Nobody Knows What Bad Bunny Brings Next

Playing 8 p.m. Saturday, May 11, at Bridgestone Arena

Bad Bunny’s return to Nashville is long overdue. The Puerto Rican trap artist was already a bona fide hitmaker back in 2018 when he last came through town, riding a wave of buzz and hype about a “new Latin explosion.” Since then, he’s become not just the biggest name in reggaeton but perhaps the most famous artist in the world, crushing streaming numbers, winning Latin and Gringo Grammys, tagging into professional wrestling, popping up in movies and even hosting Saturday Night Live. He’s pushed boundaries of Latin trap and reggaeton along the way, participated in mass protests in Puerto Rico and challenged gender norms with fashion-forward performances, both onstage and in music videos.

Somehow he never booked so much as a Bonnaroo gig in all that time. Despite the different iterations he’s explored since his last romp through town, the version of Bad Bunny that returns to Tennessee this month may be closer to the one that visited six years ago.

San Benito’s 2022 LP Un Verano Sin Ti was a glorious experiment with genre, bouncing from indie pop to cumbia and even working in a little bossa nova. It pushed the bounds of so-called música urbana and dominated charts despite only one true standout single (“Tití Me Preguntó” ). The bittersweet energy of that summery breakup album didn’t carry over to fall 2023.

Bad Bunny, as all superstars do, was struggling with the twin burdens of global fame and increasing isolation. It’s an old story, but the rapper is talented and interesting enough to make the trope worth revisiting. And in a surprise move, he returns to his Latin trap roots — with craggy samples, triple-time hi-hats and dembow drums — to do so on Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana.

El Conejo Malo cut his teeth on moody, lovesick emo-rap, but he brings a new world-weary bitterness to his old stomping grounds. Despite sonic similarities between Bad Bunny’s sound today and in his early years, the new album features a more petty and aggressive Benito than we’re used to. He goes after past collaborator J Balvin, seems to take a swipe at reigning queen of reggaeton Karol G and disses his ex-girlfriend (a move that earned fitting but unfavorable comparisons to Drake’s recent anti-Rihanna rhymes). He defends throwing a woman’s phone into water because she wasn’t a real fan — and indeed, there’s a degree to which Bunny seems to be daring Un Verano newcomers to cross a genre line they ignored till now.

The themes feel retrograde from a dude with a decent rep in progressive circles. Sure, he was never gonna be the next Residente — Calle 13’s volcanic MC — but it’s a bummer to see him so enveloped by his own fame. It doesn’t help that the album is too long for such a tiresome theme.

At the same time, it would be unfair to so closely link these unflattering qualities to Bad Bunny’s return to trap. At its best moments (and there are many highlights), Nadie Sabe feels more like a return to form than a stylistic retread, with deft flows, addictive hooks and signature raunchy humor. He flexes his continued ascendancy with lines like “No soy la cabra, soy el conejo” (“I’m not the GOAT, I’m the Bunny”). Lead single “Monaco” is a modern-day mafioso rap classic — its gritty sample of strings from “Hier Encore” and references to Pablo Escobar could be from an early Raekwon album.

Benito is also a devoted student of reggaeton, and this album is not just returning to his comfort zone but the locus of a musical conversation between the genre’s past and future. He brings in fiery up-and-comer and open lesbian Young Miko to rap over a risque Tego Calderon sample — Bad Bunny knows the future of reggaeton looks more femme and queer than expected — while mainstays like Arcángel, Ñengo Flow and De la Ghetto feature on stacked posse cut “ACHO PR.” 

Despite all the bluster warning newbies and fake fans to stay away, I predict Nashville will show up in droves for this one. And Bad Bunny won’t be the only big Latin music act packing Bridgestone this year: Benito’s collaborator Feid performs there later this month, and veteran norteño group Los Tigres del Norte will likely sell out their September show. It’s a good reminder that Nashville boasts a small but vibrant community of Latin musicians and fans representing genres from grupo to rock en español.

Rich as that scene is, I still find myself missing the trunk-rattling dembow that blared from just about every other car from my childhood hometown in the Northeast. I didn’t know I’d ever miss that particular expression of Latinidad, that I’d find solace in it. If Bad Bunny is looking back to the past, I guess he’s not alone. But hopefully we’re not all so bitter about the present.