{"id":1996169,"date":"2025-09-04T05:31:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T05:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=1996169"},"modified":"2025-09-04T05:31:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T05:31:17","slug":"students-to-study-puerto-rico-and-colonialism-through-bad-bunnys-latest-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/students-to-study-puerto-rico-and-colonialism-through-bad-bunnys-latest-album\/","title":{"rendered":"Students to study Puerto Rico and colonialism through Bad Bunny&#8217;s latest album"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div><audio class=\"mui-style-1orlj4t-root\" src=\"https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/dovetail.prxu.org\/_\/300\/7fb2e7ce-b03f-4fc0-abe5-64f36b07de00\/2025_0903_06.wav\" controls=\"\" preload=\"none\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Growing up in New Jersey, Albert Laguna was surrounded by Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and his own Cuban family.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>One particular song took him right back to dancing as a kid at family parties: The 1975 hit, \u201cUn Verano en Nueva York,\u201d by El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, one of the most famous salsa bands in history.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/HBkZRS8gTdg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" tabindex=\"-1\" title=\"Un Verano en Nueva York\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Fast forward 50 years: Laguna heard those opening horns again.\u00a0This time, that iconic intro was just a sample. It led into a brand new song \u2014 \u201cNUEVAYoL\u201d \u2014 by Puerto Rican megastar Bad Bunny \u2014 who quickly puts his own spin on things with a more reggaeton-style beat, Laguna said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNUEVAYoL\u201d is the first track on Bad Bunny\u2019s latest album, \u201cDeB\u00cd TiRAR M\u00e1S FOToS\u201d (which translates to \u201cI should have taken more photos\u201d). It\u2019s had massive commercial success \u2014 even by Bad Bunny standards \u2014 eventually spending four weeks leading the Billboard 200 chart.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/KU5V5WZVcVE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" tabindex=\"-1\" title=\"BAD BUNNY - NUEVAYoL (Video Oficial) | DeB\u00cd TiRAR M\u00e1S FOToS\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In November, the singer, born Benito Antonio Mart\u00ednez Ocasio, will embark on a world tour. But before that, Laguna is bringing the album to Yale, where he\u2019s an associate professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, Race and Migration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis album allows us to sit down and focus on Puerto Rico,\u201d Laguna said. \u201cA place that most of my students don\u2019t fully understand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laguna said the class \u2014 called \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/yaledailynews.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/22\/bad-bunny-course-coming-to-yale-this-fall\/\">Bad Bunny: Musical Aesthetics and Politics<\/a>\u201d \u2014 begins in the 19th century. From there, the syllabus tracks Puerto Rico\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd it\u2019s using one or two songs from the latest album as a structuring device for each class,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, students will look at the colonial relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States. That\u2019s a key theme that Bad Bunny explores in his lyrics.<\/p>\n<p>For example, in the song \u201cLO QUE LE PAS\u00d3 A HAWAii,\u201d he sings about a Puerto Rican man who is leaving the island.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/uvfDaZ4ZT80?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" tabindex=\"-1\" title=\"BAD BUNNY - LO QUE LE PAS\u00d3 A HAWAii (Visualizer) | DeB\u00cd TiRAR M\u00e1S FOToS\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cAnd it\u2019s not because he wants to leave Puerto Rico, it\u2019s because of the corruption \u200b\u200b\u2014 the corruption inherent in the colonial project,\u201d Laguna explained. \u201cThe economic constraints of living in Puerto Rico \u2014 high cost of living, gentrification. So, he doesn\u2019t want to leave, but he has to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Topics like this are exactly why Antonio Padilla, a third-year student at Yale, signed up for the new class. His parents left Puerto Rico for Connecticut as kids, and raised him and his sister in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of people have to leave the island, and a lot of people don\u2019t come back. And that\u2019s really huge when you\u2019re just a small island. The population is getting shrunken,\u201d Padilla said. \u201cAnd I think Bad Bunny is just really speaking against that and trying to revitalize something. And encouraging people to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bad Bunny, himself, continues to return to the island. He\u2019s currently nearing the end of a 30-show residency in San Juan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe title of the residency is \u2018No Me Quiero Ir de Aqu\u00ed.\u2019 \u2018I don\u2019t want to leave here,\u2019\u201d said Laguna. \u201cThat\u2019s an incredibly political statement.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Bad Bunny performs during his first show of his 30-date concert residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico Jos\u00e9 Miguel Agrelot, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 11, 2025.<span class=\"media-credit\">Alejandro Granadillo\/AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The city of San Juan estimates the residency <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sanjuan.pr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Impacto-Economico-de-la-Residencia-de-Bad-Bunny-Advantage-Agosto-2025.pdf\">will bring in nearly $380 million<\/a> and create more than 3,000 jobs. Laguna said even that won\u2019t solve the island\u2019s economic challenges, but it does show that opportunities exist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s the narrative for most people when they get famous, right? They get big locally, then they go international. He\u2019s \u2014 he\u2019s flipping it,\u201d Laguna said. \u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018You wanna see me? This concert will not be recreated in the way it\u2019s happening in Puerto Rico anywhere else in the world. You wanna see it? You have to come to Puerto Rico.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"wp-image-659645\" style=\"color:transparent\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 1200px\" srcset=\"\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-fans-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=370&amp;q=85 370w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-fans-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=400&amp;q=85 400w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-fans-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=568&amp;q=85 568w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-fans-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=600&amp;q=85 600w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-fans-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=808&amp;q=85 808w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-fans-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=960&amp;q=85 960w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-fans-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=1280&amp;q=85 1280w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-fans-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=1920&amp;q=85 1920w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-fans-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=2048&amp;q=85 2048w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-fans-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=85 3840w\" src=\"https:\/\/theworld.org\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-fans-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=85\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Bad Bunny fans pose for a photo before attending the first show of his 30-date concert residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico Jose Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 11, 2025.<span class=\"media-credit\">Alejandro Granadillo\/AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Aside from the island\u2019s history, Laguna will also use the new class to place Bad Bunny\u2019s success within a broader context of Caribbean popular music.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMusic from the Caribbean has been molding popular music taste \u2014 on a global level \u2014 since the 19th century,\u201d he said. \u201cBad Bunny is another link in a much longer chain: mambo, salsa, reggaeton, cha-cha-cha, reggae. These are all musical rhythms from the Caribbean that have taken the world by storm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laguna is <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.badbunnysyllabus.com\/\">not the first professor<\/a> to teach about Bad Bunny. There have also been courses at Wellesley College and Loyola Marymount. The amount of attention Laguna\u2019s class is getting shows there\u2019s still a big demand.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"wp-image-659647\" style=\"color:transparent\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 1200px\" srcset=\"\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-crowd-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=370&amp;q=85 370w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-crowd-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=400&amp;q=85 400w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-crowd-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=568&amp;q=85 568w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-crowd-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=600&amp;q=85 600w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-crowd-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=808&amp;q=85 808w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-crowd-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=960&amp;q=85 960w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-crowd-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=1280&amp;q=85 1280w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-crowd-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=1920&amp;q=85 1920w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-crowd-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=2048&amp;q=85 2048w, \/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-crowd-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=85 3840w\" src=\"https:\/\/theworld.org\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2F2025-09-03-Lumina-Bad-Bunny-crowd-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=85\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fans attend the first show of Bad Bunny\u2019s 30-date concert residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico Jose Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 11, 2025.<span class=\"media-credit\">Alejandro Granadillo\/AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He said people of all ages have reached out with interest in the course \u2014 from teens to people in their 70s. \u201cIt\u2019s rare to have a popular culture artifact with that level of intergenerational interest,\u201d Laguna said.<\/p>\n<p>On campus, more than 120 students hoped to get a seat, but Laguna is keeping it small at just 18 juniors and seniors.<\/p>\n<p>Padilla is ecstatic to be one of them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo me, this signifies a growth in terms of popularity and exposure that Puerto Rico has to the rest of the world,\u201d he said. \u201cThat, I\u2019m very proud of. And not only that, but it gives me a way to talk about these things with other Puerto Ricans, and not only Puerto Ricans, but people in general.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source theworld.org \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Growing up in New Jersey, Albert Laguna was surrounded by Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and his own Cuban family.\u00a0 One particular song took him right back to dancing as a kid at family parties: The 1975 hit, \u201cUn Verano en Nueva York,\u201d by El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, one of the most famous salsa bands [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1996170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1996169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Students-to-study-Puerto-Rico-and-colonialism-through-Bad-Bunnys.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1996169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1996170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1996169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1996169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1996169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}