“I’m not a trapper, nor a reggaetonero / I am the biggest star in the whole world,” Bad Bunny says in Spanish in ‘Nadie Sabe’, the cinematic opening track of his new album ‘Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va A Pasar Mañana’. He’s not wrong – the 29-year-old Puerto Rican superstar breaks streaming records on the regular and this weekend, he’ll host SNL for the first time; music stars don’t come much more global than Benito.
‘Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va A Pasar Mañana’ (which translates as ‘Nobody Knows What Is Going to Happen Tomorrow’) is his first LP since weathering a year of controversies, including tossing a fan’s phone and reportedly dating Kendall Jenner from the Kardashian clan. Pictured as a vaquero, or cowboy, on the album’s cover, Bad Bunny wrangles the chatter around him and unleashes his most personal album to date. He also returns to his Latin trap roots while exploring genres like jersey club, drill, and house music.
2022’s ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’ set the bar high and celebrated the music of the Caribbean like reggaeton and dembow. It’s currently the most-streamed LP in the history of Spotify. But instead of churning out more reggaeton hits, he embraces the genre that first put him on the map, Latin trap. There’s a chic touch to sound this time around with The Godfather star Al Pacino giving Bad Bunny his blessing in the lavish music video for ‘Monaco’. Bad Bunny makes a fine return to the trap form in the fiery ‘Fina’ alongside Young Miko and a sample of reggaeton pioneer Tego Calderón. He seemingly reveals that a tryst with Jenner took place at her sister Kylie’s house while brushing off the couple’s haters: “They wonder how we communicate / Maybe it’s best not to tell them,” he spits.
Bad Bunny has gone global and so have his references. The swaggering ‘Vou 787’ features a fierce sample of Madonna’s 1990 classic ‘Vogue.’ While shouting out 2 Pac’s ‘California Love’, he boasts, “If I were a woman, I’d be Madonna / I’d be Rihanna.” Bad Bunny is also feeling himself in the menacing ‘Mr. October’ where he compares himself to a moon-walking Michael Jackson: “Cabrón, I changed the game,” he says. Bad Bunny also pays homage to one of trap’s biggest artists, Future, with a sample of ‘Codeine Crazy’ in the dreamy ‘Seda’ alongside Puerto Rican rapper Bryant Myers.
At times, the trap on an album this long (its running time approaches an hour and a half) does get monotonous, but he shines brightest when he goes off the beaten path. He dabbles in drill music for the first time in the explosive ‘Thunder y Lighting’ with Latin rap phenom Eladio Carrión. While comparing themselves to the titular Puerto Rican tag-team duo, Bad Bunny appears to diss his past ‘Oasis’ collaborator, Colombian star J Balvin. “You guys have seen me with the same people while you all are friends with the whole world like Balvin,” he raps. Bad Bunny later teams up Colombia’s next rising star Feid in the alluring reggaeton romp ‘Perro Negro.’ Bad Bunny pushes Puerto Rican perreo into the future, blending reggaeton with elements of jersey club in the frenetic ‘Where She Goes’ and the hypnotic banger ‘Cybertruck’.
Bad Bunny salutes his homeland in the triumphant ‘Acho PR’ alongside the icons who gave him a hand when he was coming up, Arcángel, De La Ghetto, and Ñengo Flow. He transforms the classic ‘Chévere’ by Julio Voltio into a feel-good Boricua rap anthem. Through his sprawling and ambitious album, Bad Bunny spins the trappings of fame into Latin trap gold, and, as his album title promises, he continues to blaze his own trail with big carpe diem energy.
