Camille Naredo

Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny performs onstage during the first show of his 30-date concert residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on July 11, 2025. Ricardo Arduengo, AFP/File

Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny performs onstage during the first show of his 30-date concert residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on July 11, 2025. (Photo by Ricardo ARDUENGO / AFP)

Article (news)

Bad Bunny

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1769834001782AFP__20250712__66KR8Y2__v1__MidRes__UsPuertoRicoEntertainmentMusicBadBunny.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny performs onstage during the first show of his 30-date concert residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on July 11, 2025. Ricardo Arduengo, AFP/File" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny performs onstage during the first show of his 30-date concert residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on July 11, 2025. <em>Ricardo Arduengo, AFP/File</em></span></span></span></div><p>NEW YORK -- Only 10 years ago, Bad Bunny worked bagging groceries -- a shocking contrast with the cosmic fame the artist now commands.</p><p>But his bestselling albums, last year&#x27;s monumental concert residency in Puerto Rico and an endless string of smashed records are somehow just the beginning.</p><p>On Sunday, the artist born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio could make Grammys history. Then a week later, he will take the world&#x27;s most visible stage as the Super Bowl&#x27;s halftime performer.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2025/9/29/latin-artist-bad-bunny-to-headline-super-bowl-half-time-show-1331">READ: Latin artist Bad Bunny to headline Super Bowl half-time show</a></div><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/showbiz/music/2026/1/30/kendrick-lamar-bad-bunny-lady-gaga-face-off-at-grammys-1029">READ: Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny, Lady Gaga face off at Grammys</a></div><p>Bad Bunny is in the running for six prizes at the Grammy Awards, including the night&#x27;s most prestigious Album of the Year gramophone.</p><p>His acclaimed &quot;Debi Tirar Mas Fotos&quot; is just the second Spanish-language record ever nominated for the most coveted Grammy -- the first was also his, when &quot;Un Verano Sin Ti&quot; was tipped in 2022.</p><p>A win would be historic.</p><p>But the nominations -- it&#x27;s the first time work in Spanish has been simultaneously recognized for best album, best record and best song -- are meaningful all the same, said Petra Rivera-Rideau, an American studies professor at Wellesley College whose research focuses on Latin music and racial politics.</p><p>Bad Bunny&#x27;s success is particularly poignant as President Donald Trump&#x27;s administration carries out a hardline immigration crackdown that in part targets Latinos.</p><p>&quot;We have ICE raids, we&#x27;re watching videos every day of people being profiled for speaking Spanish, whether or not they&#x27;re US citizens,&quot; Rivera-Rideau, co-author of &quot;P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance,&quot; told AFP.</p><p>&quot;The current political moment just kind of ups the ante of what is already a profoundly significant thing.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>- Inherently political -</strong></div><p>Bad Bunny, 31, grew up near Puerto Rico&#x27;s capital San Juan, honing his vocal skills in a church children&#x27;s choir before developing into a pre-teen who loved creating beats on his computer.</p><p>He went viral on the DIY platform SoundCloud -- and thus began his rapid ascent to the top of global music.</p><p>But even as his star rose, Bad Bunny remained firmly rooted in his heritage.</p><p>Both at the Grammys and the Super Bowl, his mere presence is &quot;deeply political,&quot; said Jorell Melendez-Badillo, a University of Wisconsin-Madison historian who collaborated with Bad Bunny on visual elements of the latest album.</p><p>The artist is a US citizen: Puerto Rico has been a Caribbean territory under US control since 1898.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/showbiz/celebrities/2025/9/12/bad-bunny-to-skip-us-in-world-tour-fears-immigration-raids-0611">READ: Bad Bunny to skip US in world tour, fears immigration raids</a></div><p>But, Melendez-Badillo says, he&#x27;s also a colonial subject -- a reality explored on &quot;Debi Tirar Mas Fotos,&quot; which features an ingenious melange of traditional sounds including salsa, bomba and plena, with infusions of reggaeton.</p><p>Bad Bunny&#x27;s commitment to singing in Spanish in a music industry that has historically marginalized Latino voices makes his mammoth success even more emblematic.</p><p>For Melendez-Badillo, language has become &quot;coded for the broader sort of racialized understandings of immigrants and immigration... this sort of nationalist idea of who gets to belong in the United States.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>- Multi-generational appeal -</strong></div><p>Since 2000, the Latin Recording Academy has celebrated Spanish- and Portuguese-language music at the Latin Grammys.</p><p>The Grammys also honor Latin music in specific categories.</p><p>Both are important for ensuring representation, but they have also enabled Recording Academy voters to ignore Latin music&#x27;s mainstream popularity.</p><p>This year, Latin Recording Academy voters are eligible to vote for the main Grammy winners as well, a bid to create a more globally representative pool.</p><p>That could make a significant difference for the likes of Bad Bunny -- but even then, Rivera-Rideau said, it&#x27;s complicated.</p><p>Much like Grammy voters long overlooked hip-hop, Latin Grammy voters have long sidelined the influence of reggaeton and Latin trap -- hugely popular genres Bad Bunny came up in.</p><p>But his latest album has found multi-generational appeal, and that could improve its chance, as it is &quot;more digestible&quot; to Grammy voters, Rivera-Rideau said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>- Super Bowl-bound -</strong></div><p>One week after the Grammys, Bad Bunny will reach yet another milestone as the headliner of the National Football League&#x27;s Super Bowl halftime show -- a booking that prompted hand-wringing especially from conservatives over the &quot;woke&quot; choice.</p><p>But the Super Bowl is among the world&#x27;s top broadcasts and its halftime presentation is for massive stars.</p><p>Clearly, Bad Bunny fits that bill.</p><p>&quot;The NFL wants to go global,&quot; Melendez-Badillo said, citing games held in Europe and Brazil. &quot;Benito sells tickets. Benito draws crowds.&quot;</p><p>And of course, Bad Bunny is hugely popular across the United States, which has among the largest Spanish-speaking populations globally -- so why wouldn&#x27;t he take part in one of the country&#x27;s cultural touchstones?</p><p>&quot;In that context, it&#x27;s just incredibly meaningful,&quot; Rivera-Rideau said.</p>

<p>Only 10 years ago, Bad Bunny worked bagging groceries -- a shocking contrast with the cosmic fame the artist now commands.</p>

Only 10 years ago, Bad Bunny worked bagging groceries -- a shocking contrast with the cosmic fame the artist now commands.

Bad Bunny set for historic one-two punch at Grammys, Super Bowl

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Bad Bunny set for historic one-two punch at Grammys, Super Bowl

Maggy Donaldson,

Agence France-Presse

Published January 31, 2026 12:40 PM PHT

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