In Living Colour: Bad Bunny

“Muchas me quieren desde que yo canto, pero yo soy tuyo, na’ más” 

(Lots of girls want me since I started singing, but I’m yours, nothing else)

It’s true. Since the first moment I heard Bad Bunny’s voice, I fell in love with him. I don’t know if it’s specifically his voice, the genre of his music, his style, or something the French call “je ne sais quoi”, but everything about Bad Bunny (whose real name is Benito) is…in a word: sexy. He’s a man with many sides to him. He’s comfortable enough in his sexuality— he regularly gets acrylic nails (once the color of a tennis ball with hair to match), wears skirts and dresses, and dresses like a girl to twerk on himself in his music video. He’s also the same guy that sings about all his favorite parts of a woman’s body and describes in detail all the ways he likes to have sex.

And it’s this image, the feminine side combined with the masculine side, this attitude he has, his freedom of expression— that make El Conejo Malo one of the most famous stars in Latin Trap and in the music world in general. With the launch of his most recent album “Yo hago lo que me da la gana” (I Do Whatever I Want), Bad Bunny has broken through the American music scene and is beginning to amass fans that don’t speak even a word of Spanish, and despite the language barrier, lots of people still want to hear him sing.

Standouts: Booty, Booty, Booty, Booty Rockin’ Everywhere

Emotion: twerking, masculinity, femininity, duality, more twerking

Lyric Translation: Borracha y loca, a ella no le importa. Vamo' a perrear, la vida es corta // She’s drunk and crazy, she doesn’t care. Let’s twerk, life is short.

Significance: It’s kind of unfair that Bad Bunny is hot as both a man and a woman, but some people are just that lucky. He’s taken the lyrics of the song literally and is twerking alone…on himself… and it works. You can see he doesn’t take himself too seriously and that’s what makes people love him more. Also for a guy that talks about twerking in almost every song, he seemed to really enjoy himself (check out the #safaerachallenge on insta). Notice as he stands center frame with a cherry red latex bodysuit on. He’s powerful yet sensual all at the same time. Bad Bunny aside, the song has a great message that some of y’all men need to hear: Girls are not trying to dance with you in the club and if they wanted to you would know.

Standouts: The One That Got Away

Emotion: mist, water, crying in the shower, young love

Lyric Translation: La soledad no me asusta, pero dormir solo no me gusta // Loneliness doesn’t scare me, but I don’t like to sleep alone

Significance: There’s the one relationship where all you want is to make it work, but for some reason, it can’t. You can’t be with them but you don’t want them with anyone else. They’re the person you drunk text, booty call, and won’t stop babbling about to your friends. You’ll probably never move on from them. Sech (a Panamanian singer with his own hits you should listen to) and Bad Bunny are singing their hearts out to the girl they’ll always love, but can’t be with anymore. These blue hues lend themselves to the melodrama of it all.

Standouts: Manic Music Video Dream Girl

Emotion: sun, beach, alcohol, sex, that scene on the beach in Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, lady in the streets, freak in the sheets sort of thing.

Lyric Translation: Ella e' callaíta', pero pa'l sexo e' atrevida, yo sé. Marihuana y bebida, gozándose la vida como es // She’s shy, but is daring with sex, I know. Marijuana and drinks, enjoying life how it is.

Significance: You know they say that quiet girls are the ones that you should watch out for. Well, Bad Bunny seems to have his eye on one. You know her. She’s the girl you see in the club that you briefly fall in love with and invent a whole story about in your head before you go approach her. Or she’s the girl on the beach in the cute bikini dancing around to music that you watch from afar. If this were a movie she’d be the girl next door, but since this is a music video , she’s the muse.

Standouts: The Blues

Emotion: violence, toxicity, survival, freedom, independence

Lyric Translation: No me vuelvas a decir bebé. Yo no soy tuya, ni di nadie. Yo soy solo de mí // I’m not going to keep saying it. I’m not your girl or anyone else’s. I’m my own.

Significance: In a tone different from his other songs, Bad Bunny tackles the issues of domestic violence and toxic relationships. He’s singing from the survivor’s perspective here, as represented by the woman in the video. As she stands there, resilient, while abuse is hurled at her, she reclaims her own power from the man and from the relationship. Again, we see Bad Bunny play with blues— adding some depth here with the darker blue and some contrast with the yellow text. The beat changes, the video transitions to a massive party, and Benito serenades this girl in her newfound freedom from the toxicity.

Standouts: Caribbean Family Function

Emotion: laid back, chill, party, is it a kick back or a hang out?

Lyric Translation: Dile que yo no soy cualquiera. Yo soy tu primero, tú eres mi primera // Tell them that I’m not “anyone”. I’m your number one, you’re my number one.

Significance: There’s alcohol, hookah, dominoes, lots of ladies, and Drake finally realizing his dream of being a papi chulo. Even though the song talks about Bad Bunny’s “one and only” (have you seen his gf, btw??? she’s gorg) there’s no actual video vixen. It’s just Benito showing Drake how to party Puerto Rican style and it looks like a lot of fun. The colors are warm and inviting without overpowering the star players. The kind of party you can bring your serious bf/gf to, take pics, and not post them on your socials…you know, because you’re not interested in having everyone in your business.