Latest news with #BenitoAntonioMartínezOcasio
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Bright Side: Bad Bunny kicks off Puerto Rico residency with marathon show
Bad Bunny's marathon show in San Juan late Friday was a night of palpable emotion for the reggaeton megastar whose latest artistic endeavor brings him back to his roots. Bad Bunny's most recent tracks underscore injustices in the US Caribbean island territory, but the evening was one of celebration: a lens on Puerto Rico that focuses on its resistance, pride and joy. Bad Bunny's sweeping first concert of his three-month Puerto Rico residency was a night of palpable emotion for the megastar whose latest smash artistic endeavor brings his global stardom back to his roots. The marathon show in San Juan late Friday was flush with styles – from club beats and high-octane salsa to folkloric dance and soulful acoustics. At one point, the enormously popular Bad Bunny – born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio – appeared to pause to soak in the moment, breaking into a heartfelt smile as he gazed out at his thousands of ecstatic compatriots. Savoring the present and honoring the past is a lesson taken from the 31-year-old's sixth album "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos" ("I Should Have Taken More Photos") and a theme the residency is celebrating, with a full-throated ode to Puerto Rican heritage. The first song was previously unreleased, and there were no details on whether the track will eventually have an official drop. Some fans online speculated that perhaps he'll keep it exclusive to the residency. Read more on FRANCE 24 EnglishRead also:Don't look back in anger: Oasis reunites as comeback tour kicks off in CardiffJazzman Ludovic Louis draws inspiration from anti-colonial activist Frantz Fanon
Gulf Today
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Today
'A legend': Bad Bunny brings Puerto Rican pride to epic show
Bad Bunny's sweeping first concert of his three-month Puerto Rico residency was a night of palpable emotion for the megastar whose latest smash artistic endeavor brings his global stardom back to his roots. The marathon show in San Juan late Friday was flush with styles -- from club beats and high-octane salsa to folkloric dance and soulful acoustics. At one point, the enormously popular Bad Bunny -- born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio -- appeared to pause to soak in the moment, breaking into a heartfelt smile as he gazed out at his thousands of ecstatic compatriots. Savoring the present and honoring the past is a lesson taken from the 31-year-old's sixth album "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos" ("I Should Have Taken More Photos") and a theme the residency is celebrating, with a full-throated ode to Puerto Rican heritage. The ambitious setlist included many of Bad Bunny's most recent tracks that underscore injustices in the US Caribbean island territory, but the evening was one of celebration: a lens on Puerto Rico that focuses on its resistance, pride and joy. Bad Bunny performs during his first show of his 30-date concert residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Friday. AP The first song was previously unreleased, and there were no details on whether the track will eventually have an official drop. Some fans online speculated that perhaps he'll keep it exclusive to the residency. That would be a fitting move for the artist who, after a blazing burst to global fame that saw him briefly move to Los Angeles, has returned home and intensified his efforts to make music about Puerto Ricans, for Puerto Ricans. The first nine shows of his 30-concert stretch, which will take over San Juan's Coliseo for consecutive three-day weekends into September, are only open to Puerto Rican residents -- and the odd celebrity like LeBron James, who attended Friday night. 'He made it' The night paid homage to Puerto Rican culture and history -- including with percussive plena music and bomba-infused rhythms -- but it was also a career retrospective of sorts, showcasing the immense range that Bad Bunny has exhibited since his major breakthrough less than a decade ago. The show featured the heavy Latin trap of his 2018 hit "La Romana" and the 2020 club smash "Yo Perreo Sola" -- shining examples of his earlier work in reggaeton that catapulted him to stardom. An aerial view shows people queing outside the Coliseo de Puerto Rico to attend the first show of Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny's 30-date concert residency at the arena in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Friday. AFP "His reggaeton never fails," student John Hernandez Ramirez said ahead of the concert. The 21-year-old said he was drawn to Bad Bunny for the heart-pounding beats. But more recently, he said he has been inspired by the artist's lyrical evolution. Hailing from a rural area of Puerto Rico, Hernandez Ramirez said he found particular resonance in "Lo Que Paso a Hawaii" -- Bad Bunny's exploration of gentrification, detrimental tourism and the colonization of both the state and his homeland. Bad Bunny highlighted those issues in the lead-up to the concert, projecting historical facts onto a big screen over the lush, tropical set on which chickens roamed freely. Many of the sentiments drew enormous cheers from spectators as they filed in. Bad Bunny fans pose for a photo before attending the first show. AP "Puerto Rico has been a colony since Christopher Columbus 'discovered' the island during his second voyage to the New World in 1493," one read, with a parenthetical explaining that "the Taino tribe already inhabited the island." From atop a house built in the island's typical style, Bad Bunny delivered some of his most iconic songs, including the recent "Nuevayol" along with "Titi me pregunto." He then returned to the main stage for a hip-swiveling salsa sequence, wearing a 1970s-style tailored suit in the style of the genre's icons who preceded him. Streamers in the colors of the Puerto Rican flag burst from the ceiling as he led fans in a mesmerizing medley that included "Baile Inolvidable," accompanied by a full band. The show clocked in at three hours but fans -- many adorned in flag attire and others sporting baseball jerseys of the Puerto Rican baseball legend Roberto Clemente -- couldn't get enough. A Bad Bunny fan wearing a mask representing the singer performs before attending the first show. AP Marta Cuellar, a 61-year-old Colombian and longtime Puerto Rican resident, told AFP that the series of concerts is a great way to celebrate the island -- and a gift to Latin American culture more generally. "Bad Bunny," she said, "is going to be a legend." Jorell Melendez Badillo, a Puerto Rican scholar who collaborated with Bad Bunny on visual elements of the latest album, said that the residency is a celebration of "not only Benito, but ourselves." "He's ours. We feel as if we are there with Benito along this journey. We've seen him also grow through the spotlight, through his career." "He made it," the historian said. "And we all made it with him." Agence France-Presse
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
Puerto Ricans hope for change as Bad Bunny sings about the island's turmoil, identity
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- In a small bookstore in the Caribbean's largest mall, dozens of people gathered on a recent evening for the launch of a slim dictionary. Its title is 'The ABC of DtMF,' which is short for 'DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS,' the newest album from Puerto Rico's latest prodigious son, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, better known as Bad Bunny. The mostly older crowd flipped through the pages, seeking to understand more about Puerto Rico's culture, the places, phrases and references in Bad Bunny's music. The singer has elevated the global profile of the island, a U.S. territory, to new heights, promoting its traditional music, denouncing its gentrification and challenging its political status. It was an unexpected opportunity for an island that for years has cried out about its territorial status, dwindling affordable housing, high cost of living, chronic power outages, medical exodus and fragile economy. Pleas for change have been largely pushed aside, but Puerto Ricans are optimistic that Bad Bunny's new album and his series of 30 concerts that began Friday means they'll finally be heard. 'He's going to bring change, and there's a young generation who's going to back him,' said Luis Rosado, 57, who this week attended the dictionary launch at the urging of his son, who lives abroad. Ten minutes before the first concert on Friday, a giant billboard on stage lit up with the words, 'Puerto Rico is a colony since Christopher Columbus 'discovered' the island during his second trip to the New World in 1493.' The crowd that filled the 18,000-capacity coliseum whooped. 'This album has sparked a conversation around the world about our situation as a colony,' said Andrea Figueroa, a 24-year-old professional athlete who said foreigners have started to ask her about Puerto Rico and its issues, something she hopes might lead to change. Those born on the island of 3.2 million inhabitants are U.S. citizens but cannot vote in U.S. presidential elections, and they have one representative in Congress with limited voting powers. Figueroa said the album resonated with her because her father is one of thousands forced to leave the island in search of work as the economy crumbled. It's a sentiment Bad Bunny sings about in 'What happened to Hawaii,' with the lyric, 'He didn't want to go to Orlando, but the corrupt ones kicked him out.' The song taps into concern that the Puerto Rican identity is eroding amid an influx of people from the U.S. mainland, many of them attracted by a 2012 law that allows Americans to move to the island and pay no taxes on capital gains if they meet certain conditions. Hundreds of Americans also snapped up properties in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria struck the island as a powerful Category 4 storm in 2017, forcing more than 100,000 people to leave. 'They want to take the river away from me and also the beach; they want my neighborhood and the grandma to leave,' Bad Bunny sang on Friday as the crowd drowned out his voice. The artist spent half of Friday's concert singing from the porch and roof of a traditional Puerto Rican home that served as a second stage, where he wonders about its fate aloud because it's been rented: 'Do good people live there? Is it an Airbnb?' The mostly young crowd booed loudly, flinching at their reality on an island where the housing price index increased by almost 60% from 2018 to 2024 and where short-term rentals have surged from some 1,000 in 2014 to more than 25,000 in 2023. However, they cheered upon seeing Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James emerge from the house as a surprise guest. The song hit Carmen Lourdes López Rivera especially hard. She is the vice president of the Community Board Association of La Perla, an impoverished community once known for being Puerto Rico's biggest heroin distribution point. Investors with deep pockets have long sought to buy up the area, which is perched on a hill with deep turquoise waters lapping below a massive 16th-century fort popular with tourists. 'They have always said they want to kick us out of here,' she said. 'We're going to fight for what belongs to us.' The effect of Bad Bunny's album and concerts is already being felt. More than 35,000 hotel nights have been booked during the normally slow summer season, with the concerts expected to attract more than 600,000 visitors, generate more than $186 million and create more than 3,600 jobs, according to government officials. Beyond that, Bad Bunny's use of folkloric music like bomba and plena has revived interest in those musical traditions. Dozens of newcomers have requested classes and are seeking out teachers, said Jorge Gabriel López Olán, 28, an experienced drummer. 'And it's very necessary, isn't it? To understand where we come from and where our music and culture come from,' he said. On Friday, Bad Bunny fans sported long ruffled skirts traditionally worn to dance bomba, while others donned straw hats known as a 'pava,' worn by 'jíbaros,' Puerto Rican peasants. Musicians and dancers wore the same outfits on the main stage, which at one point even featured live chickens. Interest has surged to the point where universities including Princeton and Yale have launched courses on Bad Bunny. Albert Laguna, a Yale professor, described Bad Bunny's residence as a powerful move: 'Instead of me going to the world, right, I'm going to start here.' There is even renewed interest in the Puerto Rican crested toad, the island's sole indigenous toad species that is under threat and was featured in a video as part of Bad Bunny's newest album. Not even two weeks had passed since the album's launch and people already were sending in pictures to confirm if they had spotted the crested toad, said Abel Vale Nieves with Citizens of the Karst, an environmental nonprofit. 'It's something we had not seen before,' he said, adding that the album presented Puerto Rico's reality to the world: 'A situation of complete disadvantage where we don't have the right to a lot of things.' 'It creates interest in Puerto Rico's historical situation, and I think it did so in a wonderful way,' he said, adding that the concerts will only boost visibility of the island's issues. 'It's a beautiful opportunity.'
San Francisco Chronicle
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Puerto Ricans hope for change as Bad Bunny sings about the island's turmoil and identity
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — In a small bookstore in the Caribbean's largest mall, dozens of people gathered on a recent evening for the launch of a slim dictionary. Its title is 'The ABC of DtMF,' which is short for 'DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS,' the newest album from Puerto Rico's latest prodigious son, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, better known as Bad Bunny. The mostly older crowd flipped through the pages, seeking to understand more about Puerto Rico's culture, the places, phrases and references in Bad Bunny's music. The singer has elevated the global profile of the island, a U.S. territory, to new heights, promoting its traditional music, denouncing its gentrification and challenging its political status. It was an unexpected opportunity for an island that for years has cried out about its territorial status, dwindling affordable housing, high cost of living, chronic power outages, medical exodus and fragile economy. Pleas for change have been largely pushed aside, but Puerto Ricans are optimistic that Bad Bunny's new album and his series of 30 concerts that began Friday means they'll finally be heard. 'He's going to bring change, and there's a young generation who's going to back him,' said Luis Rosado, 57, who this week attended the dictionary launch at the urging of his son, who lives abroad. 'They want my neighborhood' Ten minutes before the first concert on Friday, a giant billboard on stage lit up with the words, 'Puerto Rico is a colony since Christopher Columbus 'discovered' the island during his second trip to the New World in 1493.' The crowd that filled the 18,000-capacity coliseum whooped. 'This album has sparked a conversation around the world about our situation as a colony,' said Andrea Figueroa, a 24-year-old professional athlete who said foreigners have started to ask her about Puerto Rico and its issues, something she hopes might lead to change. Those born on the island of 3.2 million inhabitants are U.S. citizens but cannot vote in U.S. presidential elections, and they have one representative in Congress with limited voting powers. Figueroa said the album resonated with her because her father is one of thousands forced to leave the island in search of work as the economy crumbled. It's a sentiment Bad Bunny sings about in 'What happened to Hawaii,' with the lyric, 'He didn't want to go to Orlando, but the corrupt ones kicked him out.' The song taps into concern that the Puerto Rican identity is eroding amid an influx of people from the U.S. mainland, many of them attracted by a 2012 law that allows Americans to move to the island and pay no taxes on capital gains if they meet certain conditions. Hundreds of Americans also snapped up properties in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria struck the island as a powerful Category 4 storm in 2017, forcing more than 100,000 people to leave. 'They want to take the river away from me and also the beach; they want my neighborhood and the grandma to leave,' Bad Bunny sang on Friday as the crowd drowned out his voice. The artist spent half of Friday's concert singing from the porch and roof of a traditional Puerto Rican home that served as a second stage, where he wonders about its fate aloud because it's been rented: 'Do good people live there? Is it an Airbnb?' The mostly young crowd booed loudly, flinching at their reality on an island where the housing price index increased by almost 60% from 2018 to 2024 and where short-term rentals have surged from some 1,000 in 2014 to more than 25,000 in 2023. The song hit Carmen Lourdes López Rivera especially hard. She is the vice president of the Community Board Association of La Perla, an impoverished community once known for being Puerto Rico's biggest heroin distribution point. Investors with deep pockets have long sought to buy up the area, which is perched on a hill with deep turquoise waters lapping below a massive 16th-century fort popular with tourists. 'They have always said they want to kick us out of here,' she said. 'We're going to fight for what belongs to us.' Bomba, plena and a crested toad The effect of Bad Bunny's album and concerts is already being felt. More than 35,000 hotel nights have been booked during the normally slow summer season, with the concerts expected to attract more than 600,000 visitors, generate more than $186 million and create more than 3,600 jobs, according to government officials. Beyond that, Bad Bunny's use of folkloric music like bomba and plena has revived interest in those musical traditions. Dozens of newcomers have requested classes and are seeking out teachers, said Jorge Gabriel López Olán, 28, an experienced drummer. 'And it's very necessary, isn't it? To understand where we come from and where our music and culture come from,' he said. On Friday, Bad Bunny fans sported long ruffled skirts traditionally worn to dance bomba, while others donned straw hats known as a 'pava,' worn by 'jíbaros,' Puerto Rican peasants. Musicians and dancers wore the same outfits on the main stage, which at one point even featured live chickens. Interest has surged to the point where universities including Princeton and Yale have launched courses on Bad Bunny. Albert Laguna, a Yale professor, described Bad Bunny's residence as a powerful move: 'Instead of me going to the world, right, I'm going to start here.' There is even renewed interest in the Puerto Rican crested toad, the island's sole indigenous toad species that is under threat and was featured in a video as part of Bad Bunny's newest album. Not even two weeks had passed since the album's launch and people already were sending in pictures to confirm if they had spotted the crested toad, said Abel Vale Nieves with Citizens of the Karst, an environmental nonprofit. 'It's something we had not seen before,' he said, adding that the album presented Puerto Rico's reality to the world: 'A situation of complete disadvantage where we don't have the right to a lot of things.' 'It creates interest in Puerto Rico's historical situation, and I think it did so in a wonderful way,' he said, adding that the concerts will only boost visibility of the island's issues. 'It's a beautiful opportunity.'
Winnipeg Free Press
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Puerto Ricans hope for change as Bad Bunny sings about the island's turmoil and identity
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — In a small bookstore in the Caribbean's largest mall, dozens of people gathered on a recent evening for the launch of a slim dictionary. Its title is 'The ABC of DtMF,' which is short for 'DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS,' the newest album from Puerto Rico's latest prodigious son, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, better known as Bad Bunny. The mostly older crowd flipped through the pages, seeking to understand more about Puerto Rico's culture, the places, phrases and references in Bad Bunny's music. The singer has elevated the global profile of the island, a U.S. territory, to new heights, promoting its traditional music, denouncing its gentrification and challenging its political status. It was an unexpected opportunity for an island that for years has cried out about its territorial status, dwindling affordable housing, high cost of living, chronic power outages, medical exodus and fragile economy. Pleas for change have been largely pushed aside, but Puerto Ricans are optimistic that Bad Bunny's new album and his series of 30 concerts that began Friday means they'll finally be heard. 'He's going to bring change, and there's a young generation who's going to back him,' said Luis Rosado, 57, who this week attended the dictionary launch at the urging of his son, who lives abroad. 'They want my neighborhood' Ten minutes before the first concert on Friday, a giant billboard on stage lit up with the words, 'Puerto Rico is a colony since Christopher Columbus 'discovered' the island during his second trip to the New World in 1493.' The crowd that filled the 18,000-capacity coliseum whooped. 'This album has sparked a conversation around the world about our situation as a colony,' said Andrea Figueroa, a 24-year-old professional athlete who said foreigners have started to ask her about Puerto Rico and its issues, something she hopes might lead to change. Those born on the island of 3.2 million inhabitants are U.S. citizens but cannot vote in U.S. presidential elections, and they have one representative in Congress with limited voting powers. Figueroa said the album resonated with her because her father is one of thousands forced to leave the island in search of work as the economy crumbled. It's a sentiment Bad Bunny sings about in 'What happened to Hawaii,' with the lyric, 'He didn't want to go to Orlando, but the corrupt ones kicked him out.' The song taps into concern that the Puerto Rican identity is eroding amid an influx of people from the U.S. mainland, many of them attracted by a 2012 law that allows Americans to move to the island and pay no taxes on capital gains if they meet certain conditions. Hundreds of Americans also snapped up properties in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria struck the island as a powerful Category 4 storm in 2017, forcing more than 100,000 people to leave. 'They want to take the river away from me and also the beach; they want my neighborhood and the grandma to leave,' Bad Bunny sang on Friday as the crowd drowned out his voice. The artist spent half of Friday's concert singing from the porch and roof of a traditional Puerto Rican home that served as a second stage, where he wonders about its fate aloud because it's been rented: 'Do good people live there? Is it an Airbnb?' The mostly young crowd booed loudly, flinching at their reality on an island where the housing price index increased by almost 60% from 2018 to 2024 and where short-term rentals have surged from some 1,000 in 2014 to more than 25,000 in 2023. The song hit Carmen Lourdes López Rivera especially hard. She is the vice president of the Community Board Association of La Perla, an impoverished community once known for being Puerto Rico's biggest heroin distribution point. Investors with deep pockets have long sought to buy up the area, which is perched on a hill with deep turquoise waters lapping below a massive 16th-century fort popular with tourists. 'They have always said they want to kick us out of here,' she said. 'We're going to fight for what belongs to us.' Bomba, plena and a crested toad The effect of Bad Bunny's album and concerts is already being felt. More than 35,000 hotel nights have been booked during the normally slow summer season, with the concerts expected to attract more than 600,000 visitors, generate more than $186 million and create more than 3,600 jobs, according to government officials. Beyond that, Bad Bunny's use of folkloric music like bomba and plena has revived interest in those musical traditions. Dozens of newcomers have requested classes and are seeking out teachers, said Jorge Gabriel López Olán, 28, an experienced drummer. 'And it's very necessary, isn't it? To understand where we come from and where our music and culture come from,' he said. On Friday, Bad Bunny fans sported long ruffled skirts traditionally worn to dance bomba, while others donned straw hats known as a 'pava,' worn by 'jíbaros,' Puerto Rican peasants. Musicians and dancers wore the same outfits on the main stage, which at one point even featured live chickens. Interest has surged to the point where universities including Princeton and Yale have launched courses on Bad Bunny. Albert Laguna, a Yale professor, described Bad Bunny's residence as a powerful move: 'Instead of me going to the world, right, I'm going to start here.' There is even renewed interest in the Puerto Rican crested toad, the island's sole indigenous toad species that is under threat and was featured in a video as part of Bad Bunny's newest album. Currently on hiatus A review of funny, uplifting news in Winnipeg and around the globe. Not even two weeks had passed since the album's launch and people already were sending in pictures to confirm if they had spotted the crested toad, said Abel Vale Nieves with Citizens of the Karst, an environmental nonprofit. 'It's something we had not seen before,' he said, adding that the album presented Puerto Rico's reality to the world: 'A situation of complete disadvantage where we don't have the right to a lot of things.' 'It creates interest in Puerto Rico's historical situation, and I think it did so in a wonderful way,' he said, adding that the concerts will only boost visibility of the island's issues. 'It's a beautiful opportunity.' ___ Associated Press music reporter Maria Sherman in New York contributed.
