Bad Bunny’s Influence on Latin culture.
Bad Bunny is equally as much a superstar as he is a social activist when it came to matters that concerned his own life. It has been this way since the beginning of his grandiose career, and he has shined a spotlight on the eyesores continued in latin culture that have become tradition as the generations passed. With all ears on him as soon as he was given center stage, Bad Bunny used his platform to garner attention on these topics, creating an interesting dynamic between him and his culture.
On one end, his ability to highlight toxicity in his environment allowed for a safe space for those who felt similarly, that being mostly young people. On the other end, those who paved the path for him to be a latin idol disagreed with a majority of his viewpoints and alienated him from path stars in his position. Regardless, Benito Martinez stood tall on what he believed to be correct, leading to a massive shift in the next generation of latin people.
One of the most notable ways that Bad Bunny was able to harness self expression was obviously through his sense of fashion. He states in an interview several years ago that all through his teenage years he would ransack his mother’s and even his grandmother’s closet for outfits to head to school. He states that the clothing was much more vibrant and stylistically expressive, allowing him to articulate himself visually in comparison to the t-shirts and jeans he found when scouring the men’s section at the mall.
This led to plenty of teasing and finger pointing at school, but that was of little concern to the young pop star in the making. What is most important is that despite the ridicule from others, Benito is firm on his beliefs and invites others to push the boundaries of self expression, even without eyes on him. We see this become beneficial to him as he ventures into the world of modeling and fashion later in his career, wearing boisterous and attention grabbing outfits on the covers of magazines.
In every Spanish speaking country, there is a cultural phenomenon that is referred to as “machismo”. Machismo is essentially a severe bias that latinos have to stick to gender norms. Men lack emotion and empathy, and the men that are more expressive and more in touch with their feelings are socially ostracized for not following these gender norms. Homosexuality is much less accepted as it is in many other minority cultures, and often latino people correlate emotional vulnerability in men to homosexuality simply because that is, “not how a man should act.”
Bad Bunny, as a latin male, does not abide by these gender conformities. Bad Bunny propelling into fame has actually provided men- specifically men of latin descent- who feel opposed to these societal rules, a safe haven to be as colorful as they deem necessary. The native Puerto Rican’s popularity goes to show how much latinos have been wanting this icon to appear, and has completely altered the dynamic of the vibrant latin culture to be significantly more inclusive to those who do not fit societal norms.
Outside of absolutely shattering gender normalities, Bad Bunny also speaks on other social issues such as the mistreatment of transgender community in various ways, most notably during his performance of the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Here, Benito wore a shirt that brought attention to the murder of a homeless transgender woman by the name of Alexa Luciano in Puerto Rico who was shot dead after attempting to use a women’s bathroom.
He also brought attention to the high domestic violence rates in the latino community via his 2018 music video for, “Solo De Mi”. In this video, we see a woman mouthing the lyrics to Bad Bunny’s song as more cuts and bruises progressively appear on her body. The song speaks on how a woman does not belong to anyone else other than herself and the mental battle that is an abusive relationship.
One of Martinez’s most visited social topics in his music is the gentrification of Puerto Rico, being highlighted on songs like, “El Apagon”. This is especially important to him as Puerto Rico has undergone a lot of damage whether it came from natural disasters like hurricanes that constantly hit the island, or the heavy influx in tourism over the years that has led to many of the densely populated areas to become more whitewashed.
Regardless of what it may be, if it is a topic of importance to Benito Martinez, then Bad Bunny will be expressive of the sentiment. The latin musical sensation has always found a way to be unapologetically himself, which has allowed for others to see the social injustice that is not otherwise highlighted in modern day media.