NPR Music - Alt.Latino: It's a Bad Bunny summer in Puerto Rico: Ana recaps 2 of his shows

Episode Date: July 30, 2025

Global superstar Bad Bunny is hosting an unprecedented 30 concert residency in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Fans are calling it a defining cultural moment for the island. Anamaria Sayre attended two recent shows and shared her reflections.Music featured in this episode:• Bad Bunny, "Callaita" • Bad Bunny, "Baile Inolvidable" • Los Pleneros de la Cresta, "Los de la Isla"• Gilberto Santa Rosa,"La Agarro Bajando" • Bad Bunny, "Lo Que Le Paso A Hawaii" Audio for this episode of Alt.Latino was edited and mixed by Noah Caldwell. NPR Music's executive producer is Suraya Mohamed. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

From NPR Music, this is Alt Latino. I'm Felix Contreras. And I'm Anna Maria Sayer. Let the Chisemet begin. Okay, as we said last week, Anna is in Puerto Rico, in San Juan. My favorite place in the world. And she's there for a very, very special occasion. She went to take in two of the Bad Bunny concerts that are scheduled throughout all the way through September.

So that's what we're going to do this week. We're going to unpack your experience. Felix, this is the party of the summer. the party of the century, maybe, one could say. I'm sad you missed it, but next time you can come win. Yeah, summer's not over yet. Let's see what happens. So I was lucky enough I got invited as press to experience the shows designated for Puerto Ricans on the island here. It was amazing to experience the energy in that room of being in a show by someone from the island for the island to take that in, to understand the implications of that.

So Felix, I talked to a lot of people all this week, outside of the concert, in the concert, between concerts. And we're going to get into all of that. But I really just, to sum up, encapsulate the incredible energy and musical experience of what this show was, because it really was more than a show. It was like a guide to Puerto Rico in general in its history. I'm going to play you a sample of Bad Bunny's very famous song, Cayedita. You might recognize it. Now check out what it's

Straight on big band salsa rearrangement. Interesting. I personally never thought I would hear those lyrics over salsa rhythms. But that is really effectively to me what this show was again and again and again. It was turning on its head, everyone's perception of what Bad Bunny is, of what the island It was really designed to be a structure around Puerto Rican identity, Puerto Rican music, and using all of these things to create something powerful. Everyone I talked to, I expected to kind of hear mixed opinions about, oh, how do we feel about this residency? Almost every single person I talked to described it as a euphoria.

Just excitement, energy, a feeling of, wow, the fact that this man, who is a global superstar, is coming home. and giving us these shows, is giving us this opportunity to celebrate who we are in the coiceo is incredible. I sat down with a friend of mine, Erica Rodriguez. She's a photographer, a photojournalist on the island. She's also one of the burgeoning pleneras in the big revival planes scene. And when she told me, because I was surprised, she's not a bad bunny fan, but walking into El Coliseo de Puerto Rico, which is one of the most iconic, if not the most iconic venue on

a very musical island. Erica said she felt like it was something from her childhood. Felix, I want to play you a part of our conversation. The only way I can summarize it, it was like El di de la Puerto Ricanida on steroids. So in school here, we have one day a year. It's like official on the calendar, private and public schools. We have El Dia de la Puerto Ricoi Nida, so the day of, I don't know how to translate that, Puerto Ricanida, where we kind of like celebrate Puerto Rican identity and like when you're really young everybody has like this the same dress up of like la fada la flora de maga and a white shirt and the boys are in a pawa like it's kind of just like this iconic stereotypical way of representing the people from encampo and when you're a kid you

all we all have that photo the day of the Puerto Ricanida of hivarito hibarita and all of a sudden it's like you see this in a concert. I think the show really stunned me. I mean, I'm, I was a lot, with all what was set up with all the statement political, all those statements of identity. I do think that it's a show for Puerto Ricans. Like, it's not a show. I mean, people from outside, they can enjoy it, but there's a lot of context and symbology of history that it's intertwined in the show that if you're Puerto Rican and you understand. understand the context, you know what they're saying, you know what he's saying and how he's like

celebrating the culture and calling for defending the island and our ownership of our land and of an identity and like having that pride for being Puerto Rigen and what it means to stay here. Talk me through a little bit of what exactly you saw, like you saw everything outside and you're like, this is kind of weird. And then you walked in the door and you were like, it makes a little more sense. Like what was consistent about the flow of the show that was like, this is super Puerto Rican, this feels super for us? Like, what were some things that stood out to you? I think even from the very beginning of having the show starting with Ghatong and playing bomba and different rhythms of bomba and giving space to Afro-Porecan music and having such a humongous

stage, right? And not just like the space, but the fact that this is Bad Bunny, it's the biggest artist in the planet right now. And I don't know if somebody that's not from here that hasn't been exposed to that through their entire life, like, it's not the same experience. I think for a Puerto Rican, it's just like it's deep, like, this is who we are, this is what my life has been, and we're celebrating it here. So I think for me it was more than just a show. Like, it was not just a concert of like, oh, there's this musician or singer singing and playing. It's like, it's a whole statement And it's a whole also celebration, like for people, I think, of giving space to people to hanguil and hoader, and beber, and perrial, and y'uhral and y' salsa, like all of that in one. So that was Erica Rodriguez's initial impression of the show.

And Felix, I cannot emphasize to you enough how thoroughly Bad Bunny represented so many different parts of the island currently and historically. That was something that was also said to me again and again, that there's something for everyone. There was salsa, plena, bomba. And we have to remember that a lot of these sounds, all of them at a certain point, have been representative of marginalized communities on the island. I mean, salsa even in Puerto Rico was considered like music del barrio at one point. And now to be something that's being celebrated on this massive stage, same with plena and bomba, which is still played in a lot of the Afro-P Puerto Rican communities on the island today. also reggaeton that gets its equal part its equal celebration i think i was shocked as someone who

enjoys the music who enjoyed the album who saw it represented it really felt like there was no shortage of moments that were designed to keep alive and maintain a culture alive on the islands that represents all of the music you know some of these stood out to me what she said about the idea of there's one day a year where they can dress and celebrate praterican culture and I don't know the history, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that that seems like that was a way to keep the culture down, to keep it from spreading. You only have one day a year to do this to dress and recognize the rest of the time. Let's not talk about it. And have that contrast with this concert that is nothing but this massive celebration of what they were not able to express that makes the impact of this concert series or this series of shows,

even more profound, I think. Something that has always struck me about Puerto Rican identity, specifically this generation that Benito is a part of. It's like everything, the focus is at this stage now to reclaim that intense cultural expression. It's like they understand where they sit as a colony in relation to the mainland. And so every single choice and every single piece of art that they create or a thing that they say, the way that they operate. It's always like,

I'm from Puerto Rico. That's how I introduce myself. Like that is my number one identifying quality, virtue, whatever it might be, and they really sit with that. And so it felt like

Bad Bunny in many ways was consuming this, adopting this, and then sending it back to them. Like every single stage of the show, the first word that you hear, the actual words you hear spoken,

is, we're here, and everyone explodes. And then his first words are, we're in Casa, no me

I want to hear of here. And everyone explodes. It's like every single moment, every single

chance he has opportunity he has to establish that this is where they are and this is where they will stay.

The music is almost like an accent to the message, to the political message, to the movement, to the vision for his Puerto Rico.

And I spoke with a lot of young people in line who were all really excited about the show, some of them

long-time fans, some of them coming to the art more newly because of this album of this generation. And they echoed a lot of the sentiments that I heard him say in the actual show. One person I talked to in particular, her name is Erika Maria Rodriguez, shared that her only

hope for the show is to be with the people from her island who are there. But we're going to be with our people. Here, no matter where you're standing, where you're sitting, after you're looking for the other, and you're saying, that you're with people from here, She said that it doesn't She said that it doesn't matter Because, lamentably, you know Here's here to be here

Everyone who comes in, the world that's the front, the left, the people are the left, the people come to do. She said that it doesn't matter where you're coming from when you look to your side or around you that you know that you're with your people in the space

And I think that that's an energy that a lot of people felt I mean, I met an old lady in a walker outside who showed up not knowing the music, not knowing anything about it, but said, wanted to see where everyone was gathering. I wanted to see how my people were being represented, this person who is carrying us with pride, who's helping levant our self-esteem as an island.

And this is something that I think Bad Bunny takes very seriously in this position, right? He talked on stage about how what Puerto Rico does best is talent and heart. And I think that that's something that a lot of people really feel and really express deeply. They can feel the way that the island is shifting in its pride and its overall sentiment of like that woman said, its self-esteem is almost on the rise as a result of all the energy he's bringing into the island. Okay, we've been doing a lot of talking on a, let's hear a little bit of music. What should be here? I think it's about time to play Baile Enolvidable, because we've talked about the salsa,

we've talked about the old style of the record. This one, I never, I never cannot dance to it. We're going to dance our way into a break. We'll be right back with some more conversation about the Bad Bunny residency in Puerto Rico. Stand by. Okay, Felix, we're back from break. No kidding. Nice segue.

Thanks. Segways are an art for you, Felix. For me, is just getting the job done. Carry on. And I, just to emphasize, because obviously this is a three-hour show, Felix. Like a marathon of the show, I don't know how this man. is doing three nights of this every single week. I was exhausted from going to two nights in a weekend, and obviously I just, I did lose my voice, I will say, to my credit, and I danced a lot.

But to give you a sense of just how much of a swath of sounds that he included, I want to walk you through a couple of the guests that I got to see while it was there, because every night he brings about four guests. And so it's more than just, right, doing the visuals or shouting out different artists, which he does as well. But it's really like literally, using musicians and giving them the space to actually have their own performances. So what he'll do is he'll bring a guest on, he'll do a song with them, and then he'll let them have their space to kind of fly and do their own things. The first artist that he brought that he brings every single show is Los Pleneros de la Cresa,

and they have a whole actual plenero interlude there. They do like a couple songs. So I want to play you a little bit of Los Pleneros de la Cresda. Their song, Los de la Isla. A professor me asked That's where I wivia That's where I'm go y'all? I said, I'm go desiales

And as come that's what we know Who's more comes to the gila To the other questions But they're they're in Kawa The Wainnauiwai Yama Ando, Of Torrey and the Kubei And no contested

Even just the doing on the island is amazing on the casita, because he moves back and forth between the stage and La Casita in the show. When he moves back to the stage, he breaks into a whole big band salsa moment, like what you heard, Cuyatita. And you know, that's something that Bad Bunny has done, throughout his career. I remember seeing him on television. I think maybe it was the Latin Grammys where he brought out folkloric groups amidst this high-profile, very mainstream moment. What's the value of that and him doing that in this instance? You know, a lot of people,

Felix, are talking about the economic value of this residency, which certainly there is one, I mentioned this before I went, over $300 million, supposedly projected to be infused into the economy. and that's really important, of course, for the growth of the island. But I think, first and foremost, what he's doing here is really building social capital. And that's something that we've seen with the people that he's inviting to La Casita, people that are famous from the mainland, from different parts of Latin America. He's also celebrating a lot of people in Puerto Rico, inviting a lot of famous athletes and musicians and artists to be participants. What all of this does to me is effectively create a youth empowerment, which is really important. When you're looking at an island where people can't afford to stay, where people are leaving, where people are spending a lot of time on the mainland, and he's calling out to everyone and saying, no, Puerto Rico is where you want to be. And also, it's powerful culturally and can be economically. I think that that's a really important turning point for the island to be having. I talked to some people outside who kind of shared that sentiment. They said that he's been doing this for a while now, right? Like making them feel like there is social power to being Puerto Rican and that the youth do feel empowered.

I spoke with Erica Maria Rodriguez about this, and she shared the sentiment that she's felt this accumulation of social power for the past few years as a result of what Bad Bunny's been doing, that the youth do feel empowered right now. Felix, they were not just young people. You would have loved this. The amount of Yejitas I saw outside was absolutely ridiculous, like fully in their attire, ready to perrear. But showing up with generations of families, right? Like I talked to a few grandmas who were there with their daughters, with their sons, with their grandkids.

And they said that really they were only there to be with family, that this was considered a family event. And moreover, that they felt that. Puerto Rico needed someone like Bad Bunny. They talked about how this generation, they experienced Maria, they've lived through all these Apagones, and that they needed someone who could unite them, who could speak directly to the people.

And I think that there's a real value to that, right? That's beyond just, oh, the economic growth. It's young people seeing this and maybe feeling differently about where they're from, coming home, staying, voting differently. These are real concrete changes that could come from an experience like this, but it wasn't like they were just going to Perread

because Felix there was something for them too. My first night there, he brought out the salsa legend of all legends, Hilberto Santa Rosa and Hilberto sang La Agarro Bajando. A topic for another A topic for another show, and not for this show right now. But just like tracing the development of the bass, the role of the bass in straight-ahead salsa,

to me is fascinating. That dude was playing as melodically as Paul McCartney. It's amazing. file that away for an idea for a future show because it's incredible. Go ahead. I'm sorry. Felix, you're going to die when you see the show.

I'm dead serious. Because really it is like the big band salsa experience. The musicians are insane. I can imagine. I mean, because that's... That's Puerto Rico. Growing up from my generation, okay, mid-60s,

Puerto Rico was one of the centers of salsa, where the development of salsa came from, right? along with New York, more so than Cuba, actually, because of the politics. But yeah, Puerto Rico, to me, has always been identified with this ground zero for a lot of salsa, both Puerto Rico and in New York. It is, Felix, but there is, again, this really important shift. I have a friend Rafael Cancel Vasquez, and he happens to be the son of Rafael Cancel Miranda,

who was one of the four people who invaded the U.S. Capitol in 1954 as a statement for Puerto Rican independence. Now, Rafa, obviously, very interesting person with a lot to say, but one of the really important things he's doing right now on the island is he's established this salsa event called Camio Enclave. And it's a place where people can collectively come and dance salsa together, specifically young people. He actually describes it as the tinder of the island. The point of all of this is that before Bad Bunny came and did his residency, Rafa was effectively in residency with salsa in this event. And what he said to me is that it's so important to continually emphasize the fact that for him, Salislev was not considered high class or high society music. It's something that you heard and knew about, but that was in like grocery stores and irrelevant, not very exciting places. But with a lot of the energy that's happening all at the same time as Bad Bunny's doing his residency, people are reclaiming all parts of Puerto Rican identity and seeing all parts of the identity as powerful.

It's really interesting, honestly. And he said, of course, he's seen a huge uptick and explosion since the album came out and expects to see even more as people come in for the residency. But he's hoping that with a lot of this infusion of energy that people will continue to have a cultural pride that translates into real change for the island. Considering how dynamic the cultural life of the island is right now, are there other people doing something similar working? to use culture as an agent of change? So this is one of the things, Felix, that to me is the most exciting. Because all eyes are on the residency right now. But I mentioned Los Pleneros de la Cresta earlier,

that they're obviously this Plena band that has been around for a bit. I've talked about them on the show before. They started at Universia de Puerto Rico, Ria Pieroa, specifically with the idea that they were going to create a group to keep Plena alive. Now, what they're doing, and I talked to them after the show, in this moment, is taking advantage. of all the energy, all of the heat on the island. And they actually have created this really interesting thing.

It's called a Ruta, basically, where they're bringing people to their hometown. And using it as a moment, not only obviously to generate tourism dollars, but to educate people, to educate tourists, they said both people from around the island and people from abroad, on what is all parts of Puerto Rican culture. They're taking them to different stops along the way and giving them effectively like a little bit of a history lesson in what El Campo is, the music that comes from it. They're doing different workshops that are like Plano workshops and coffee workshops and all of the money from this is actually going to help renovate a cultural institute in their hometown. And to me, this is very, very,

very much representative of the power of how people use music on the island. They're basically stepping in as musicians to serve as their own politicians, their own government to, to raise money for cultural institutions, to educate people on what it is to be Puerto Rican. And they told me that their hope is that within all of this, if they can establish this kind of a program, then the government can see that and actually step in and support their programming and give them money and give them funding, make this a year-round experience. So that, to me, is what I can see being the reverberations of this residency, right? is not just obviously a lifting up of all of the island economically,

but really kind of tapping the government to step in and take advantage of some of the ways that, as they described it, Bad Bunny is putting fuel on the fire. Okay, Anna, you mentioned that there were some nights we just talked for hours and hours about the stuff. Obviously, we could keep on going, but we can't talk for hours and hours at the moment. But before we wrap up, talk a little bit about what you think this means

for Latin America in general, this kind of cultural event, this kind of movement, this kind of recognition of homegrown culture and pride. So, Felix, I kind of had this lightball moment outside of El Choli as I was talking to people. I kept bringing up this idea of,

oh, but are people afraid that he's bringing tourists on the island? And everyone's like, no, as long as they're responsible tourists, it's fine. And to me, I think what I had imagined is a lot of people coming from the U.S., kind of taking advantage of the moment, paying a lot of money, and seeing maybe some not as good changes on the island. But what I realized as I was sitting outside is I was like, no, this is a really

important moment for Latin America. To see an artist like this occupying his home space, taking it back, I think we will see a lot of people coming from all parts of both continents to see this concert. And what really struck me, obviously I've talked about how much I think that this album means for Latin America in its entirety. I think everyone can understand right now, no matter what part you're from, that fear of your home changing and losing where you're from. And I took my friend Maria Corina Ramirez,

who is Venezuelan to the show. This was the hardest decision I've ever made in my life. Felix, you know I told you trying to pick one person was like, I don't know how I did it. I think all my other friends probably hate me now. But the point is Maria Corina, she's Venezuelana. She had to move when she was eight years old. And as we were sitting outside, she talked about what this album meant for her mom,

that her mom cries every single time she hears, What Whate de facto de facto to go to the residency, actually two weeks before we did. And Maria Corina described to me what it's like to watch her mom listen to this song. Given that Lo Kea Whatkele Pazzoa is a song about not losing your home. What literally I saw her start sobbing when the song said, If a day me to caoara, like, because we had to leave. And we knew what that was like, you know. And so I think that's also the impact that goes beyond Puerto Rico.

It's like everyone who's had to leave Latin America hears that, and it's automatically like, I know what that is, you know. I know what the heartbreak is. And I also know what it's like to really love the joy and the spirit of who Latin America is and have to also suffer the way that we suffer. Pirate. The nubes are more

closer with God can't be able to hear the hivarro year's another

more that she's marcho I don't want to go but the corrupt

was done and no says when when they want

to want to keep me and the play

and the Lots to take in, as we said, this is going to run all summer. I'm sure there are going to be things that happen during the course of the show that we'll want to mention on the show. So we'll keep an eye on this whole thing that's happening throughout the summer. And maybe we'll be back, Felix. Maybe, let's see. Wink, wink, wink. Anna, thanks so much for your first-hand report on this.

I mean, no thanks necessary, Felix. This was the highlight of my life. Wow. You should have led with that. When is it, honestly. You should have said at the beginning of the show. You have been listening to Alt Latino from NPR Music. Our audio editor is Noah Caldwell.

Serraio Mohammed is the executive producer of NPR Music. I'm Felix Contreras. And I'm Anna Maria Sayre. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week.