Bad Bunny

• 1. Introduction

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  Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio on the 10th of March 1994, grew up not in San Juan but in the Almirante Sur barrio of Vega Baja, a small area he described as "not a metropolis." That geographic detail matters. When he became the most-streamed artist on Spotify four times over, he carried a place most people couldn't find on a map to the center of global pop culture.

  At five years old, he received a record by Puerto Rican reggaeton pioneer Vico C as a Christmas gift. That early encounter with Spanish-language rap planted something that would, two decades later, produce the first all-Spanish album to top the US Billboard 200, the first Spanish-language album to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, and a Super Bowl halftime performance seen by an average of 128.2 million viewers.

  How a boy who sang in a church choir until age 13, bagged groceries at an Econo supermarket, and left university without a degree became the artist Billboard crowned the Greatest Pop Star of both 2022 and 2025 is a story about craft, identity, and a refusal to translate himself for anyone.

• 2. Vega Baja to SoundCloud

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  Martínez started writing his own music at the age of 14. He enrolled at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo after graduating high school in 2012, aiming to become a radio host. He worked part-time as a bagger and cashier at an Econo supermarket while uploading tracks online.

  DJ Luian found his song "Diles" on SoundCloud in 2016 and signed him to the Hear This Music label. His stage name came from a time he was forced to wear a bunny costume and hated it. He later decided the name "Bad Bunny" would "market well."

  His single "Soy Peor," released in December 2016, reached number 19 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. In May 2017, a collaboration with Colombian singer Karol G titled "Ahora Me Llama" reached number 10 on the same chart and was listed among the best Latin songs of 2017 by Alt.Latino. By November 2017, he was hosting Beats 1's first Spanish-language show, called Trap Kingz.

  The remix of "Te Boté" with Ozuna and Nicky Jam hit number one on the Hot Latin Songs chart. In July 2017, he signed a booking deal with Cardenas Marketing Network for several Latin American countries, a sign that his audience was already spreading well beyond Puerto Rico.

• 3. The Albums That Broke Records

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  X 100pre arrived on Christmas Eve 2018, released on the Rimas Entertainment label. It peaked at number 11 on the US Billboard 200 and received an average score of 84 on Metacritic based on five reviews. A critic at The Guardian praised Bad Bunny's "off-kilter creativity." By 2020, the album was voted 447th in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

  YHLQMDLG, whose title stands for "Yo Hago Lo Que Me Da La Gana," came out on the 29th of February 2020. Bad Bunny announced the album's release date on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, specifying that it would drop on that year's leap day. All 11 of its tracks charted simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100. It became Spotify's most-streamed album worldwide for 2020 and later won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop or Urban Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.

  El Último Tour Del Mundo followed later the same year, on the 27th of November 2020, and became the first all-Spanish language album to reach number one on the Billboard 200. Its lead single "Dakiti," recorded with Jhayco, topped the Billboard Global 200 and reached number five on the US Hot 100.

  Un Verano Sin Ti arrived on the 6th of May 2022 and stayed at number one on the Billboard 200 for thirteen non-consecutive weeks. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry named it the world's best-performing album of 2022, making Bad Bunny the first Latino to win an IFPI Global Chart Award. It also broke the Spotify record for most-streamed album of all time and became the first Spanish-language album nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

• 4. Debí Tirar Más Fotos and the Grammys

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  On the 5th of January 2025, Bad Bunny released his seventh album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, stating that it "recommits me to Puerto Rico." The album features collaborators representing a range of Puerto Rican musical styles and was preceded by the lead single "El Clúb," released on the 5th of December 2024.

  At the 68th Annual Grammy Awards on the 1st of February 2026, Bad Bunny opened his acceptance speech for Best Música Urbana Album by saying "Before I say thanks to God, I'm going to say: ICE out," drawing a standing ovation. He continued: "We're not savage, we're not animals, we're not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans." Later that same evening, he won Album of the Year, making Debí Tirar Más Fotos the first entirely Spanish-language album to win the award in the ceremony's history. He dedicated the prize to "all the immigrants that had left their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams."

  His career Grammy total reached six wins from sixteen nominations. The album also earned him the Grammy for Best Global Music Performance for the song "Eoo." On Spotify, Debí Tirar Más Fotos drove his 2025 total to 19.8 billion streams, the year it was named the most-streamed album globally on the platform. It was also the year Spotify named him the most-streamed artist globally for the fourth time, across 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2025.

• 5. Puerto Rico at the Center

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  After Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in September 2017, Bad Bunny publicly criticized the lack of humanitarian aid and later performed at the Somos Live! Telethon, a benefit concert for hurricane relief. During that set, he wore a shirt bearing the message "¿Eres Twitero o Presidente?" directed at then-President Donald Trump.

  On the 22nd of July 2019, he joined more than half a million Puerto Ricans in shutting down the Expreso Las Américas to demand the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rosselló amid the Telegramgate scandal. With Residente, he released "Afilando Los Cuchillos" during the demonstrations.

  In 2022, he released "El Apagón," accompanied by a documentary directed by Kacho Lopez Mari, featuring reporting by independent journalist Bianca Graulau. The video addressed the failures of LUMA Energy, Act 22 of 2012, gentrification in San Juan, and the privatization of Puerto Rican beaches and land.

  His seventh album directly reflected those commitments. After its release, he announced No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí, a 30-date residency at San Juan's José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum during July 2025 through September 2025, with the first nine dates reserved exclusively for Puerto Rico residents. The timing placed the residency during hurricane season, when tourism normally falls by 25% to 45% and lodging prices drop by as much as 50%. A Moody's Analytics estimate from the 1st of September projected the residency would draw around 600,000 attendees and produce a direct economic impact of $250 million.

• 6. Super Bowl LX and Immigration

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  On the 28th of September 2025, the NFL announced Bad Bunny as the headliner for the Super Bowl LX halftime show, making him the first solo Latino artist to hold that position. His statement released the same day read: "It's for those who came before me and ran countless yards so I could come in and score a touchdown... this is for my people, my culture, and our history."

  President Donald Trump publicly called the choice "absolutely ridiculous." Show producer Jay-Z and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell both supported it. The performance on the 8th of February 2026 was conducted primarily in Spanish, the first halftime show to be performed in majority Spanish. It averaged 128.2 million viewers, ranking as the fourth most-watched Super Bowl halftime show on record. Four of his songs from the set re-entered the Billboard Hot 100, including "DTMF," which returned to the top 10.

  The context around the performance was inseparable from immigration politics. Bad Bunny had excluded the continental United States from his 2025 world tour, citing concern that ICE could target fans at his concerts. He described accepting the Super Bowl invitation as a form of protest, saying he would "accept the invitation to perform at the Super Bowl as a form of protest against the system that simultaneously seeks to embrace Latin music while displacing the people of the culture."

  His Grammy speech in February 2026 came the week before the halftime show. It arrived amid nationwide protests following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis the month prior. Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, announced that the state would observe the 8th of February 2026 as Bad Bunny Day.

• 7. Identity, Style, and the Ring

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  Martínez described his own sexuality to the Los Angeles Times in 2020: "At the end of the day, I don't know if in 20 years I will like a man. One never knows in life. But at the moment I am heterosexual and I like women." In January 2019, he publicly criticized a homophobic social media post by Don Omar. During a February 2020 Tonight Show performance, he wore a shirt reading "They Killed Alexa. Not a Man in a Skirt," directing attention to the murder of transgender woman Alexa Negrón Luciano in Puerto Rico. Ricky Martin described him as "an icon for the Latin queer community."

  At the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, he kissed a male dancer during his performance of "Tití Me Preguntó" and received the GLAAD Vanguard Award from Martin at the 34th GLAAD Media Awards.

  His fashion choices have been equally deliberate. Writing in CNN, Vanessa Rosales described how "in pink, florals and short shorts, Bad Bunny champions a new masculinity." Since March 2021, he has worked with Adidas to redesign sneakers including the Campus, Forum, and Gazelle, incorporating what he called culturally infused elements. A Calvin Klein underwear campaign in March 2025 generated $8.4 million in media impact value within 48 hours, received more than 3.7 million Instagram and TikTok likes, and accumulated more than 56 million video views.

  Outside music, he entered professional wrestling. At the Royal Rumble on the 31st of January 2021, he performed his song "Booker T" live alongside the former wrestler. He later captured the WWE 24/7 Championship, holding it for 28 days, before making his in-ring debut at WrestleMania 37, where he and Damian Priest defeated The Miz and John Morrison in a tag team match. At the 2023 Backlash event in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he defeated Priest in a street fight, bringing that rivalry full circle in his hometown territory.