Big hits, dance breaks, fireworks and a lesson in Caribbean music: With his groundbreaking performance at Coachella this weekend in the United States, Puerto Rican music star Bad Bunny shed light on a Latin pop revolution fueled by his dizzying fame.
The reggaeton titan, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, first appeared at this influential festival in 2018, as a guest of hit rapper Cardi B.
Five years later, the 29-year-old entertainer himself drew tens of thousands of spectators to the main stage of the annual event held in the California desert, where he became the first Spanish-language artist to headline the bill.
Their two-hour performance sent a clear message: the lineage of Latin music in the Americas is deep and rich and has a powerful impact on today’s most popular and profitable music. It is a message that the powerful in the industry are beginning to accept and process.
“I don’t think the narrative of the United States as a white, English-speaking nation is going to change completely in the short term,” said Vanessa Díaz, professor of the course “Bad Bunny and the Resistance in Puerto Rico” at Loyola Marymount University.
.
But “I think we see a reckoning with people’s demand,” he added.
Proof of this is the warm reception given at Coachella, for example, to “Un Verano Sin Ti”, Bad Bunny’s latest successful album, the first work recorded entirely in Spanish to win a Grammy nomination for the coveted Album of the Year award.
Bad Bunny also included parts of his earlier work, interspersing his songs with documentary-style footage that traces the heritage of Latin music, and specifically the Caribbean rhythms, that have led him to global stardom.
about the author
