Joy for the tireless detractors of reggaeton: the year starts with a new work by the current emperor of the genre, Bad Bunny. Time to use all the artillery of commonplaces: that he doesn’t know how to sing, that that’s not music, that’s rubbish, that, that, that… The Puerto Rican artist, furthermore, does not hide and includes in the bravo’s reggaeton album , dirty, with canonical rhythm and a lot of “chingal” and “bellacona”. So, prepare the disqualifications and broad-stroke jokes. Others, meanwhile, will enjoy this fabulous album with committed overtones that you can dance to, feel, cry and even feel the throbbing pride of the musicians who participate.
I should have taken more photos is the sixth work by Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (Puerto Rico, 30 years old), announced just ten days before its edition, which occurred on the evening of January 5, hours before Three Kings Day. It is worth warning about this circumstance, so unusual for pop stars, who prefer to communicate their releases well in advance. Benito opts for the surprise factor for an album where he returns to his homeland, Puerto Rico, almost more for personal healing than for a vindication of his roots abroad, which is also true. Elevated as the most listened to artist (note: singing in Spanish) in recent years, Benito has lived in New York or Los Angeles like the superstar that he is and with the consequent disconnection from what is happening out there and from the reality where he grew up. . It was time, therefore, to analyze how things are at home.
In the song titled Yes lays out the album’s intentions: “You’re listening to music from Puerto Rico, bastard. We grew up listening and singing this, in the hamlets, in the neighborhoods. From the 90s to 2000 forever.” He lies a little, because if the Latin artist has something, it is an intention to reinvent genres, to stretch the formula, to go further, to pump new life into styles that have existed for decades. The songs of I should have taken more photos They are a feast where the attentive fan will find original finds here and there, as well as surprises: when the simplest thing is to continue with an undoubtedly catchy chorus, a twist emerges that turns a sauce into an effervescent house.
There are several reggaeton songs on this album, but it offers much more: Fania period salsa, son, guaguancó, jíbaro music from rural areas of Puerto Rico, boleros, and also hip hop, trap or electronic. All woven together with a very extensive instrumentation, with trombones combining with synthesizers, computer programs mixed with congas, marimbas associating with rapper bases. A good part of the album is performed by young people from the Escuela Libre de Música de Puerto Rico, girls and boys who exude enthusiasm, a feeling that is perceived in an energetic, inspired work.
The journey that Bunny proposes begins in New York, where in the sixties and seventies Puerto Rican musicians came to earn a living selling their intoxicating Caribbean rhythms. Nuevayol, which is the name of the piece, includes a fragment of A summer in New York, seventies sauce cooked by Andy Montañez and El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico. From here a rhythmic and social revolution begins. He develops the artistic concept through the rhythms of his country, from the Puerto Rican plena at the end of the 19th century to the explosion of reggaeton in the nineties of the last century. Regarding the political aspect, Bunny avoids the pamphleteering and focuses on poetic and subtle denunciations. In Bokete, For example, he tells a story of heartbreak using the analogy of the holes, which undermine many roads and highways in Puerto Rico, a symbol of how broken Bad Bunny sees his country.
There are more explicit messages, as in What happened to Hawaii, one of the gems of the album. The artist warns that what could happen to Puerto Rico is what happened to Hawaii, which became one of the 50 states of the United States after cornering the native population (Puerto Rico enjoys a special situation: it exercises self-government with respect to the United States). , but in many ways it is accountable to a territory that has just elected Donald Trump president). The gringification. In this song, angry and sad verses emerge: “They want to take away the river and also the beach, they want my neighborhood and for grandma to leave. / Here no one wanted to leave, and whoever left dreams of returning. / That I don’t want them to do to you what happened to Hawaii.” Bad Bunny sings it with all the sorrow in the world and its message is universal: how economic elites are savagely snatching away the cultural identity of countries and cities. It will sound familiar to those who live in the center of Madrid, Barcelona, Las Palmas or Malaga.
What happened to Hawaii It is included in a sensational final part of the album. There they appear tourist, a ghostly bolero that also speaks of touristification; Coffee with Rum, full of humor, salsa (tremendous percussions), party, fun and hangover; either DTMF (initials of I should have taken more photos)beautiful, to the rhythm of son, and with a lyric in defense of the island’s identities and the assumption of maturity (“We are no longer for movie and the chains, we are for things that are worth it”), in addition to containing some verses that many will be able to subscribe to: “I should have taken more photos of when I had you, I should have given you more kisses and hugs the times I could.” Bad Bunny transmits in his voice an affliction that one is born with, and that exploits especially in this work, in addition to exhibiting a tasty repertoire of Puerto Rican slang that adapts perfectly to the musical genres he deals with. Others would call this flow.
Benito’s narcissism must not be small and he insists on recording long albums when polished they would be better. This contains 17 pieces and leaves after 62 minutes. Yes, there are three or four pieces left, like new perfume o Veldá, which he shares with compatriots (everything here breathes Puerto Rico) like Rainao, Omar Courtz and Dei V, and which seem more like songs from the collaborators than from the protagonist, who remains in the background.
They do not collaborate, but three Spanish artists are present. Two obviously: Rosalía, whom he names in a song (“I don’t waste time, I change them like Rosalía”: search in X and you will read several theories about the meaning); and Jarabe de Palo, since in Welltita sings: “And for a kiss from the skinny girl, I would give anything” (another point for you, Pau Donés, wherever you are). The third is C. Tangana, because several passages on the album are reminiscent of his album The Madrilenian, like the sound of keyboards and winds at the beginning of Unforgettable dance; the typical texture of Alizzz (producer of C. Tangana’s album) in Bokete, or the jaleous choruses in DTMT.
The album closes as it began, with salsa, and lyrics where he tells the story of his parents. “A round of applause for mommy and daddy, because they really broke up,” Bad Bunny recites. As much as the son…