A Portrait Of Puerto Rico

Bad Bunny changed music. The Puerto Rican singer and rapper, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio in 1994, wasn't even close to the first artist from Latin America to cross over to the English-language pop mainstream. But he didn't just create a few hits-he's one of the most dominant musical forces of the streaming era. Even more striking, he did it on his own terms. In years past, the typical path to superstardom for a Latin-music artist was a series of guest spots for established stars or English-language singles aimed at reaching a new audience. But Bad Bunny sings and raps in Spanish and focuses on a mix of contemporary sounds including Caribbean styles like reggaeton and dembow, which have roots in post-reggae Jamaican dancehall, and the hip-hop offshoot Latin trap. To reach the highest tier of global stardom and compete with artists like Drake and the Weeknd under these circumstances is something entirely new.

After the blockbuster 2022 LP "Un Verano sin Ti," Bad Bunny made some conventional celebrity moves-he relocated to L.A., dated someone from the Kardashian family, went on a sold-out arena tour and headlined Coachella. He also released an album, 2023's "Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana," that echoed his more rap-influenced earlier work. His sixth solo record, "Debí Tirar Más Fotos" (Rimas), out now, looks back even further. It's an ambitious survey of styles from Puerto Rico from across the decades, as well as a love letter to the island itself.

We know we're in new territory from the outset when the opening track, "Nuevayol," begins with a sample of the salsa number "Un Verano en Nueva York" by the band El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico. After a few moments, the horn blasts and hand drums are mixed with a contemporary Caribbean rhythm with clattering metallic percussion and deep bass, and Bad Bunny enters, boasting of being the king of pop and name-checking Bronx rapper Big Pun. The way the track stitches together references from across eras-the original hit is from 1975, Big Pun's heyday was the '90s, and Bad Bunny is the sound of now-sets the tone for this adventurous record.

Other tracks of a more traditional bent include "Baile Inolvidable," a tale of lost love complete with a circular piano riff, congas and horn section, and "Weltita," which, with its spacious arrangement and elastic bassline, comes across like an '80s spin on minimalist Latin funk. While such tracks clearly evoke a specific time, Bad Bunny's voice and the surrounding musical context prevent them from seeming like genre exercises. Everything here feels like it exists on a continuum and slides easily from one aesthetic to the next to suit the song.

And then there are variants of more contemporary sounds. "Veldá" is psychedelic reggaeton, with spacey sequences and the voices of guest vocalists Dei V and Omar Courtz slathered with a buzzing coat of AutoTune. "Ketu Tecré," a song about a love that has died, has a haunting synth and a chunky, propulsive beat. The druggy and disorienting arrangement reinforces the song's narrative about an intoxicating affair that ended long ago. The deeply melancholic "Bokete" introduces a darker stretch of music in the album's middle-it's a beatless track that seems to float in front of you, with the kind of ghostly keyboards that undergird the most atmospheric R&B.

"Turista," a ballad powered by plucked nylon-string guitar that is warped and distorted, as if being channeled from an uneasy memory, is an extended metaphor for tourism. Sung to a lover who wants only the good times and selfishly avoids problems, it's aimed at those who see Puerto Rico purely as a vacation destination, and have no genuine concern for its culture and people. The related "Lo Que le Pasó a Hawaii" has an even more pronounced political angle. Over an intriguing, shuffling rhythm, Bad Bunny compares Puerto Rico's fate to that of Hawaii, another territory acquired by the U.S. in 1898, and expresses fear about the island losing its traditional identity as it becomes Americanized.

This more serious run of tracks gives the album thematic heft, though it isn't as interesting musically as the more upbeat material surrounding it. But Bad Bunny closes the record on a more celebratory note. "DTMF," essentially the title track, uses the lament that translates to "I should have taken more pictures" to look back on the good times of his youth, playing dominos with his grandfather and partying with friends. The song's explosive chorus is sung by a small choir of voices and cries out to be joined by tens of thousands more. And the closing "La Mudanza" begins with an a cappella rap that tells the story of Bad Bunny's life, and then transforms into a strutting salsa number, returning the album to where it started. "Debí Tirar Más Fotos" is boldly ambitious, highly personal, and seemingly assembled without commercial considerations, an expression of confidence from an artist at the peak of his powers.