Bad Bunny consistently demonstrates his status as the largest celebrity in the world and his ability to shape contemporary history.
His album “Un Verano Sin Ti” sat on the number one spot for 13 weeks on the Billboard charts in 2022, he became the most streamed artist on Spotify and had back-to-back, sold-out shows during his “World Hottest Tour” events. Benito has done all of this without compromising his vision of not releasing music in English. He’s one of the only Latino artists who has seen success with all-Spanish-language music crossover.
Now, he is making history yet again. He is the face of TIME magazine’s first Spanish-language cover. TIME magazine has been running since 1923 and has only been published in English until now.
TIME counts with millions of subscribers, worldwide, and it’s one of the most known publications.
Bad Bunny got candid during the interview with TIME magazine. He spoke about what gives him satisfaction as an artist, the politicization of his music, colorism, and more.
Below are some of the things he told TIME that caught our attention:
On what would make him happy
“I always say that if a thousand people listened to me and I performed once a month at a little place, just with that I would be happy,” he says in his deep baritone and distinctly Puerto Rican inflection. “But the hunger and the passion that I have for this is impossible, because I always want to give more and more and more.”
On politics overall
“I think the [U.S.] government has failed Puerto Rico,” he told TIME. “It’s failed the United States. Equally, Puerto Rico has failed Puerto Rico. I believe that all governments have failed their country at some point.”
On TIME magazine asking him if colorism played a role in Tego Calderón’s career
“Because I haven’t seen it or lived it, I can’t say. It’d be irresponsible of me to say yes. They asked me about if Tego Calderón would’ve been bigger if he wasn’t Black. But in my eyes, Tego Calderón is the biggest singer in the industry.”
On his feelings about people without ‘sazón’
“Our culture and music impacts people in other places. They want to try it and feel it. So why am I going to be bothered by that, if they do it with respect?”
On learning English
“There’s a lot of things that I’m losing, like opportunities, ’cause the language,” TIME writes in their article. “I didn’t care about [learning] English. But now, I think I care.”
“The day I feel like I need to do a song in English, I’ll do it because I feel it.”