Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, known to the world as Bad Bunny, did not just climb the charts; he bypassed the entire industry machine. Moving from bagging groceries in Puerto Rico to becoming a global icon, he proved you do not need to sing in English to own the stage-a feat anchored by his historic 2026 Grammy for Album of the Year with Debí Tirar Más Fotos.
Gustavo Souza Marques, assistant professor of music at the University of Michigan, specializes in how music and technology collide across the Americas. As a researcher focused on the evolution of global pop, Souza Marques breaks down how Bad Bunny became the biggest artist on earth without ever trading his mother tongue for a crossover hit.
Bad Bunny has achieved four #1 albums on the Billboard 200 that are entirely in Spanish. From a musicology perspective, how has he managed to bypass the traditional "crossover" requirement (singing in English) that defined previous eras for artists like Ricky Martin or Shakira?
Studies in sociology and demographics suggest that in the near future, the U.S. may become a "minority-majority" country, meaning that populations historically associated with less political power, such as Latinos, will represent one of the largest groups in terms of numbers by the 2050s. This shift has important implications for the music industry, as well as for the consumption of music and culture more broadly. We are already witnessing its impact through the success of Bad Bunny and other influential Latino hip-hop artists, such as Cypress Hill from L.A., who will release their first original album in Spanish in May (their only previous Spanish-language release being the 1999's remix album "Los Grandes Éxitos en Español").
Bad Bunny's decision to bring Ricky Martin to his NFL halftime show signals this shift, while also creating an interesting dialogue between what it meant to be a Latino artist in earlier periods of American history and what it means today. It is also important to recognize that Spanish has been the second-most spoken language in the U.S. for decades, and that Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory. In this context, performing in Spanish in major public events should be understood as part of a broader Latino American cultural and historical landscape.
His latest work leans into bomba and plena. Why are these hyperlocal Puerto Rican rhythms translating so well to audiences who may not know the history behind them?
In cultural studies, the term "glocal" is used to describe this process. Maxims such as "think local, act global" encapsulate a mindset that became increasingly common with the Westernization and/or globalization of the world, particularly during and after the postwar economic boom, alongside advances in communication and transportation technologies. By incorporating "hyperlocal" musical elements into a Global North language, Bad Bunny re-centers what it means to be Puerto Rican in a global society, placing his cultural background at the forefront of the international music scene. This same reflection can be extended to our earlier discussion regarding the centrality of Puerto Rican Spanish in his musical work and in his identity as a Latino American.
Finally, we need to consider hip-hop concepts such as "flipping the script," which strongly resonate with Bad Bunny's persona and musical work, in which cultural productions, languages and aesthetics that were once overlooked take center stage, achieving global influence and significance.
Since Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, his success is technically domestic. Yet, he's often treated as a "foreign" artist. How does his Grammy win challenge the way we define "American music" today?
We have seen interesting discussions about the Grammy Awards in recent years. For instance, contemporary hip-hop artist Tyler, The Creator expressed feeling "half and half" about receiving a Grammy Award in 2020 for Best Rap Album for "IGOR" (2019), since he intended the project to be a pop album. His statement raised concerns about bias in how Black music is categorized and judged within the awards. He even drew a provocative comparison to the "n-word" during his remarks, aiming to highlight how the label "urban" can function as a problematic classification.
This issue resonates with a point mentioned earlier regarding Puerto Rico's status as a U.S. territory, suggesting that Hispanic artists are increasingly performing in Spanish on major stages such as the NFL. Currently, we are witnessing a rearticulation of what constitutes American music, with a strong presence of reggaeton in the charts, nightclubs and everyday listening habits of American youth. In a diverse society, this shift is not unexpected, particularly considering how music is now digitally consumed, allowing easy access to sonic expressions from all over the world, not only within the U.S.
