On January 5th, Bad Bunny (real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio), known to some as the “King of Latin Rap”, released his sixth studio album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS (DTMF, “I Should Have Taken More Photos”). Though it primarily consists of reggaeton music, Bad Bunny infuses the album with the Latin genres of salsa, jíbaro, and plena, creating an infectious and unashamedly Puerto Rican record. Since its release, DTMF has received critical acclaim for being a “love letter to Puerto Rico”, the self-governing Caribbean archipelago and island which is organised as an unincorporated territory of the United States. However, a deeper look into the lyrics, motifs, and context of DTMF reveals a far more meaningful story of Puerto Rico’s past, present, and future, particularly concerning the United States.

Following the victory of Donald Trump and a devastating loss for the left-wing Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) against conservative pro-US integration parties in the 2024 elections, Bad Bunny, a staunch supporter of Puerto Rican independence, has found his album becoming a declaration of loyalty to this fraught political movement. Consequently, the release of a boldly pro-independence piece by one of the most influential figures in Latin music represents something far more politically charged than the “love letter” it originally appears to be. Hence, this article examines how DTMF engages with themes of Puerto Rican independence, its contribution to the discourse surrounding the archipelago’s political status, and the implications this discourse will have on the 3+ million people who call Puerto Rico home.

First, it is necessary to unpack the historical context. Puerto Rico’s history is complex, to say the least, but it can be broadly divided into three eras: pre-colonial; Spanish-colonial; and American-colonial. In 1493, Christopher Columbus declared the archipelago property of the Spanish monarchy and, after a few centuries, the island became a plantation-based economy, fuelled by slave labour from West Africa. In the face of imported diseases from Europe, many of the native Taínos perished or were forcibly assimilated. Inspired by the revolutionary ideals of Simón Bolívar, the Comité Revolucionario de Puerto Rico drafted the first flag of Puerto Rico, inspired by adjacent decolonial movements in Cuba and the Dominican Republic, and sparked el Grito de Lares (“The Cry of Lares”) in 1868. This constituted the first armed uprising of Puerto Ricans against the Spanish. Although swiftly quashed, the revolution created the first sense of a Puerto Rican national identity.

In 1898, the United States acquired the archipelago in the Spanish-American War, and the events that occurred on the archipelago following its acquisition have tarnished the reputation of American imperialism. Supreme court rulings prevented full integration of the territory into the US, naming the local population “alien races” and “savage tribes.” It was only in 1917, when the US needed more conscripts for World War One, that Puerto Ricans became US citizens. In the 1930s, American doctors falsely pushed the islands’ women into sterilisation as a means of contraception. Consequently, a third of Puerto Rican women were sterile by the 1950s. From 1941-2003, the US military used Vieques as a bomb test site. To this day, locals develop cancers and other diseases at far higher rates than their mainland American counterparts as a result of the environmental contamination these tests caused. Though official departments have produced statements apologising for the explicit prejudices aimed at dehumanising Puerto Ricans in the 20th century, inequalities are still apparent between the islanders and mainland Americans.

Perhaps the most poignant example is the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which made landfall in Puerto Rico in September 2017 under Trump’s first administration. There was a stark difference in the disaster responses to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and Hurricane Harvey, which had hit the Republican heartlands of Texas and Louisiana a month before. In response to Harvey, Trump pledged $1 million of his wealth to 12 charities involved in disaster response. The disaster response to Hurricane Maria was strikingly different. Trump opened his visit to the islands with the statement: “You’ve thrown our budget a little out of whack”, and blamed San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz for “such poor leadership” after complaints she made about issues with aid supply chains. Furthermore, Maria’s devastation is made evident by its statistics: 2,975 deaths, $100 billion of damage, and a power grid that took 11 months to fully restore. This created a greater divide in the political landscape of Puerto Rico between those who wanted to become a US state and those who wanted complete independence. On the one hand, pro-statehood advocates (estadistas) argued that statehood would result in greater access to the same federal funding programs US states receive to aid in disaster relief. On the other, pro-independence advocates (independentistas) felt increasingly isolated from their national representatives in Washington, and believed that the islands could handle disaster relief better on their own.

In the wake of Maria, Puerto Rico’s debt grew greater, leading to extensive austerity measures that made the majority of Puerto Ricans (who rely on welfare spending) financially worse off. The implementation of Act 60, detailing tax incentives for wealthy investors willing to move to the islands post-Maria, has exacerbated inequalities and stirred public unrest about the gentrification of the archipelago by wealthy mainland Americans.

So, where do Bad Bunny and DTMF come into this?

Before the album’s release, Bad Bunny released DTMF as a short film, which introduces many of the motifs key to his pro-independence messaging. The film begins with Jacobo Morales, a legendary Puerto Rican filmmaker, reflecting on his life with his friend Concho, a toad. Concho is a sapo concho, a toad native to Puerto Rico that has been used as an allegory for the islanders’ resistance since the Taínos first inhabited the archipelago. It was threatened with extinction by climate change and habit loss from extensive gentrification, but, with the help of conservation efforts, the sapo concho remains resilient, testifying to the fortitude of Puerto Ricans more widely.

The film then explores the impact of gentrification on locals. Morales goes to the bakery, where he is unable to order in Spanish, and receives an excessively high bill for a few baked goods, which he cannot pay for in cash. This scene ends, however, with a Puerto Rican man paying for Morales’ goods, stating “Seguimos aquí” (“We’re still here”). Similar to the sapo concho, this scene exemplifies Bad Bunny’s messaging: Puerto Ricans are responsible for ensuring their culture survives.

Though many songs continue with such themes, the most politically relevant of these is “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii” (“What Happened to Hawaii”). Hawaii, the 50th US state, has long been promoted by pro-US Puerto Rican parties as a model for how Puerto Rico can ascend to statehood, citing a similarly diverse cultural background that blended with the US in 1959. Bad Bunny issues an echoing warning in this song, however, declaring (translated from Spanish):

“They want to take away the river and also the beach, they want my neighbourhood and grandma to leave.

Don’t let go of the flag…I don’t want them to do with you what happened to Hawaii”

This refers to the various inequalities that Native Hawaiians face today (despite their statehood), such as homelessness, poverty, and the commercialisation of culture for tourist purposes.

Bad Bunny is not new to making political statements, and he had a profound role in the lead-up to the 2024 gubernatorial election in the archipelago. He purchased billboards on the island telling citizens to vote against the estadistas from the New Progressive Party (NPP) and endorsed independista Juan Dalmau of the PIP. 

Alongside the electoral ballot, Puerto Ricans voted in a non-binding election on their status, where voters could select if they were pro-statehood, pro-independence, or pro-free association, a form of independence which ensures residents enjoy certain federal rights. As Washington does not recognise the results of these types of referendums, they primarily act as a litmus test to gauge current opinion of the archipelago’s status. Nevertheless, the results from the election have the estadistas on top, with pro-statehood NPP candidate Jenniffer González Colón receiving 39.45% of the governor vote, beating Dalmau by approximately 74,000 votes. Additionally, Puerto Ricans voted in favour of statehood, with 56.8% of the vote, compared to 30.8% votes in favour of independence. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, Bad Bunny accepted his cause’s defeat but pushed for others to join those in the “fight for a better Puerto Rico” and agreed to work with the new governor for the archipelago’s continual development. Despite this seemingly large loss, this was the first time that independence ranked as the second most-favourable choice in a Puerto Rican status referendum, potentially driven by the larger proportion of young voters, who side with the independistas. Hence, there is still a sense that the independence movement is far from dead, and can only be driven by the continued advocacy of native islanders for the preservation of their culture.


For the most part, Bad Bunny’s discography is not political, and he himself states that he is not aiming to be political in his music’s messaging. Rather, he aims for his music to be personal. Nonetheless, Bad Bunny finds his album released at a time when the future of both Puerto Rico and the wider United States is becoming increasingly divided. Puerto Rico has been referred to as a “floating island of garbage” at the new president’s political rallies, with the now-Vice President, JD Vance, responding to the comment by saying people need to “stop getting so offended at every little thing.” Although being such a prominent public figure enables some influence in politics, Bad Bunny is not a politician, and he does not have the powers to drive the debate on the archipelago’s future in Washington. Instead, he represents a new wave of young Puerto Ricans who are becoming increasingly active in discussions surrounding the preservation of Latin culture on the islands. A Trump Presidency littered with uncertainty means Puerto Rico’s future is as unpredictable as ever. Either way, DTMF is a compelling showcase of the archipelago’s rich culture and historic resilience – a trait that will ensure Puerto Ricans make their voices heard for years to come.