San Juan, Puerto Rico – During the first week of Bad Bunny’s historical residence, fans wore outfits inspired by the Puerto Rican folk culture, including straw hats known as “La Pava” and the traditional “jíbaro” attire, reflected of rural rural corridors that worked on farms until the nineteenth century.
The choice of fashion is a statement. It is consistent with the theme of its 30 show concert series: “I don’t want to leave here”, which translates as “I don’t want to leave here.”
The concerts give life to the songs in the sixth studio album by Bad Bunny, “I had to throw more photos” or “should have taken more photos”, which the artist has called his album “Most Puerto Rican” so far.
In him, Bad Bunny sings his need to stay in Puerto Rico and appreciate his people and history. Most letters talk to the political realities and cultural legacy of Puerto Rico.
And for Puerto Ricans in the territory of the United States, as well as for those who live in the United States continent, the focus on their beloved Caribbean archipelago is everything.
“It seems that we are at home,” Ivy Torres told NBC News. She and her spouse, Alexis, are among the more than 600,000 people who are expected to visit Puerto Rico this summer to see the show, which is the first formal residence that any singer has made in the Coliseum of Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot, the largest inner entertainment sand on the island, setting 18,000 people.
“It is an excellent way to reconnect with your family, friends and everything we leave behind,” Alexis said.
The couple moved to Ohio from Puerto Rico a decade ago during the apogee of the economic crisis on the island. “It was difficult,” Ivy said. “We didn’t want to leave our family and friends, but we had to do it.”
Bad Bunny sings about this feeling in his song “What happened to Hawaii” (“What happened with Hawaii”). The song addresses fears around the erosion of Puerto Rican identity in the midst of an influx of rich people from the continent who have moved there after the approval of tax exemptions, as well as a recent increase in short -term rents that limit the affordable housing opportunities for local residents.
Born in Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, Bad Bunny achieved worldwide success singing in Spanish, popularizing Puerto Rican jargon worldwide and highlighting the difficult situation of Puerto Rican people.
‘He makes his music for Puerto Rico’
That is why for the resident of Puerto Rico, Verónica González, “it means that everything has a star like Benito singing for us,” he told NBC News. “He makes his music for Puerto Rico, and thinks of us.”
The album and residence effectively lead fans to an emotional journey that fuses contemporary genres such as reggaeton and dembow with traditional rhythms such as bomb and full and the salsa music of the 70s.
Within a restaurant in the old San Juan, the Puerto Rican artist and painter Joabel Ortiz has shown an art exhibition dedicated to Bad Bunny and his last album.
Ortiz mixes traditional symbols of Puerto Rican culture such as “La Pava” with images of the superstar, highlighting the line that connects a current cultural phenomenon such as Bad Bunny with the roots of Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rican officials estimate that the Bad Bunny residence will have an economic impact of more than $ 186 million, generating more than 3,600 jobs and resulting in more than 35,000 hotel night reserves.
But for his fans, it is Bad Bunny’s approach in the people and the essence of what it is to be Puerto Rican what resonates the most.
“We received a new influence for the world,” Ortiz told NBC News. “That new influence is our culture, about the ideas we obtained on the island and how we do everything, how we talk, how we love, how we remember who we are.”
Daniel Rodríguez, José Díaz-Balart and Leslie Ignacio reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico and Nicole Acevedo in New York.
