Man Just Go!

It was New Year’s Eve, 2024. I was sitting on my sofa browsing through news articles on the web when I received a notification of a power outage causing a massive blackout on most of the island of Puerto Rico. My first reaction was to worry about my family that lived on and were visiting the island at the time as I was concerned for their safety. After confirming everyone was fine, my second reaction was astonishment. I know- You’re wondering how one can be astonished by family members having to bring in the New Year with no electricity? Well, to be honest, it was just how less worried they were than I was about the situation. They were the ones there dealing with the blackout, yet, their holiday spirits were no where near broken. The show went right on and the party just kept on going.  

A few hours passed by and I received another notification. This time, I was notified that my guy Bad Bunny had just released the music video to his new single, Pitorro de Coco. I was very pleased with this ping- The timing of the drop matched the sentiment of my family in Puerto Rico celebrating the holidays through this blackout disaster and I really liked the song. Besides relating to its’ themes of hopeless romance, the incorporated guitar riffs from Chúito el de Bayamón’s anthemic Si Yo Fuera Alcalde brought nostalgia from the Christmases of my early years. Also, back in 2020, Bad Bunny released an album named El Último Tour Del Mundo that included a song called Cantares de Navidad performed by Trío Vegabajeño which my aunt remembered as a favorite of my late grandfather’s during a jam session. The fact that a member of the new generation of Puerto Rican musical artists was able to put together a holiday piece that was all over the radio and resembled timeless songs of our traditional Christmas celebrations like Cantares de Navidad was a thing of true beauty. 

Besides incorporating classical holiday sonic aspects, Pitorro de Coco’s music video also brought back visual memories of past Christmases. Family gatherings held in Bronx and Manhattan apartments packed with people, food, and gifts; Any latino male considered “the only boy” in a family can attest to the fact that these events were kind of awkward. Sure, you listen to your elder relatives bochinche through rounds of coquito, pitorro, and beer, and you transition seamlessly to the realm of the children’s table where you get to munch on pernil, arroz con gandules, and pastels with your cousins, but in reality, you just don’t give a shit about any of it. You’re really just waiting. Waiting to open your one gift at midnight, waiting to rush home and prepare milk and cookies for Santa and his reindeer, and waiting to get your ass to bed so that you can wake up super early and open more gifts. Salsa lessons from tití is just an opening act for the main event. Bad Bunny captures this sentiment in his music video by sitting on a monobloc chair in what looks like a decorated shed filled with elder gentlemen during a holiday party. He accepts a sandwich and shot of alcohol in the scene but doesn’t visibly connect with anyone, inducing this “only boy at a holiday party” rhetoric. There’s something about the video that touched on my childlike connection with Christmas, saturated with heart warming remnants of a joyful and celebrated past (and the lonely boy!). The parties thrown at home were AMAZING, but, the late night coaching I gave myself to force myself to sleep on Christmas Eve’s end were even more memorable. This is where the Pitorro de Coco music video brought me.

On September 28, 2025, Bad Bunny was announced as the headliner for the Super Bowl LX Halftime show. The announcement was greeted with mixed reception, split between those who supported the global chart dominating artist’s selection and those who just couldn’t get behind a mainstream artist that doesn’t perform in english with progressive immigration ideologies headlining the glorious NFL halftime show. Suggestions were made to replace Bad Bunny’s selection or even have alternative halftime concerts run simultaneously. No matter what the individual sentiments may have been, it was clear that about half of those offering opinions did not share my feelings about Pitorro de Coco. A more important fact to note is that the Puerto Rican folklore elements of Pitorro de Coco and Bad Bunny’s most recent project, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, will be shared on the biggest stage in America and performed in its second most commonly spoken language by its largest superstar (because Puerto Rico, is in fact, part of the United States). It’s like cementing together a piece of American history that’s always existed, perreo and all.   

Puerto Rico became a United States territory in 1898. In comparison, by then, all but five states were already admitted to the union. There was an existing population on the island that had its own culture, systems, and way of life. After 125 years of association with the United States, of course there’s been an obvious blending of ideologies and influence on that culture. This is super noticeable in the music where recognizable Puerto Rican tracks often incorporate a combination of sounds of Indigenous, European, Caribbean, and American origins. Throughout the years, artists from Puerto Rico such as Bad Bunny have managed to rise through global music markets. Admittedly, sometimes the product can sound like an artist from Puerto Rico hopped on a microphone in an Atlanta recording studio or Jersey night club and performed a solid Spanish rendition of the hottest local takes of the time, but I’ll digress. Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos took a different route by producing tracks that captured the essence of the pre to post colonial histories of Puerto Rico and the music created on the island throughout those time periods. When considering the bop of the plena percussion, the cries of the salsa horns, the serenity of the Spanish guitar riffs, and at times politically inspired story telling- Bad Bunny created a piece of modern folklore that will be played in gatherings like those of my childhood for generations and generations. The Puerto Rican delicacies of reggaeton, salsa, and bomba y plena will be brought to the forefront of what is arguably America’s biggest event and normalized. Maybe a new generation of English-speaking salseros will gain inspiration from Bad Bunny’s performance, similar to how Puerto Rican artists have been inspired to create works in the styles of their mainland counterparts. 

Now do you get why Bad Bunny’ll be headlining next month’s Super Bowl? For starters- Because of the same reasons why I had a Disney’s King Arthur VHS tape as a child and read Beowulf in High School. There are pieces of work that can be used as gateways to genres and time periods. It just so happens that Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos’ themes of colonialism, heart break, and celebration are actually historically common in American works. I would never downplay how cool the heroes of medieval Anglo Saxon literature were, but Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance is a bit different. Millions of people across the world will tune into an educational exposé, showcasing the little known piece of American culture that is Puerto Rican culture. The sounds, rituals, and essence of those awkward holiday gatherings of my childhood will be on full display for 15 minutes in San Francisco next month and with that, a silent addition of a stitch to the fabric that is American culture.

-Giovanni Alvarado