Bad Bunny’s 2025 has been one that will go down as an all-timer. In January, he released his seventh studio album, “DeBÍ TiRAR Más FOToS” (shortened to “DTMF” for the rest of the article), to mass critical acclaim. In May, “DTMF” won Best Latin Album at the 51st annual American Music Awards. Then, from July to September, he hosted the “No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí” residency. Located in Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot, the residency saw the original 30 dates sell out. Due to that, there was an encore show, which was subtitled “Una Más” and was broadcast by Amazon, which is how most, myself included, experienced the residency.
“No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí” was more than just a residency, however. It was an amazing showcase of Puerto Rican pride and heritage, and an overall net positive for those involved.
“DTMF”, the short film that announced the album, and”No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí” all tend to focus on the same subjects and topics, those being gentrification and a loss of cultural identity.
A look at Puerto Rican history sees that these problems have been prominent for centuries. There has been mass migration of Puerto Rican people since after the Spanish-American War, mostly due to corruption and tourism companies displacing many native to the island (the latter being a more modern problem). The suppression of Puerto Rican identity was even codified in law from 1948 to 1957 with the “Ley de La Mordaza”, which targeted the Puerto Rican Independence Movement by banning any public support of Puerto Rican pride, including the ban on the Puerto Rican flag.
While Bad Bunny has explored these topics before, most notably on “Un Verano Sin Ti”, his work in 2025 seems to really touch on it. Songs like “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii”, “TURiSTA”, and the titular track are notable examples, especially “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii”, which outright compares what happened in Puerto Rico to what happened in Hawaii.
The residency, instead of just generally touching on the subjects, showcased the music and history of Puerto Rico. There were multiple segments throughout “Una Más” that showcase the history of Puerto Rico through music, as well as there being imagery of the Puerto Rico of the past through the set design and graphics.
The setlist paid tribute to the music of Puerto Rico, performing genres native to the island like plena, salsa and bomba, in addition to reggaeton and house music.
Bad Bunny also brought a lot of Puerto Rican artists on stage to perform songs with Bad Bunny or from their own discography. For example, Ivy Queen, a pioneer of reggaeton, performed five of her own songs on the August 22nd show. Both Wisin and Yandel (of the famous duo Wisin y Yandel) performed during the residency too, although on different days. Luis Fonsi, Tainy, Ozuna and Young Miko also made appearances. Even Marc Anthony, a legend of salsa, performed “Preciosá” during “Una Más”.
The most consistent guests during the residency were Los Sobrinos, a group of students from the local Escuela Libre de Musica in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Chuwi and Los Pleneros de la Cresta, a commonality between the three being that they’re all acts local to Puerto Rico.
Through this residency, Bad Bunny was able to once again bring the culture and often-overlooked history of Puerto Rico to the world stage. Next, Bad Bunny is going to bring Puerto Rico to the world, embarking on the “DeBÍ TiRAR Más FOToS” tour across Latin America, Europe, and Asia throughout the end of 2025 and 2026.
