Bad Bunny has had some amazing concerts in the past, like his World’s Hottest Tour in 2022. But nothing will ever top this year’s infamous, stationary tour, No Me Quiero Ir De Aquí.
Bad Bunny, born Benito Ocasio, is a native Puerto Rican who started his career at the age of 14 by posting his music on Soundcloud. Now, he’s grown into a global sensation with 77.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone.
Bad Bunny first announced this Puerto Rican residency tour back in January this year on his Instagram account. The original 30-day set of shows took place at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, a large venue in San Juan. Nine of the thirty days were set aside for only Puerto Rico’s residents; however, American fans of the artist were invited to travel to the country and enjoy the show. The show was meant to conclude on September 19, but Benito had one last surprise for his island community. He announced an extra tour date for only Puerto Rico residents on September 20th under the name, No Me Quiero Ir, Una Mas? His final show took place on the eighth anniversary of Hurricane Maria, which hit the island in 2017, causing mass destruction. Another surprise about this final date was that it would be streamed globally on Amazon Prime Video and the streaming platform Twitch.
Some fans were lucky enough to enter a new realm of entertainment at the residency tour. Some individuals were invited up into the casita, a part of Bad Bunny’s set where he spends most of his time performing. There, he was able to interact with fans from the audience and also invite many celebrities into the casita with him as well. Some famous faces include LeBron James, Penélope Cruz, DJ Khaled, Kylian Mbappé, and, for the very last show, Marc Anthony. In his duo performance, Marc Anthony performed a song he had not performed publicly in nearly twenty years, making this collaboration even more special (The Associated Press).
Not only was the tour a global sensation, but it also broke various records. The No Me Quiero Ir De Aquí Tour broke the concert attendance record in Puerto Rico as well as the most-streamed Amazon Music performance. According to IQ Live Music Intelligence, “The livestreamed finale of Bad Bunny’s Puerto Rico residency has become the most-watched single artist performance on Amazon Music to date.” USA Today reported that the tour also generated a total of 600,000 attendants, which is the venue’s, the Coliseo’s, record attendance number. Besides bringing in about $733 million to the Puerto Rican economy, Bad Bunny and Amazon Music are partnering to improve the island itself. Amazon and Benito are looking to strengthen Puerto Rican communities by improving education programs using technological resources. Additionally, both parties are working to support farms that provide fresh produce to the island’s community and are setting up new storefronts on the Amazon website to aid local businesses (Amazon.com).
Due to concerns about ICE Raids, Bad Bunny has chosen to skip the United States entirely on his upcoming Debi Tirar Mas Fotos World Tour. In an interview with the New York Post, Benito stated, “There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the US, and none of them were out of hate – I’ve performed there many times. All of [the shows] have been successful. All of them have been magnificent. I’ve enjoyed connecting with Latinos who have been living in the US. But there was the issue of – like, ICE could be outside. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”
On another note, Bad Bunny has recently been chosen to be Super Bowl LX’s halftime show performer. Fans are ecstatic over this announcement and are eager to see him perform in February. Junior, Amaya Oritheneer comments, “It’s pretty cool that he’s doing the Super Bowl halftime show, and it’s nice that I’m able to understand it as well. A ton of people are influenced by Bad Bunny, especially the language and culture, and I think it’s going to be a great performance. His past performance in Puerto Rico was amazing, so I’m sure it’s going to be great”.
Although a large population is excited for this performance, other individuals have been less than thrilled to discover the Puerto Rican native is performing. Some commentators have argued for what they call an “All-American” halftime show performance in response to the announcement of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl appearance. Although he is from a U.S. territory—and Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens by birthright—individuals have begun to claim that he shouldn’t perform and question whether he represents American culture. According to Forbes magazine, some legislators, such as Texas’s Republican Attorney General, Ken Paxton, and Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio, have called Bad Bunny a “demonic Marxist” and a “second-rate musician.” Fortunately, the NFL has confirmed that Bad Bunny will be the official performer without inference from any other ideas. As NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a press conference, “I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback or criticism. It’s pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching.” Goodell adds, “We’re confident it’s going to be a great show. He understands the platform that he’s on, and I think it’s going to be exciting and a united moment.”
With his world tour kicking off in November, fans are ecstatic and eager to enjoy the show around the world. Since concert attendance is already high, worldwide venues will most likely be jam-packed with thousands of fans. Although he has to leave his home island of Puerto Rico, crowds from various countries will undoubtedly follow the sensational Latin musician.