JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The most streamed album on Spotify this year in the United States, it wasn't from Taylor Swift or Harry Styles or Beyonce. It was from a Puerto Rican musician who doesn't sing or rap in English. That would be Bad Bunny.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TITI ME PREGUNTO")
BAD BUNNY: (Rapping in Spanish).
SUMMERS: Bad Bunny's 2022 album is called "Un Verano Sin Ti," a summer without you. But it certainly seemed like this was his summer, his year. He spent 13 weeks on top of the Billboard 200. He had a massive stadium tour, a Grammy nomination for best album. You could say that Bad Bunny became the world's biggest pop star this year.
Isabelia Herrera has written about that for NPR music. Hey, there.
ISABELIA HERRERA, BYLINE: Hi, Juana. Thank you for having me.
SUMMERS: Thanks for being here. OK. So when I try to sum up this year in music, it's kind of impossible for my mind not to immediately jump to Bad Bunny and this latest album. But I'd like to start by asking you to describe what this album sounds like for a person who somehow has never heard it before.
HERRERA: Yeah. So I would say "Un Verano Sin Ti" blends a broad spectrum of Caribbean music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MOSCOW MULE")
BAD BUNNY: (Singing in Spanish).
HERRERA: There's a little bit of reggaeton, a little bit of dembow, some bachata, even reggae. But within those styles, it's very much in a pop template. There's some dream pop. There's some synth-driven music, so sort of blending a couple of different styles throughout the album.
SUMMERS: And you've written about how this album is both a turn toward mainstream conventions, but, like in much of Bad Bunny's music, he also pulls in independent or underground artists. Give us a few examples.
HERRERA: Yeah. So this album, he really recruited a lot of independent artists specifically from Puerto Rico. So he tapped the duo Buscabulla for a song as well as the Puerto Rican-fronted band The Marias, based in LA. And he really seemed like he was reaching out to independent artists and sort of using his platform to bring them in.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ANDREA")
BAD BUNNY: (Singing in Spanish).
HERRERA: "Andrea" is the song where he collaborates with the duo Buscabulla. The lyrics sort of tell this story of a Puerto Rican woman who wants to be treated with respect, who wants to be independent, who wants to be free from misogyny. You know, he talks about how, you know, when she goes to buy bread, she doesn't want to get catcalled. She wants respect, and she doesn't want anyone to take it away. So the lyrics are very powerful in that sense.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ANDREA")
BAD BUNNY: (Rapping in Spanish).
HERRERA: And when the song was released, a lot of people, you know, believe that it was connected or to be about the case of Andrea Ruiz, a woman who in Puerto Rico petition to have a restraining order against her abusive ex-boyfriend. And she was denied the restraining order. And a few weeks later, he confessed to actually killing her. And this comes in the context of a really big surge in gender-based violence in Puerto Rico.
A few months later, Bad Bunny, you know, clarified that the song wasn't about this case of Andrea Ruiz. But I think it really still resonates with, you know, these questions of, like, feminism and, you know, sort of talking about women's independence, which he has talked about in the past.
SUMMERS: So if you take this album in total, it's got this hot summer sound. There's a lot of joy. There's a lot of celebration. But this album is also at times explicitly political. He makes statements against the government of Puerto Rico. Tell us more about that.
HERRERA: Yes. I think probably the biggest example of that is the song "El Apagon."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EL APAGON")
BAD BUNNY: (Rapping in Spanish).
HERRERA: In this song, he is talking about the island-wide blackouts that have affected Puerto Rico since a private energy consortium took over the energy last year, called Luma. And sort of it's kind of like, you know, decrying all these blackouts that have really affected the island and caused people to lose power.
It's also kind of taking a jab at wealthy investors who've been descending on the island searching for tax incentives. Many, many people have been moving over. And the result of that is sort of increased home prices and the displacement of a lot of locals. And, you know, Bad Bunny acknowledges this sort of in the outro. Gabriela Berlingeri speaks about, you know, sort of, like, these wealthy investors coming. She says...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EL APAGON")
GABRIELA BERLINGERI: (Singing in Spanish).
HERRERA: ...Which means, you know, I don't want to leave here. Like, let them leave - you know, sort of a send off to these investors coming in and really displacing a lot of the local population.
SUMMERS: You made this really interesting point in your essay that the way that Bad Bunny embraces political causes feels more real than the equivalent that we see from some mainland U.S. artists. Can you say a little bit more about that?
HERRERA: Yeah, definitely. I think that, you know, often in American celebrity or pop star activism, we see a lot of, like, empty gestures, to be honest, or, you know, more, like, typical modes of activism - you know, like benefit concerts, social media statements, those kinds of things. And I think that's very common for mainstream American pop stars. But for Bad Bunny, he kind of, you know, makes these very explicit political statements in his songs and his performances.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BAD BUNNY: (Speaking Spanish).
HERRERA: And then he also follows that up with, like, on-the-ground action. You know, in 2019, he joined the summer protests that eventually led to the resignation of the former Puerto Rican governor, Ricardo Rossello. It seemed like politics are sort of, you know, necessary exercise for him or abstract. It's something that really is just a part of who he is.
SUMMERS: Bad Bunny has been this really dominant force in music for years now. This fame, it's not new, but I'm curious if you could weigh in. Why do you think it is that he broke through so powerfully to the U.S. mainstream without really making any particular concessions to English-speaking audiences?
HERRERA: You know, I honestly think that very part of his authenticity is what helped him break out. I think that, you know, the Latin music industry and, really, the American music industry at large has treated a lot of Latinx artists with a particular template of success - you know, certain milestones that you have to reach, having to collaborate with American pop stars, and maybe sometimes those collaborations don't feel very authentic. But I think the fact that he's really refused a lot of those modes and done things that feel very authentic are - kind of set him apart and really have, you know, brought him a bigger audience in that way because they don't feel forced.
(SOUNDBITE OF BAD BUNNY SONG, "OTRO ATARDECER (FT. THE MARIAS)")
SUMMERS: You also wrote that this record - and I'm quoting you here - "captured a particular condition of life in the year 2022." What do you mean by that?
HERRERA: I think that there's a specific kind of joy that we're seeking right now; sort of not, you know, a superficial joy or a joy that ignores the political reality that we're living in; you know, the continued state of the pandemic; just how difficult and heavy the last few years have been. And I think that this album really does a great job at capturing that, at capturing the ability to take joy and hardship at the same time and, you know, to find a light in those moments that are so difficult. It's something that's really special and really sets this album apart.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OTRO ATARDECER (FT. THE MARIAS)")
BAD BUNNY: (Singing in Spanish).
SUMMERS: Isabelia Herrera, NPR music contributor - she's written about the year for Bad Bunny and his massively successful album, "Un Verano Sin Ti." Isabelia, thank you.
HERRERA: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OTRO ATARDECER (FT. THE MARIAS)")
BAD BUNNY: (Singing in Spanish).
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