Fresh off latest hit album, Bad Bunny announces Puerto Rican concert residency

NEW YORK – Megastar Bad Bunny announced on Jan 13 a 21-concert residency in his homeland Puerto Rico, with the first nine shows limited to the island’s residents.

The announcement follows the successful release of his latest studio album, Debi Tirar Mas Fotos (I Should Have Taken More Photos), which dropped on Jan 5 and soared immediately to top the albums chart.

It was the largest streaming week for a Latin title in more than a year, according to Billboard, which runs the American charts.

The concert residency at San Juan’s Coliseo de Puerto Rico – titled No Me Quiero Ir De Aqui (I Don’t Want To Leave Here) – is slated to begin on July 11 and take place from Fridays to Sundays on subsequent weeks.

Known colloquially as El Choli, the arena can accommodate more than 18,000 attendees.

That the first nine shows are available exclusively to Puerto Rican residents is an extension of the album that is a staunch affirmation of Bad Bunny’s roots on the Caribbean island.

The album is a history lesson in Puerto Rican music and rhythms, as well as a rallying cry that magnifies the island’s colonial past and present and gentrification that favours luxury homes and tourism over the needs of Puerto Ricans.

It is also a loud call for Puerto Rican independence over American statehood.

The 30-year-old star, born Benito Martinez Ocasio, has long used his platform as a means to give voice to his fellow Puerto Ricans, while also managing to rule the charts – and the world – with his reggaeton-forward blend of eminently danceable pop that has found massive global success.

In a video on his Instagram page that coincides with the announcement of the residency, Bad Bunny said in Spanish that he has loved touring – but “for now, I am in Puerto Rico. I am at home and I am having a good time, and if I am honest, I do not want to leave here”. AFP