On January 5, 2025, Bad Bunny released the long-awaited “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” album. The 17-song album was released a day before the widely celebrated Three Kings Day, which is more commonly celebrated in the Hispanic community. Bad Bunny deliberately released the album as a gift to his fans for this reason. Each song explores the themes of growing up, losing/gaining culture in a country, the tourist crisis in Puerto Rico, and reminiscing about the past.
The song “NUEVAYoL” samples a bit from the song “Un Verano en Nueva York” by El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, released in 1975, which is about growing up in New York in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. The spelling of the song has to do with how “Nueva York” is how to say “New York” in Spanish, along with how native speakers say it fast- hence the missing “K”- combined with the Puerto Rican accent which is why the “R” is an “L” sound.
Bad Bunny’s song explores the same theme in a modern Salsa-Dembow way. The first lyrics in the music is a sample from El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico’s song, “Si te quieres divertir, con encanto y con primor, solo tienes que vivir… Un verano en Nueva York…”, which translates to “If you want to have fun, with charm and delight, you just have to live a summer in New York…”. The idea behind the lyrics and the style of music leads most to believe this will be the “song of the summer” as most of the album shares the same upbeat pop sound found in most summer-associated songs.
One of the other songs in the album is “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii”, which translates to “What happened to Hawaii”, referencing the tourist crisis and destruction of culture throughout the song. Many lines in the song reference this theme, “Quieren quitarme el río y también la playa, Quieren al barrio mío y que tus hijos se vayan, No, no suelte’ la bandera ni olvide’ el lelolai, Que no quiero que hagan contigo lo que le pasó a Hawai…” which translates to “They want to take away my river and also my beach, They want my neighborhood and for your children to leave, No, don’t let go of the flag or forget the lelolai, I don’t want them to do to you what happened to Hawaii…”. The lyrics are about the people moving to and commercializing Puerto Rico to fit their profile and everything they’re taking away from the locals in the process. Bad Bunny references Hawaii in the song to show how the commercializing of Hawaii has impacted the locals there, and how soon the same will happen to Puerto Rico if it isn’t stopped.
Finally, one of the last few songs in the album, “DtMF” which is the shorter name of the album, is exactly what it sounds like it would be about. The song captures the essence of what it means to think of the past and expressing regrets. It displays this idea with the lyrics that bring up some of Bad Bunny’s regrets about love, childhood, and family, “Debí tirar más fotos de cuando te tuve, Debí darte más besos y abrazos las veces que pude, Ey, ojalá que los míos nunca se muden” which translates to “I should’ve taken more pictures when I had you, I should’ve given you more kisses and hugs the times I could, Ay, I wish my people never move”. The song focuses on regrets of not spending time in the places or with the people you should’ve when you were able to.
Overall, many people are waiting to see what Bad Bunny’s current South American tour, which features these new songs, will bring. Fans everywhere in the U.S are patiently waiting for summer to start blasting these songs!