Brazil Is Finally Listening to Bad Bunny – Here’s Why
Photo by Eric Rojas.
Bad Bunny has led the latest global boom of Latine music for a hot minute, breaking records with albums like YHLQMDLG (2020) and Un Verano Sin Ti (2022). In Latin America specifically, you could say he’s the undisputed king of music — if it wasn’t for one specific country: Brazil.
Historically, music sung in Spanish has struggled to achieve the same success as English or local songs in Portuguese. And despite worldwide acclaim, especially throughout Latin America, Brazil was never included in Bad Bunny’s tours, nor did his songs ever get popularity outside niches like the relatively small reggaeton fandom or Latine-themed parties. But that changed recently with his newest album, DeBÍ TiRAR Más FOtos. Since its release on Jan. 5, the album’s nostalgia and old-school Puerto Rican genres are striking a chord with Brazilians, who seem to be finally embracing the boricua superstar.
Following the trend that arose in many countries, the song “DtMF” went viral in TikTok and Instagram in Brazil, inspiring people to join the trend of uploading videos and pictures of their loved ones with the lyrics, “Debí tirar más fotos de cuando te tuve / Debí darte más besos y abrazo’ las veces que pude,” as soundtrack. It quickly became a challenge joined by names like the soccer legend Ronaldinho Gaúcho, who is friends with Benito and made a cameo in his music video “Where She Goes” of 2023.
The futebol community’s support played a big role in the song’s growth in Brazil. Even the Confederation of Brazilian Football and Kely Nascimento, the daughter of soccer king Pelé, contributed to the trend. “DtMF” debuted at no. 56 on Billboard Brasil’s Hot 100, making Bad Bunny the first non-Brazilian Latine artist to appear in this chart with a solo song.
But overall, it seems like the Brazilian audience is grooving to the entire album, as multiple songs charted on Apple Music Brazil — where Bad Bunny has never charted before — and Spotify Brazil’s Viral 50 charts. “NUEVAYoL” even played in one of Brazilian TV’s most-watched shows, Mais Você.
While Brazil’s openness to reggaeton is steadily increasing over the last few years, we can’t really say that the success of DeBÍ TiRAR Más FOtos is a sign of better times for the genre. As of Jan. 28, six songs from DeBÍ TiRAR Más FOtos are charting on Brazil’s Spotify Viral 50 chart, of which only one is a reggaeton song (“VOY A LLeVARTE PA PR”). Besides “DtMF” and “VOY A LLeVARTE PA PR,” “BAILE INoLVIDABLE,” “NUEVAYoL,” “WELTiTA,” and “LO QUE PASÓ A HAWAii” are also resonating with Brazilians. Who would’ve thought that it would be salsa and plena that would break the king of reggaeton and Latine trap in Brazil?
It’s too soon to say DeBÍ TiRAR Más FOtos is a hit in the country, but what it is achieving so far is unprecedented. In the week of Jan. 17 to 23, the album ranked no. 10 in the Spotify Top Albums chart, surpassing the record of Rosalia’s MOTOMAMI within albums in Spanish-language. Fan pages now highlight the words “including Brazil” when posting about DeBÍ TiRAR Más FOtos’s performance across Latin America. “DtMF” even gained a piseiro version in Portuguese by singer Felipe Amorim, “Saudades sua.”
If Bad Bunny’s viral moments in Brazilian social media used to be “I’ve never heard of him” jokes about his global streaming and touring numbers, now the tide is changing. And most interestingly, the Puerto Rican is smoothly conquering Brazil in the same way he did with the rest of the world: in his own terms, by singing in his language, with his accent, about his culture, and without bending to the local market’s needs.