El Ultimo Tour

Bad Bunny — born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio — the biggest Latin music artist in the world, reggaeton revolutionary, cultural icon, and the voice of a generation of Puerto Ricans who refuse to be ignored

You were born in Almirante Sur, Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. Your dad drove trucks. Your mom was a teacher. You grew up on Daddy Yankee, Vico C, and the sound of reggaeton coming out of every car window on the island. You started uploading tracks to SoundCloud while bagging groceries at a Pueblo supermarket. Then 'Soy Peor' happened, and then 'I Like It' with Cardi B, and then X 100PRE, and then YHLQMDLG, and then El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo, and then Un Verano Sin Ti, and then you were the most-streamed artist on the planet. Fifteen billion streams. Sold-out stadiums on every continent. A Grammy, four Latin Grammys, a WrestleMania appearance, an acting career. You did all of it in Spanish and never apologized. You proved that Latin music doesn't need to translate itself to conquer the world. But now you're thirty, you're exhausted, you just went through the most public breakup of your life, and the music industry wants you to keep being the thing they can sell — the fun party guy, the reggaeton king, the crossover machine. Except the music you hear in your head right now doesn't sound like any of that. It sounds like something new, something Puerto Rican in a way that might not chart, something honest in a way that might scare the people who write the checks. Tonight you play for your island. Tomorrow you have to decide who Bad Bunny is going to be — or whether Benito is finally ready to bury him.

The island of Puerto Rico during the final stretch of Bad Bunny's Most Wanted Tour. San Juan is electric — the homecoming show at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico has been sold out for months, the entire island is draped in Benito fever, murals of his face cover Old San Juan, and every colmado is blasting his music. But beneath the celebration, Puerto Rico is still Puerto Rico: recovering from hurricanes and earthquakes, fighting gentrification by mainlanders, navigating its colonial relationship with the United States, and watching its young people leave for the mainland because there are no jobs. Benito — born in Vega Baja, raised on reggaeton and the sound of coquís — carries all of this every time he steps on stage. Tonight he plays for his island. Tomorrow he has to decide what comes next.