Bad Bunny Is Remaking Pop in His Own Wild Image

Born March 10, 1994, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio grew up in Vega Baja, a town on Puerto Rico’s North Coast. The son of a teacher and a truck driver, he shared his parents’ love for merengue and salsa as well as for the homegrown sounds of reggaeton. He went from singing in a church choir to posting his own beats and rhymes on a SoundCloud page, drawing interest from would-be collaborators and producers hoping to connect with the then–supermarket bagger. They included Noah Assad, who became his manager and — after persuading Benito to quit his day job — made him the marquee artist of his Rimas Entertainment imprint.

Mint.

Whether sporting acrylic nails on Instagram or performing “Yo Perreo Sola” in drag, Bad Bunny stands in contrast with the machismo of reggaeton and Latin trap. He has cited wrestlers as an influence: “They have long hair, they can paint their face, but they’re strong and powerful beings.”

Bad Bunny is an unabashed pro-wrestling fan. In 2017, he secured “the Nature Boy” Ric Flair to hype him up (and dance) in the music video for “Chambea,” then showed up backstage at WWE’s Monday Night Raw. He shouted out Eddie Guerrero on Cardi’s “I Like It” and recently got none other than Booker T to appear in the music video for the Último Tour del Mundo song named after the wrestling icon.

Bad Bunny became one of the most visible celebrities to join protests demanding then–Puerto Rico governor Ricardo Rosselló’s resignation in 2019. He has also used his performances to raise awareness for special causes — such as when he performed on The Tonight Show last year wearing a T-shirt decrying the murder of a transgender woman.

Many Latin artists make songs in English in an attempt to reach bigger audiences, but Bad Bunny’s position is clear: “[It’s not that] I’m not interested in recording in English,” he has said. “It’s just that I don’t feel it.” Singing and rapping in Spanish certainly hasn’t hurt him. After appearing in Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s Super Bowl Halftime Show last year, he quipped, “I don’t know who won; Latinos won the game.”

• The #AbuelaChallenge: His single “Safaera” found new life when TikTok users began making reaction videos in which they played the raunchy track for the Spanish-speaking seniors in their lives with predictably hilarious results. Bad Bunny tried it on his own mother, who wasn’t exactly thrilled with his bars about eating ass. “She knows my heart’s in the right place,” he said.

• “Hey, Siri, Can You Play the No. 1 Song in the World?”: When his recent track “Dakiti” topped the Apple Music charts, Bad Bunny made a video in which he asked his iPhone to verify that fact. Fans followed suit and shared the results on social media.

Fashion savvy with an adventurous streetwear sensibility, the man has never appeared in a bad pair of shades. Try and find one — you can’t. That sartorial excellence doesn’t come cheap; he once claimed that he “spent as much as on a new car on sunglasses” during a shopping trip.

Despite largely quarantining in 2020, Bad Bunny tested positive for COVID-19 in November. His symptoms were reportedly mild, though he appropriately canceled his scheduled American Music Awards performance.

Be forewarned: He tweets only in Spanish, and his flagrant disregard for punctuation will drive grammar purists mad. Still, tender lines translating to “sometimes I put on a seat belt just to feel something hold me” and “If I could, I would ask you to return all of the kisses I gave you” are some next-level feels. Truly emo on main.

• Nicki Minaj and Travis Scott on the remix of “Krippy Kush,” the first Latin trap song to reach “The Hot 100.”

• Enrique Iglesias on the salacious single “El Baño” and Ricky Martin on “Cántalo.”

• Nigerian singer Mr. Eazi on “Como Un Bebé,” bridging the distant rhythmic cousins of Afrobeat and reggaeton.

• Corridos Tumbados singer Natanael Cano on a new version of “Soy El Diablo.”

• Ivy Queen, “the First Lady of Reggaeton,” whom he featured on the remix of his “Yo Perreo Sola.”