Bad Bunny: Chart-Rising Latin Artist
From the start of Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina”, released in 2005, to the most recent hit in “Despacito”, Latin music has become popular in the music mainstream, mainly Reggaeton. Reggaeton, known as Latin trap, has become one of the most mainstreamed music genres today, with skyrocketing Youtube views, Billboard chart placements, and global concert sales. Currently, Bad Bunny holds as one of few artists for the most chart-topping hits in the music mainstream today.
Bad Bunny aka Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio was born in 1994 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He began singing at the age of five and always took it seriously, with his big inspirations being Hector Lavoe, Vico C, Daddy Yankee, and Marc Anthony. He studied audiovisual communication at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo and worked in a grocery store as a bagger while making his own music by night, posting it to Soundcloud. Bad Bunny signed to the “Hear This Music'' label in 2016 after DJ Luian found one of his songs “Diles” interesting.
“Soy Peor”, issued in December of 2016, became one of Bad Bunny’s breakthrough singles, peaking at #22 on the Hot Latin Songs chart and its video pulling in more than 650 million views. In early 2017, he kicked off an especially prolific run with singles “Pa Ti”, “Loco Pero Millonario”, and “Dime Si Vas a Volver,” amid numerous collaborative tracks with Poeta Callejoro, Farruko, Brytiago, Almighty, and others.
In late 2017, Bad Bunny, along with J Balvin and Prince Royce, scored with the collaboration “Sensualidad” and again in 2018 with the solo track “Amorfoda”, alongside another collaboration with J Balvin and American Rapper Cardi B on her single “I Like It”, which topped Billboard’s Hot 100 in the summer of that year.
In late 2018, Bad Bunny issued his debut album, “x100pre”, which hit number one on the Latin albums chart within a week of release and peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Top 200 Album in January of the following year. The songs ranged from the pop-punk of “Tenemos Que Hablar” to the reggaeton ballads of “Solo de Mi” and “Si Estuviesemos Juntos”, to the tense hip-hop of “Caro”.
In June 2019, Oasis, the long-teased full-length collaboration between Bad Bunny and J Balvin, released, peaking at number nine in the Billboard Top 200 album. At that year’s Latin Grammys, Bad Bunny took home the award for “x100pre” as Best Urban Album. He surprised more fans with the unexpected release of his second full length album “YHLQMDLG” (“Yo hago lo que me de la gana: I do whatever I want”) at the end of the February of this year. This album contained a set collaboration with Daddy Yankee, Yaviah, Nengo Flow, Anuel AA, and Jowell y Randy, entering the Billboard Top 200 at number two and becoming the highest debut appearance of an album by a Latin artist.
It’s no doubt that Bad Bunny will become one of the biggest artists in world if he continues to appeal to his widespread fanbase with his melds of Latin soul, pop, and R&B, hard-hitting trap beats, and reggaeton, providing a slippery delivery that revels in allowing emotions to color in his songs.
