CNN
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A sense of excitement has permeated Puerto Rico as homegrown artist Bad Bunny, one of the world’s biggest music stars, begins his long-awaited residency on Friday.
Stores are selling out memorabilia, restaurants are creating themed menu items and local news stations are devoting special coverage to what residents are calling “Bad Bunny mania.”
Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, is performing a series of 30 concerts that fans say are meant to galvanize Puerto Rico’s unique sense of pride and resilience against the backdrop of economic uncertainty, gentrification, and the long-lasting impact of colonialism.
The first nine shows of his residency will be performed exclusively for Puerto Rican residents, while the rest will invite fans from around the world in a larger effort to promote the island’s rich culture. All 30 shows, which will take place at the 18,500-seat arena Coliseo de Puerto Rico, have been sold out.
Prioritizing Puerto Ricans for the residency “signals that Benito is speaking personally to Puerto Ricans first and foremost,” said Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, historian of Puerto Rico.
The shows are also considered a powerful symbol of Puerto Rican self-reliance and the belief that the US territory can stand tall on its own, says Javier J. Hernández Acosta, dean of the School of Arts, Design and Creative Industries at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in San Juan.
He views the concerts as a chance to show off the island’s creative arts, which he says are Puerto Rico’s “best resource to build a future of economic, social and political development.”
Ahead of the first show on Friday, the atmosphere outside the arena was festive, with music blaring and vendors selling food and merchandise as fans lined up to enter the arena.
“(I’m) excited, super excited, super happy to see Bad Bunny live here in Puerto Rico, which is a unique experience that can only be had in Puerto Rico. Seeing Bad Bunny in Puerto Rico isn’t the same as seeing him in another part of the world,” said Gilda Santos.
“Bad Bunny has been unique, unique, in carrying the name of Puerto Rico high. And now with this residency, we are here, so that they know that Puerto Rico is the island of enchantment,” said Jackeline Carrasquillo, a fan from Río Grande.
As a US territory, Puerto Rico does not have statehood status, although its residents are American citizens. As residents of a territory rather than a state, Puerto Ricans can’t vote for president in the US general election. The territory has a nonvoting delegate in Congress, called a resident commissioner.
The King of Latin Trap has often sought to amplify the often-marginalized voices of the US territory and to highlight the struggles his fellow Boricuas and other Latinos have faced and overcome.
The concerts will feature songs from his latest album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” (I Should Have Taken More Photos), which explores themes of injustice, including displacement, gentrification and American colonialism.
The track “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii” (What Happened to Hawaii), for example, expresses concern that displacement could cause Puerto Rico to lose its identity.
In a melancholy tone, he sings, “They want to take away the river and the beach. They want my neighborhood and Grandma to leave. No, don’t let go of the flag or forget the lelolai. I don’t want them to do to you what happened to Hawaii.” Hawaii only became the 50th US state in 1959, more than 60 years after the US government overthrew its monarchy.
The song “Nuevayol,” meanwhile, celebrates the Puerto Rican diaspora in New York and the contributions Latinos have made to the United States.
More than 5 million Puerto Ricans are estimated to be living in the US mainland, according to the Pew Research Center. Many have left the island in recent years due to rising living costs, natural disasters, an energy crisis and other hardships.
“The theme and the ethos of this record is sort of affirming that Puerto Rican culture in the face of cultural and physical displacement of Puerto Ricans,” said Meléndez-Badillo, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is attending one of the concerts this weekend.
Some of those topics are also amplified in the music visualizers that accompany the songs. They display informative text about Puerto Rico’s history and were written by Meléndez-Badillo himself at the request of Bad Bunny’s team.
The Puerto Rico residency will be followed by a larger world tour that notably leaves out the biggest market for musicians: the United States mainland – a choice that Meléndez-Badillo says is likely a “political statement.”
Fans have speculated that his decision to skip the US could be connected to Bad Bunny’s recent criticism of US policies, such as the mass immigration crackdown under President Donald Trump, which has largely targeted Latinos.
Earlier this year, he posted an Instagram story of what appeared to be an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid, where he reportedly called agents “sons of b*tches” for targeting people trying to work.
Asked by Variety magazine why he wouldn’t be performing in the US, Bad Bunny simply replied: “It’s unnecessary,” pointing out that fans in the US have had many opportunities to see him perform.
The star is essentially telling the US, “You are not the center of the world,” according to Hernández Acosta, and that Puerto Ricans “are the ones who set the priorities here.”
Above everything else, he continued, the performances are also a chance for Puerto Ricans to celebrate and have fun after years of hardship, including recovering from the devastating Hurricane Maria in 2017.
“We have to celebrate things,” he said. “That’s what life is for.”
