At Home With Bad Bunny

There’s only one person in the world who can sell out a 30-show stadium tour that never leaves his hometown.

His name is Bad Bunny.

For generations, many Puerto Ricans have exported their musical genius to new audiences in faraway locales.

In 1968, José Feliciano performed a Latin jazz rendition of  “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the World Series in Detroit.

In 1974, the Fania All-Stars––a ragtag salsa collective driven by Héctor Lavoe, Willie Colón, Celia Cruz, and Johnny Pacheco––gave a monumental performance in what’s now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Years later, pop star Ricky Martin brought “La Copa de la Vida” (“The Cup of Life”) to the 1998 FIFA World Cup final in France, as well as the 1999 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, where he was met with a standing ovation.

Bad Bunny’s live residency in San Juan featured a series of concerts pointedly dubbed “No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí” (“I Don’t Want to Leave Here”). The Grammy-winning singer-MC did the unthinkable for someone with a new album to promote: He decided to stay home for the summer and play 30 nights in the place that raised him. 

His residency shows, which began on July 11 and continued every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until September 14, were projected to bring in hundreds of thousands of tourists to Puerto Rico—and an estimated $200 million in revenue to show for it. It’s a boon for the archipelago, an unincorporated US territory that’s been run ragged by hurricanes, blackouts, and foreign profiteers who flip family homes into pricey Airbnb rentals.

“I’ve done a lot of shows here in Puerto Rico, and I don’t think I’ve felt so much energy [before],” he said in Spanish, in the afterglow of his opening weekend. “The pride, the sense of homeland that unites generations.”