The Harvard Gazette: "How Bad Bunny Rocketed to Global Stardom" with Professor Alejandro L. Madrid

The Harvard Gazette: How Bad Bunny Rocketed to Global Stardom

Professor Alejandro L. Madrid, Water W. Naumburg Professor of Music, sat down with with Liz Mineo, Harvard Staff Writer, and the Harvard Gazette to discuss Bad Bunny's rapid ascent to global stardom. In it Professor Madrid discusses the origin, evolution, and legacy of Puerto Rican musician Bad Bunny ahead of his highly anticipated Super Bowl LX Halftime Show performance.

Visit the Harvard Gazette website to read the full article.

Excerpt: 

How do you explain [Bad Bunny's] global success given the fact that he only sings in Spanish?

"Singing in Spanish would seem counterintuitive to become a global music star, right? How do we explain that? One of the main features of the neoliberal music market is that it thrives on difference. Take for example the very idea of world music. The industry is always on the lookout for the next exotic “other,” and Bad Bunny, the hypersexualized trap artist, was just that. It’s striking that he insists on singing in Spanish and using Puerto Rican slang that many people in Latin America don’t know, and it’s even more remarkable that fans all over the world embrace his music. I think the fact that he sings in Spanish also has to do with the larger context of Puerto Rican history. Some of the songs in his latest album dwell on the history of Puerto Rico as a U.S. colony, and he’s doing us a service because that history has been rendered invisible in the United States. There are still lots of people in this country that don’t know that Puerto Rico is part of the United States and that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens even though they speak Spanish."