Late to the Party: My Belated Love for Bad Bunny and Debí Tomar Más Fotos
I admit, I am very late at appreciating Bad Bunny. About 5 years too late. I’m also about 3 months late in offering my review of his new album, Debí Tomar Más Fotos, which was released this January 2025.
For those who don’t know, Bad Bunny (aka Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) is a Puerto Rican artist known for blending reggaetón, Latin trap, and emotional lyricism. He’s become one of the most influential global artists of the last decade—pushing boundaries in music, fashion, and culture.
Hearing about Bad Bunny several years ago, I just wasn’t interested in Reggaeton. It wasn’t the kind of music I liked, I’m old school. Raised on the classics from my parents’ generation. El Gran Combo, Juan Gabriel, Rocio Durcal, Jerry Rivera, Tono Rosario, Marc Anthony, Elvis Crespo, etc. So why was I going to listen to this booty grinding, club music. The only club I go to these days is Costco.
Yet, I happened to catch **Bad Bunny’s recent performance on NPR’s Tiny Desk**.
📺 [Watch it here] https://youtu.be/ouuPSxE1hK4?feature=shared
🎧 [Listen to the full album on Spotify] https://open.spotify.com/album/5diBZ3L7jv3Sx1w7ybKcyt
I loved it! I was shocked at how much I enjoyed it. His voice was soulful, his heartbreak was beautiful. It reminded me of those rhythms I had grown up with and my dad playing his **güiro**, listening to salsa from a big boom box. Way back, when salsa records had images of women in tiny bikinis and body parts.
It’s the mix of old and new—the fusion—that I really enjoy. The longing he invokes and the feeling of missing out. I think the album cover is also well done, just two empty plastic chairs in front of a palm tree. The title, *Debí Tomar Más Fotos* (*I should have taken more pictures*), is perfect. It relates so well to our current time.
It’s been a while since an album transported me through the past, present, and future. It leaves me with a feeling of the importance to enjoy, to capture these moments despite the hardships. There are photos we keep in our phone and there are ones we keep deep in our hearts.
Some of my favorites songs are:
**Perfumito Nuevo**,
**El Club**,
**Nuevayol**,
**KETU TeCre**—really the entire album is great.
I love that in his NPR performance Benito shares that his song *Lo Que Pasó en Hawaii* came to him in a dream. A kind of download, if you will—he had to wake up and write the whole song out before he could sleep again. Perhaps inspired by other forces to share with us all a powerful message.
The message is about **Puerto Rico** and **loss**. Loss of its people, loss of itself. Corruption. There’s a lot to heal. The risk of losing more. It’s sad, especially when you read about what’s happening there, the conditions people are coping with. An island still dealing with ongoing crisis.