Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican reggaeton artist, released a new album this week with a song that mentions Hawaii and calls for a different reality for the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.
The song is part of his new studio album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” which translates as “I Should Have Taken More Photos,” released Jan. 5, and explores nostalgia and identity. His new song “Lo que pasó a Hawaii,” or “What happened to Hawaii” in English, is part of that album.
“They want to take my river and my beach too,” sings Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, who uses the stage name Bad Bunny. “They want my neighborhood and for grandma to leave. No, don't let go of the flag nor forget the le lo lai [a style of traditional Puerto Rican music]. Cause I don't want them to do to you what they did to Hawaii.”
The album drops after Puerto Ricans took to the polls and voted symbolically for statehood, independence or independence with free association on Nov. 5, as previously reported by the Associated Press, with the majority voting for statehood. A change in status for the territory would require the approval of the U.S. Congress and the U.S. president.
The new album dropped to Bad Bunny’s Youtube Channel along with a short film, spanning almost 13 minutes, which features the Puerto Rican filmmaker Jacobo Morales and a toad named Concho, a nod to the sapo concho puertorriqueño, or the Puerto Rican crested toad, which is critically endangered and endemic to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
In the music video for “Lo que pasó a Hawaii,” the toad appears with the words “Puerto Rico Seguimo Aqui,” which translates to “Puerto Rico, we’re staying here.” The toad appears in a blue sweatshirt and red sweatpants with slippers, a camera around its neck and what appears to be a coffee cup in hand. This is accompanied by text in Spanish which describes how animals endemic to Puerto Rico are in danger of extinction. The text changes throughout the video, describing various animals impacted by climate change and disruptions to their natural habitat.
“Hawaii was colonized by the United States in 1898, the same year they invaded Puerto Rico,” reads some of the text, translated to English, close to the 1-minute mark of the music video. The text goes on to describe how companies setting up operations in Hawaii looked for laborers from Puerto Rico. It also mentions another amphibian, the coquí frog, which migrated from Puerto Rico to Hawaii, as well.
On Spotify, songs for the new album also feature an animated toad, which wears clothes and reads, takes photos and plays music beneath a Puerto Rican flag.
Bad Bunny had a net worth of $50 million in 2024, according to an article in Cosmopolitan. He was also Spotify’s most streamed artist globally in 2020, with 8.3 billion streams, as previously reported by Forbes. Bad Bunny’s Instagram account has 45.7 million followers, while his Youtube Channel has another 48.7 million followers.
Currently, Bad Bunny is among the top 20 artists in the world, according to his Spotify album. To listen to the full album, go to YouTube.
Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
