In “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” (“I Should Have Taken More Photos”), Bad Bunny’s sixth studio album, he intertwines expressions of love for his homeland with the mourning of a past relationship. Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, released an album in the dead of winter that had a summer-like feeling, helping us cope with the winter blues by marrying genres like salsa, reggaeton, dembow and plena.
Bad Bunny’s leadoff song “NUEVAYol” pays homage to his roots in New York City, by sampling the classic salsa “Un Verano en Nueva York” before the beat drops and he transitions to dembow. He name-drops the Bronx and Washington Heights and mentions the Mets, the Yankees and Juan Soto, which are all staples to the Hispanic community in the Big Apple.
For the next three songs, Bad Bunny collaborates with Puerto Rican artists RaiNao, Chuwi, Omar Courtz and Dei V. These artists contribute to the theme of joy while clubbing with friends, having casual sex and so on. Although these songs are beautiful works across a variety of genres, they are, in reality, a façade distracting from heartache. For example, in “EL CLúB,” Bad Bunny thinks about his ex. With high-tempo techno music playing, he sings, “What the hell could she be doing? / Is she out partying? Is she sleeping? / Is she smoking? Is she drinking?” But the emotions Bad Bunny feels about his breakup do not end there.
He throws a changeup with “TURiSTA,” a love ballad with gentle guitar chords in the background. Bad Bunny compares his recent lover to a visitor to Puerto Rico, as neither is aware enough to know the lasting damage they leave behind when they leave the home of the native inhabitants – there for the best but not willing to stick around for the worst.
While “CAFé CON RON” is a fun and upbeat Afro-Rican song and merengue palate-cleanser, it could seldom prepare someone for the heavy theme in “LO QUE LA PASÓ A HAWAii.” In this activist-like song, he paints an image of how Puerto Rico suffers at the hands of colonialism: gentrification forces locals to move and pollution of the island’s natural resources hurts the local economy. The sad melody under it is a reminder to his people. He sang, “No, don’t let go of the flag or forget the lelolai / ‘Cause I don’t want them to do to you what happened to Hawaii,” in reference to the opposition to making Puerto Rico the 51st state.
Lastly, in the title track of the album, “DtMF,” Bad Bunny pulls every heartstring. He sings of how he wishes he appreciated what he had when he had it, as he sang in the chorus, “I should have taken more pictures when I had you / I should’ve given you more kisses and hugs whenever I could.” While it’s bittersweet and reflective, he closed with, “I hope my people never move away / and if I get drunk today, I hope they help me out,” showing that while he is going through a tough time, he knows his people have his back.
He concluded by rapping about his intense pride for Puerto Rico by singing, “Here, people were killed for raising the flag / That’s why I carry it,” and concluding his outro with “No one’ll kick me out of here, I’m not going anywhere / Tell them this is my home where my grandfather was born.”
In total, Bad Bunny showcases the full depth of what weighs on his heart and soul: his commitment to his culture and his caveated feelings for past lovers, all under different sounds he’s grown up calling home.
