Bad Bunny might be one of the biggest superstars in the world, but he has much more important missions on his mind than commercial success. Then again, that's certainly a plus, isn't it? Moreover, we have the official first week sales numbers for his new album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, which moved 118K units in its first tracking week of release. This is very impressive considering that the project dropped on a Sunday at 12PM local time, and also because it's the Puerto Rican legend's most hyper-regional and, therefore, somewhat inaccessible album yet. But from a critical standpoint, it may very well be his best and most powerful artistic statement to date.
That's certainly reflected in the praise for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS from seemingly every corner, which was beaten out by Lil Baby's WHAM for a No. 1 debut following a tight race. Still, it's clear that Bad Bunny had another idea for how he wanted this album to truly succeed. The LP didn't drop on just a random Sunday. It was Three Kings Day Eve, a holiday observed all over the Christian world but with particular resonance and significance in B.B.'s home of Puerto Rico, where the United States' invasion in 1898 – and subsequently – risked erasing that cultural celebration if it wasn't for the archipelago's staunch defiance of that imposition.
Bad Bunny Performing In Nashville
The native Puerto Rican sounds of bomba and plena – along with wider Latin American fusions of salsa, dembow, boleros, and many others – define DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, and so do all of the lyrical references to boricua culture and its current sociopolitical context. For Bad Bunny, there are no qualms about these nuggets of cultural resonance not translating to other audiences, even to Spanish speakers without a context for Puerto Rican slang and cultural references.
But don't let that scare you away from DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS if this all sounds like gibberish to you, as the production, songwriting, and passion are wholly universal and precisely executed with grace and skill. Bad Bunny has come a long way, and the "PIToRRO DE COCO" artist is now enjoying the fruits of his labor.
