Bad Bunny Reminds Us: The Only Thing More Powerful Than Hate is Love

Victoria Cantalapiedra Mateo

‘Mientras uno está vivo, uno debe amar lo más que pueda.’ ("While one is alive, one must love as much as one can") (“BAILE INoLVIDABLE”)

Bad bunny’s parting words echoed across Sydney’s Engie Stadium as 90,000 fans gathered across two sold-out nights for his long-awaited Australian debut. Tickets vanished almost instantly, setting audience records and marking the first time a Latin artist has sold out a stadium in Australia. 

Crowds of all ages and nationalities—from those who had been loyal since his trap beginnings in 2016, to those who had been enticed by his Super Bowl performance at the start of the month—boarded buses, planes, and trains to see Spotify’s Global Top Artist. Sydney marked just the fifth stop on the originally 23-date Debi Tirar Más Fotos World Tour—his first-ever world tour—which has since expanded to more than 45 shows across four continents. 

De Puerto Rico, para el mundo entero. (From Puerto Rico, to the entire world)

“Benito, hijo de Benito, le decían "Tito"El mayor de seis trabajando desde chamaquitoGuiando camiones como el pa y el abueloAunque su sueño siempre fue ser ingeniero”  (“LA MuDANZA”) ("Benito, son of Benito, he was known as Tito, The oldest of 6 working since he was a child Guiding trucks like his father and grandfather before himAlthough he had always dreamt of becoming an engineer.")

In “LA MuDANZA”, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (aka Bad Bunny) traces his family’s working-class roots in Puerto Rico, honouring their sacrifices that shaped his upbringing in the country that raised him. His homeland has long been central to his music, but it reaches its peak in his latest Grammy winning album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, the first ever Spanish-language record to win Album of the Year. 

The album plays like an extended love letter to Puerto Rico, blending traditional genres like plena, bomba, and salsa with his signature reggaeton and trap. Across its 17 tracks, Bad Bunny sings, raps, and dances alongside national musicians, who all come together to pay tribute to their long-suffering homeland and celebrate its culture and history.  

While many listeners may not be familiar with Puerto Rico’s place as an “unincorporated territory” of the United States, they know Bad Bunny—the 31-year-old global star whose name stems from a childhood photo of him dressed, and visibly unimpressed, in a bunny costume.

What began as a memorable username on SoundCloud and Twitter (now X) quickly became a brand. In 2016, his breakout single “Diles” secured him a deal with Hear This Music, launching a career that would redefine Latin music’s global presence.

Since then, Bad Bunny has released seven solo albums and one collaborative project with Colombian artist J Balvin. A total of 113 of his singles have entered the Billboard Hot 100, with 29 songs superpassing one billion streams on Spotify. Following his Super Bowl performance, his Spotify streams surged by around 470% in the U.S. This boost also benefitted other Spanish-language artists, including featured halftime performer Ricky Martin (+145%), and even prompted improvements to lyric translation features on the platform.  

This wasn’t always the case. I can vividly remember laughing at the boys in my Year 10 class who proudly proclaimed themselves “Los Conejos” (The Bunnies; the collective term for followers of Bad Bunny) and hopped into lessons quoting his early trap lyrics. A “trap house” is slang for a ramshackle residence where drugs are illegally bought and sold, a term that originated in Atlanta, Georgia. These environments inspire trap music, a subgenre of Southern hip-hop that often centers on themes of violence and sexuality. In Spanish, these themes remain largely the same, and the songs are frequently labelled vulgar or crass. 

I’ll admit that I didn’t see his appeal at first. That changed in 2020, when I was a fresher at university and one of the girls I really wanted to be friends with wouldn’t stop talking about him. Naturally, I did what anyone would do and immediately started listening to his music, just so I’d have something to talk about with her. Somewhere between our Bad Bunny-fuelled “study” sessions and our official flat going-out playlist, I began to understand the hype.

Around this time, Latin music was steadily gaining global traction. It arguably began with Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” in 2017, which later featured Justin Bieber as its streams skyrocketed internationally. Bad Bunny, meanwhile, was transitioning from the “King of Latin Trap” into the reggaeton scene. Reggaeton itself originated in Panama during the construction of the Panama Canal, when migrant workers from the West Indies adapted their musical traditions into “reggae en Español.”  (Reggae in Spanish) This sound fused with Jamaican dancehall, Puerto Rican underground music, and U.S.hip-hop to create what we now know as reggaeton. Its signature “dem bow” (Twerking) beat and suggestive lyrics also gave rise to “perreo”, a sexually charged dance style that emerged in San Juan’s infamous nightclub The Noise. 

Today, reggaeton has softened considerably from its misogynistic and homophobic roots, as more and more women have center stage. Artists like Karol G, Shakira, and Natti Natasha have shifted the narrative from male objectification to female empowerment. “Perrear” (The act of dancing perreo) is no longer an expectation, but a skilled expression of sexual autonomy. Bad Bunny himself has consistently shown his support for women, feminism, and the queer and trans community. Despite operating within a typically hypermasculine music industry, he challenges gender norms by wearing make-up, nail polish, skirts and dresses—most notably during his 2020 Tonight Show Performance, where he wore a skirt to honour the trans woman Alexa Negrón Luciano who was murdered in Puerto Rico. In the music video for “Yo Perreo Sola” (I Twerk Alone), which promotes consent and a women’s right to dance without harassment, he appears in full drag as part of his ongoing advocacy for gender inclusivity. 

At the end of the day, Bad Bunny’s music brings people together. I was lucky enough to experience this cross-cultural phenomenon first-hand in Sydney, dancing alongside thousands of others who had been moved by his songs, whether they understood the language or not. Aside from a few English-language collaborations, Benito performs almost exclusively in his native tongue—specifically Puerto Rican Spanish, which has historically been looked down upon by other Spanish speakers. Unlike many Latin artists who switch to English to reach wider audiences, Bad Bunny has never released a fully English-language song.

Some of his most powerful and politically charged tracks, such as “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii,” addresses issues like gentrification and cultural erasure. He draws parallels between the forced displacement of Native Hawaiians under U.S. colonisation and his fears for Puerto Rico’s future. Across the Americas, many listeners will recognise these anxieties, and hearing the artist both celebrate and mourn his homeland is bound to strike a chord. 

We may also have reached a point where anyone willing to publicly denounce global injustices while spreading joy is quickly exalted. Is that such a bad thing? You don’t need to understand the words to be captivated by Bad Bunny’s enthusiasm or feel the rhythms of his music. As Benito and his band tour the world, he carries his message of love and unity—delivered entirely in Spanish—to millions of fans. 

In the final song of his show, “DtMF,” he reminded us to embrace the people we love and live in the moment—because once they’re gone and moved on, you’ll only be left wishing you had taken more photos. A picture does speak a thousand words after all—no matter the language. 

“Debí tirar más f-Gente, los quiero con cojone, los amoGracias por estar aquí, de verdadPara mí es bien importante que estén aquíCada uno de ustedes significa mucho para míAsí que vamo pa la foto, vengan p'acáMétase to el mundo, to el corillo, vamoZumba” (DtMF) (Debí Tirar Más Fotos – I should’ve take more pictures, I should’ve taken more f-, People I love you so much, I adore you, thank you for being here, truly it’s so important for me that you all are here each and every one of you means so much to me so come on let’s take a picture, come over here. Everybody get in, the whole crew come on Zumba."