In a 2017 sit-down video interview at Remezcla Studios, Bad Bunny spoke about the fallacy of music or artists having limits. On the heels of releasing “Mala y Peligrosa,” a salsa number with Víctor Manuelle, he waxed poetically about how many were surprised to see him—then firmly in his trap era—detouring into that sound. “It sounds normal, it sounds natural,” he assured listeners. “I think it can be done,” he added confidently. Seven years later, he’d prove that in the most undeniable way with “BAILE INoLVIDABLE,” Remezcla’s choice for best song of 2025.
Produced by “Big” Jay Anthony Núñez, the track is a proud, boisterous romantic salsa that wears its saccharine emotions on its sleeve, like so many others in its genre. Here, Benito’s lamentations of no longer having his lover in his life are made dancefloor-ready by the music of Julito Gastón and the rest of LoS SOBRiNOS, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS’ official live band. His lyrics are true to the album’s thematic through line as well, underlining with care the melancholy he feels about not appreciating his time together with his ex as much as he should’ve, and now has to live with just the memories of the times they danced. It’s an admirable exercise for any artist, but he stuck the landing: make a salsa song, make it hot, stay on-topic, and make it feel fresh while staying true to the sound.
It’s also just plain fun to sing, which is an essential element of what makes a good salsa bop. Nearly a year in, many can attest to the high of belting out, “No, no te puedo olvidar / No, no te puedo borrar / Tú me enseñaste a querer / Me enseñaste a bailar,” while hitting a twirl with your partner. But this isn’t Benito cosplaying as a Fania old-timer—his inimitable personality and verve are still there and true to his essence. “La nueva mama bien, pero no es tu boquita,” he sings at one point. When translated: “The new one [blows] me well, but it’s not your mouth.” Traditionally, salsa singers aren’t as straightforward with their racy lyrics, to say the least. They usually opt for metaphors and similes, but Benito doesn’t have time for all of that. In an interview he did around the album’s release, he addressed that line. “I know the old people are going to be like, ‘He ruined salsa!’ But if I don’t put that in, it’s like I’m imitating [someone].”
Imitation was not his goal with the track. DtMF is about celebrating and elevating the sounds he grew up around; the ones that molded him and his mentors, that colored his culture, and that were the soundtrack to his upbringing. Salsa, a magical genre spun from Cuban, African, and Puerto Rican influences, is ever-present in Puerto Rican daily life. Even during its creakiest, waning days, you could always find a corner where Raphy Leavitt or Andy Montañez was heard serenading day drinkers or domino players.
Benito’s joint aims to join that heralded club by his own merits, and its breakout success places it firmly in a position to do so. It’s a song that’s broken through to different generations of fans, new and old alike, and cemented itself as a perennial repeat listen for years to come.
From how even its ad-libs have entered the lexicon (“¡Ahí, ahí, ahí, vamo’ allá!”) to how it spurred Benito to conceive the entire third act of his residency around it, it’s the kind of track that’s increasingly more difficult to see escape from the machinations of an industry that stifles attempts to veer from what’s worked before, or considers currently stale. And yet Benito made it a hit, arguably the centerpiece of his highly successful concert, and demonstrated that—as he said years ago—it can be done.
Bad Bunny is, obviously, not a salsa artist. This isn’t a knock against him, but instead a sober statement about the eclecticism of his music. But while he might never be Gilberto Santa Rosa—nor, do we suspect, he even dares to dream about comparing himself to that titan of salsa—it should surprise no one if in the near future, when DtMF mania has died down, you find yourself in a placita or chinchorro somewhere on the east coast of Puerto Rico and hear “Conciencia” followed up by the unmistakable opening notes of “BAILE INoLVIDABLE.”
It will sound normal, and it will sound natural.
