from native legends like Tony Dize on “La Corriente” and Plan B’s Chencho Corleone on “Me Porto Bonito.” A major part of the production influences belong to the Dominican Republic, though actual Dominican artists are conspicuously absent. “Después de la Playa,” which opens with synths that transition to a Dominican mambo a little over a minute in, is one of the only songs to credit a Dominican artist by name: Against a foundation of guira, tambora, and piano, you hear, “I’m here with el Apechao”—a reference to Dahian el Apechao, an instrumentalist, singer, and composer with an impressive history of collaboration with mambo and reggaetón artists alike. ​The lack of visible representation for more Black Dominican artists on an album so indebted to their influence feels like a missed opportunity.

What it means to properly appreciate culture runs deep, especially when you’re a global phenomenon with omnivorous tastes and a vast audience, and Bad Bunny has space to continue learning. Since the mid-2010s, he’s introduced and defined trends for El Movimiento in both music and fashion. Every album rollout brings a fresh aesthetic: From intricate hair designs and brightly colored short-shorts to skirts and punk leathers to the beach-ready boonie hats of Un Verano Sin Ti, he’s constantly evolving. As he did with ’80s synths, romantiqueo (pop reggaetón centered on heartache and love), and emo lyricism, this album sets the blueprint for what’s next and the message is clear: The Caribbean deserves its flowers and will continue to claim space. Bad Bunny’s diasporic summer playlist is the sound of a world preparing for positive healing and joy.

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Bad Bunny's 'Un Verano Sin Ti' Achieves Most Weeks at No. 1 on Billboard 200 This Year

Bad Bunny's latest album 'Un Verano Sin Ti' continues its historic run on the Billboard 200 with a 10th nonconsecutive appearance at No. 1, the most in 2022.

Bad Bunny performs onstage during 2022 Made In America.

Bad Bunny ’s latest album  Un Verano Sin Ti  has now spent the most weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this year. 

Billboard reports Un Verano Sin Ti earned a 10th nonconsecutive week atop the chart after amassing 99,500 equivalent album units, of which 96,000 consisted of SEA units, equaling 135.41 million on-demand streams of the set’s tracks. The Encanto soundtrack previously held the high mark of 2022 with nine. 

Aside from Un Verano Sin Ti , only eight albums have occupied the top spot on the Billboard 200 for at least 10 weeks since 2000. Morgan Wallen’s  Dangerous: The Double Album  was the last to do so. 

Un Verano Sin Ti  is the only album in Billboard history to never fall below No. 2 in its first 18 weeks on the chart. Bad Bunny’s fourth solo studio offering also became the first album since Adele’s 21 to make six separate trips to No. 1 on the Billboard 200. 

Dangerous: The Double Album  rose from No. 5 to a distant second this week with 48,000 equivalent album units, and Megadeth’s  The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead!  rounded out the top three. It’s the eighth top 10 album for Megadeth, and their first in nearly 30 years. 

After debuting atop the Billboard 200 just last week,  DJ Khaled ’s  God Did  fell to No. 4 after moving 45,000 equivalent album units, representing a 58 percent decline in sales. 

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Here Are All the Special Guests at Bad Bunny’s ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’ Show

On July 28, Bad Bunny gave his hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico, what’s to come on his upcoming stadium tour with the Un Verano Sin Ti show. The Puerto Rican superstar made sure to fill the first time he performed the album since its release with as many special guests as possible. Among the artists he brought out, some were featured artists on the album, like Chencho Corleone and María Zardoya from The Marías. But also, Puerto Rico friends like Villano Antillano and Tommy Torres got their moment to shine on stage.

Last night marked the first of Bad Bunny’s three concerts at El Choli in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The concert was also broadcasted live on Telemundo Puerto Rico, but those who weren’t on the island found other means to watch the show. 

Chencho Corleone was the first special guest of the night. In addition to performing the global hit “Me Porto Bonito” with Bad Bunny, he also sang a few of Plan B’s songs. Another reggaeton OG who appeared at the concert was Tony Dize, who performed “La Corriente” with Benito.

Bad Bunny & Chencho Corleone singing “Me Porto Bonito” at Un Verano Sin Ti concert. 🌊❤️ pic.twitter.com/RF0XGYlJAn — Access Bad Bunny ☀️🌊❤️ (@AccessBadBunny) July 29, 2022

Bad Bunny brought his “Dákiti” collaborator Jhay Cortez to perform their song “Tarot.” The Marías also joined him on stage to sing “Otro Atardecer,” and Puerto Rican duo Buscabulla also appeared to sing “Andrea.” The last of the special guests from Un Verano Sin Ti to join Bad Bunny was Colombian Bomba Estéreo to perform the Barack Obama-approved “Ojitos Lindos.”

Bad Bunny & Bomba Estereo singing “Ojitos Lindos” at Un Verano Sin Ti concert. 🌊🫶🏻 pic.twitter.com/v7gGL6pbgB — Access Bad Bunny ☀️🌊❤️ (@AccessBadBunny) July 29, 2022

One of the best moments from the concert was Bad Bunny sharing the spotlight with rising Puerto Rican rapper Villano Antillano. He acted as her hype man as she tore up the stage with a performance of “BZRP Sessions #51.” Other guests that Bad Bunny brought out included Tommy Torres , who played the guitar during “No Soy Celoso,” Arcángel to do their collab “Me Acostumbré,” and Jowell y Randy to sing “Safaera.”

Bad Bunny with Villano Antillano at Un Verano Sin Ti concert. 🫶🏻❤️ pic.twitter.com/jgdIyd7d8j — Access Bad Bunny ☀️🌊❤️ (@AccessBadBunny) July 29, 2022

With 18,749 people in El Choli, Bad Bunny broke the attendance record at the venue that was previously set by Metallica. With all eyes on him around the world, he also used his concert to criticize Puerto Rico’s current government run by governor Pedro Pierluisi. “The country belongs to us and we are the ones in control,” Bad Bunny said in Spanish. “I believe in this generation. I want to live here with you forever.”

If this is any indication of what’s to come from h is World’s Hottest Tour, we’re in for a massive party.

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All Setlists

• All setlist songs  ( 369 )

Years on tour

• 2024  ( 28 )
• 2023  ( 4 )
• 2022  ( 79 )
• 2021  ( 8 )
• 2020  ( 10 )
• 2019  ( 72 )
• 2018  ( 117 )
• 2017  ( 51 )

Show all tours

• Diles Tour  ( 12 )
• El Último Tour Del Mundo  ( 33 )
• La Nueva Religión Tour  ( 110 )
• Most Wanted Tour  ( 28 )
• P FKN R  ( 3 )
• Soy Peor Tour  ( 11 )
• Un Verano Sin Ti  ( 3 )
• World's Hottest Tour  ( 43 )
• X 100PRE Tour  ( 69 )
• Avg Setlist
• Concert Map

Average setlist for tour: Un Verano Sin Ti

Note: only considered 1 of 3 setlists (ignored empty and strikingly short setlists)

• Un coco Play Video
• Moscow Mule Play Video
• Me porto bonito Play Video
• Guatauba / ¿Por qué te demoras? / Candy / Bellaqueo / Fanática sensual ( Plan B  cover) Play Video
• Un ratito Play Video
• Yo no soy celoso Play Video
• Tití me preguntó Play Video
• La corriente Play Video
• Quizás / Solos / Permítame ( Tony Dize  cover) Play Video
• Efecto Play Video
• Neverita Play Video
• Ni bien ni mal / 200 MPH / La romana / Estamos bien Play Video
• Si veo a tu mamá Play Video
• La difícil Play Video
• Bichiyal Play Video
• La santa Play Video
• Yo perreo sola Play Video
• Safaera Play Video
• Siente el boom / El funeral de la canoa / Tóxicos / Guayoteo / Hey mister / Trambo ( Jowell & Randy  cover) Play Video
• Party Play Video
• Tarot Play Video
• No me conoce ( Jhayco  cover) Play Video
• CÓMO SE SIENTE ( Jhayco  cover) Play Video
• DÁKITI ( Bad Bunny & Jhay Cortez  cover) Play Video
• Yonaguni Play Video
• Callaíta Play Video
• Villano Antillano: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 51 ( Bizarrap & Villano Antillano  cover) Play Video
• Dos mil 16 Play Video
• Diles Play Video
• Pa ti Play Video
• No te hagas / Me mata Play Video
• Vuelve ( Daddy Yankee & Bad Bunny  cover) Play Video
• Tú no metes cabra / Chambea Play Video
• Me acostumbré ( Arcángel  cover) Play Video
• Tú no vive así ( Arcángel  cover) Play Video
• Soy peor Play Video
• Un verano sin ti Play Video
• Andrea Play Video
• Me fui de vacaciones Play Video
• Otro atardecer Play Video
• Enséñame a bailar Play Video
• Ojitos lindos Play Video
• El apagón Play Video
• Después de la playa Play Video

Show Openers

Main set closers, show closers, encores played.

This feature is not that experimental anymore. Nevertheless, please give feedback if the results don't make any sense to you.

• Apr 21, 2024
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