Bad Bunny
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (born March 10, 1994), known professionally as Bad Bunny, is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, and record producer.[5] He is known as the "King of Latin Trap".[3][6] Bad Bunny is the first non-English-language act to become Spotify's most streamed artist of the year (he led Spotify's list from 2020 to 2022).[7] He holds the second-biggest streaming year of any artist in Spotify history, generating over 18.5 billion streams in 2022.[8][9] As of December 2023, his album Un Verano Sin Ti is the most streamed album on Spotify with over 14 billion streams.
For the computer softwares, see Badbunny and Bad Rabbit.
Bad Bunny
Bad Bunny was born and raised in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. His 2016 song "Diles" led to a recording contract with Hear This Music, and he went on to release songs such as "Soy Peor" and collaborate with Farruko, Karol G, Ozuna, and J Balvin.[3] His 2018 single "Mia" (featuring Drake) and appearing on Cardi B's single "I Like It" alongside J Balvin, topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.[10] Bad Bunny's debut studio album, X 100pre (2018), peaked at number 11 on the U.S. Billboard 200,[11] while his collaborative album with J Balvin, Oasis (2019), reached the top-ten.[12] His second solo album, YHLQMDLG (2020), became the highest-charting all-Spanish album to appear on the Billboard 200 at the time.[13] It was followed up with the compilation album Las que no iban a salir (2020).[14]
El Último Tour Del Mundo (2020), Bad Bunny's third solo album, became the first all-Spanish language album to top the Billboard 200.[15] Its lead single, "Dákiti", reached the top-ten of the Hot 100. His fourth solo album, Un Verano Sin Ti (2022), spent 13 weeks atop the Billboard 200 and spawned various commercially successful singles.[16] It is the first Spanish-language album to be nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.[17] Throughout his career, Bad Bunny has earned three Grammy Awards, four Latin Grammy Awards, eight Billboard Music Awards, and thirteen Lo Nuestro Awards. He was crowned Artist of the Year by Apple Music in 2022.[18]
Outside of music, Bad Bunny performs in professional wrestling. He began making appearances on WWE programming in 2021 and made his in-ring debut at WrestleMania 37. He is a one-time WWE 24/7 Champion and has wrestled at the 2022 Royal Rumble and the 2023 Backlash pay-per-view events.
Early life
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio was born on March 10, 1994, in the Almirante Sur barrio of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, and raised there.[1][2][3] His father, Tito Martínez, was a truck driver, and his mother, Lysaurie Ocasio, is a retired schoolteacher.[19][20] His parents had often listened to genres such as salsa, merengue, and pop ballads.[1][21][22][3] He has two younger brothers, Bernie and Bysael.[20] He has said, "I wasn't the kid who got involved in the streets. I liked to be at home with my family."[23]
As a child, he attended church weekly with his devoutly Catholic mother and sang in the church choir until age 13. After leaving the choir, he developed an interest in the artists he heard on the radio, particularly Daddy Yankee and Héctor Lavoe.[20] His stage name originally came from a time in which he was forced to wear a bunny costume and was angry about it.[21]
Speaking about the Puerto Rican music industry, he stated, "I'm from Vega Baja, a small area that's not a metropolis like San Juan where the majority of the genre's artists have come from."[24]
Music career
2013–2017: Early career beginnings
He started to write and create his own interpretations at the age of 14,[25] until, in 2013, he began to publish his songs through SoundCloud, including "Get" in 2013, "Tentación" in 2014, "Just let me know" in 2015, among others.[26] In 2016, his song "Diles" caught the attention of DJ Luian from SoundCloud who signed him to his record label, Hear this Music.[5][27][28][29][30] His single "Soy Peor" reached number 19 on the Hot Latin Songs chart.[31] Bad Bunny's May 2017 collaboration with Karol G, "Ahora Me Llama", reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart.[32][33] It was listed on "Alt.Latino's Favorites: The Songs Of 2017" as one of the best Latin songs of 2017.[33]
In the summer of 2017, Bad Bunny signed a booking deal with Cardenas Marketing Network (CMN) for several Latin American countries.[34] Starting in November 2017, Bad Bunny hosted Beats 1's first Spanish-language show, Trap Kingz.[35][36] The remix of "Te Boté" with Ozuna and Nicky Jam reached number one on the Hot Latin Songs chart.[37]
Artistry
Musical style and influences
Bad Bunny is considered to be primarily a Latin trap and reggaeton artist.[5][106][6][23] As described in a Rolling Stone article, Bad Bunny sings and raps with a "conversational tone", employing "a low, slurry tone, viscous melodies, and a rapper's cadence."[24] Throughout the years, Bad Bunny has listed his influences with a wide variety of artists from multiple genres such as Héctor Lavoe, Vico C, Romeo Santos, Juan Luis Guerra, Elvis Crespo, Ricky Martin, Juan Gabriel, Don Omar, Daddy Yankee, Ivy Queen, Tego Calderón, Wisin & Yandel, Calle 13, Víctor Manuelle, and Marc Anthony, amongst many others. He considers himself to be a "music fanatic" which is the reason why he's inspired by so many people.[1][6][3][107][108][109][110] During an episode of Behind the Music, he talked about Ricky Martin's legacy for Latin music and Latin artists, and how Martin changed the music landscape for future Latin artists.[108][111][112] In the music video for Neverita, Bad Bunny paid homage to the Suavemente music video by Puerto Rican artist Elvis Crespo, leaving a message in the end translated from Spanish as "In honor of the best video of all time". Elvis Crespo later felt honored by his tribute and ended up doing a merengue version of the song himself in which he performed at the 2022 Latin Billboard Music Awards.[113][109][114]
Although primarily considered to be a Latin trap and reggaeton artist, his music also incorporates various other elements from other genres such as pop, hip-hop, rock, electronic, reggae, dancehall, Latin, soul, and R&B.[5][106][6][23][3] Some publications have credited him for bringing Latin trap into the mainstream in the English-language music market.[115][116][3]
According to Timothy Monger of AllMusic, his lyrics "range from humor and pathos to heartbreak and anger (sometimes in the same song)."[5] According to Paper, other themes explored in Bad Bunny's music include "self-love, inclusivity, and LGBTQ acceptance".[117]
Public image
Vanessa Rosales of CNN has opined that "in pink, florals and short shorts, Bad Bunny champions a new masculinity".[118]
He has appeared at award shows with manicured, polished, and long fingernails.[6][119] Ben Beaumont-Thomas of The Guardian opined in 2020 that Bunny's style influenced fellow Latin artists, who "often now share his highly colorful mashup of streetwear and tailoring."[75]
On April 19, 2022, Bad Bunny unveiled two new wax figures of himself at Madame Tussauds New York. One will be sent to Madame Tussauds Orlando and one will remain in New York.[120][121]
Personal life
Relationships
In 2017, while eating at a restaurant with his family after performing at a Zion and Lennox concert, Bad Bunny met jewelry designer Gabriela Berlingeri.[23][122] They soon began collaborating professionally before their relationship became public. This was confirmed when Berlingeri provided the reference vocals for Jennifer Lopez, who featured on Bad Bunny's track ‘Te Guste’. The couple were spotted together for the first time in 2020 at a Dallas Mavericks–Miami Heat basketball game in Miami. In an interview less than a month later for Entertainment Tonight, Bad Bunny declared that he was “in love.”[123] The two posted pictures with each other on social media for the first time on March 7, 2020, on Bad Bunny's Instagram. The two would continue to collaborate professionally as well. Berlingeri would feature on tracks like 2020's “En Casita” and 2022's “El Apagon,” and she also would be the photographer for his May 2020 Rolling Stone cover, making her the first-ever Latina to shoot the cover for the magazine.[124][19] Nonetheless, the two would go their separate ways in late 2022.[125]
Rumors of Bad Bunny being with model and media star Kendall Jenner first began to circulate in February 2023, after TMZ spotted the pair leaving a restaurant together.[126] Photos and videos of the two together on dates spread throughout the internet for months, with their first official public outing being at a Lakers-Warriors NBA playoff game on May 12, 2023.[127] In September 2023, the two featured together in a shoot for Gucci's Valigeria campaign, one that “explores the intimacy of traveling together.”[128]
Sexuality
In July 2018, Bad Bunny had criticized a nail salon in Asturias, Spain, for refusing to give him service since he was a man; the post angered many fans, leading them to leave homophobic comments and question Bad Bunny's sexuality. Bad Bunny responded to the hateful comments by offering to impregnate the wives of his critics. The post was deleted and Bad Bunny later ended up apologizing and deleting his own Twitter account.[129][110]
In support of LGBT rights, Bad Bunny criticized a tweet by reggaeton artist Don Omar considered to be homophobic in January 2019.[130] During a performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in February 2020, he called attention to the murder of transgender woman Alexa Negrón Luciano in Puerto Rico by wearing a shirt with the words "They Killed Alexa. Not a Man in a Skirt", referencing news reports that had misgendered the victim.[131][23] Ricky Martin has stated that Bad Bunny "has become an icon for the Latin queer community" due to his support of gay and transgender Latinos as well as his embrace of drag culture.[23] Bad Bunny was recognized for his allyship in 2023 by queer advocacy organization GLAAD when Ricky Martin presented him with the Vanguard Award for allyship at the 34th GLAAD Media Awards.[132]
Bad Bunny has also expressed publicly that he views his own sexuality as fluid. In a 2020 interview with the Los Angeles Times, he stated “At the end of the day, I don’t know if in 20 years I will like a man. One never knows in life. But at the moment I am heterosexual and I like women.”[133] This fluidity was on display at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, when he kissed a male dancer during his performance of “Tití Me Preguntó.”[134]
Activism
Bad Bunny criticized the lack of humanitarian aid in the wake of Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island of Puerto Rico.[135] He established the Good Bunny Foundation, which distributes toys to children living in poverty in Puerto Rico.[23]
In 2019, he was nominated for Telemundo's inaugural Premios Tu Música Urbano, in the category of "Humanitarian Award of the Year."[136]
On July 22, 2019, Bad Bunny joined artists such as Residente, Ricky Martin, and more than half a million Puerto Ricans in taking the streets and shutting down the Expreso Las Américas, a major highway also known as the Autopista Luis A. Ferré, in protests against government corruption and demanding Ricardo Rosselló's resignation from the office of Governor of Puerto Rico.[137] In May 2020, he had not taken a position regarding the Puerto Rican statehood movement and had stated that he would prefer to answer at a later time with more clarification.[23] He later concluded his answer in January 2021 stating that he would never "want to see Puerto Rico become a State". It was widely understood that he was not necessarily advocating for Puerto Rican independence, only that he opposed the territory ever becoming the 51st state.[138]
Legal issues
In March 2023, a woman who had been in a relationship with Bad Bunny from 2011 to 2016 filed a US$40 million lawsuit against the rapper and his manager for unauthorized usage of a recording of her voice. According to the lawsuit, a 2015 recording of the woman saying "Bad Bunny, baby" was used without her permission in the songs "Pa Ti" and "Dos Mil 16".[139]
Bad Bunny
5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
165 lb (75 kg)
Vega Baja, Puerto Rico
Solo studio albums
Collaborative studio albums