Recorded entirely in Puerto Rico, the track release fuses the music of the island into something new and completely unique to Benito. The perpetually shapeshifting artist took distinctly Puerto Rican musical styles, including very old folk rhythms and used them both to explore his personal roots and as a symbol of resistance. The only objects in the frame are two mismatched white plastic chairs.
In the promotional photos for the album, he appears sunburned and dressed down in a way that suggests a rural lifestyle well inland on the island. He spent doing the bicoastal hustle between New York and Los Angeles. Between his often emotionally honest lyrics, and history of political advocacy, no one would call the maverick of Latin trap shallow.
However, until March , he was twenty-something. The track release has intense Saturn-return energy. If you are feeling the need to plant your feet in terra firma to prepare for whatever might hold, this is the album to add to your rotation. This is a consciously Puerto Rican album, musically as in every other way. He also goes beyond the mezcolanza of sounds and influences identified as salsa to delve into the many roots of Puerto Rican music, including bomba and plena.
Going back to your primordial musical roots is a tried and true move for an artist at a certain point in their career, and an album that tosses a few folksy references into the mix as a statement can find its way to a corny place. This elevates the more traditional, acoustic elements and helps blend them into the reggaeton and electronic sounds. As always, Bad Bunny is more concerned with what he has to say than meeting anyone's external expectations.
With its eclectic mix of sounds and dreamy production, the album takes on a free-associative quality that feels like a trip through Benito's mind. They couldn't see that part of each one of us: the defects, the trauma, the worries, the pains, the wounds of the past. It's like they were a tourist in your life. The album as a whole — the tributes to the music and artists who made him, the admission that it all represents who he is — is more vulnerable than any romantic confession could be.
