Category Archives: Music News

Daddy Yankee & Marc Anthony Team up for ‘De Vuelta Pa’ La Vuelta’ Music Video

Daddy Yankee & Marc Anthony Team up for ‘De Vuelta Pa’ La Vuelta’ Music Video

Two Puerto Rican icons team up for one of this year’s biggest collaborations. Daddy Yankee and Marc Anthony join forces for their music video “De Vuelta Pa’ La Vuelta” that was released today (Dec. 11).

Yankee and Anthony have been teasing the release throughout the week in enigmatic Instagram posts. Together, they join the worlds of reggaetón and salsa music on “De Vuelta Pa’ La Vuelta,” and they are not playing any games with salsa giant Sergio George as the song’s producer.

“Marc is a Latin music icon,” said Daddy Yankee in a statement. “To have the honor to enter his musical world and be part of that magic was always on my ‘bucket list.’ I’ve wanted to show a musical side that not very many people know about, and what better way to do that than hand in hand with a legendary producer like Sergio George and a powerhouse like Marc. This is Salsa de Callejón, Rumba de Barrio with the right touch of elegance to light up Christmas.”

Daddy Yankee and Marc Anthony wrote “De Vuelta Pa’ La Vuelta” with hit-maker Edgar “Edge” Barrera. Both artists trade verses about an ex that has come crawling back. The two genres that Yankee and Anthony proudly represent collide on this scorching kiss-off track. The Nuyorican singer and the Boricua rapper star in the music video that’s a sophisticated affair.

“It was such an experience to see Yankee dive into my world. He is a force to be reckoned that has set so many precedents in the Latin music scene,” Anthony said. “Now with this song, we have the opportunity to unite our voices, highlight our culture, and honor our Latino roots.”

Bad Bunny Makes History With First All-Spanish No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart

Bad Bunny Makes History With First All-Spanish No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart

Bad Bunny ends the year making history with his latest album El Último Tour Del Mundo. The Puerto Rican superstar debuts at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart with the first all-Spanish album, Billboard reported on Sunday (Dec. 6).

Back in March, Bad Bunny set the record for the highest all-Spanish album on the Billboard 200 chart when YHLQMDLG reached No. 2. Before him, the only other all-Spanish albums to get close were Colombian pop star Shakira’s Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 and Mexican rock group Maná’s Amar es Combatir, both of which peaked at No. 4 on the chart.

Following appearances on Jimmy Fallon and James Cordon’s late night shows, Bad Bunny’s El Último Tour Del Mundo debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart this week with 116,000 in sales and streaming. This historic moment for Latin music comes on the heels of Spotify announcing Benito as the most-streamed artist on the platform globally in 2020.

Bad Bunny tops the Billboard 200 chart 25 years after Selena did the same with her posthumous album Dreaming of You in 1995. She was the Latine first artist to reach No. 1 on the chart with Spanish music, but her album was a mixture of songs in English and Spanish. Benito’s album was recorded in all Spanish, down to having indie singer Abra singing en español on their duet “Sorry Papi.”

Bad Bunny noted he would take a bit of break after this album to focus on other career pursuits. Those include two acting gigs in the next season of Narcos: Mexico and his big screen debut in American Sole.

How Bad Bunny’s Concert Route Through NYC Paid Tribute to Latinx & POC Communities

How Bad Bunny’s Concert Route Through NYC Paid Tribute to Latinx & POC Communities

During his historic livestreamed parade-like concert in NYC last night, Bad Bunny told his audience of a million-plus fans: “What I’ve done is what I feel. I think people don’t understand and they try to find something or another in my music. But the only thing I’ve done is done things how I think they should be done.”

We know Bad Bunny hace que le da la gana; he does what he wants, always. But it just so happens that a lot of times, what Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio wants to do is important, meaningful, and game-changing. He’s elevated issues in Puerto Rico through activism, he’s confronted gender norms and stereotypes of masculinity through his music, visuals, and persona, and he’s helped dismantle the barriers that unfairly cordon off Latinx music from the greater mainstream.

And with last night’s instantly iconic concert, he’s honored Latinx history and community in a way few celebrities ever have. The event itself is monumental: No other Spanish-language artist has organized a caravan-style concert through NYC before, much less in this unparalleled time of a modern pandemic.

He also spoke to the 3-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria, the natural disaster that wrecked the island, its immediate post-storm period tragically exacerbated and extended by the inefficiencies of local and federal governments.

But it’s the route Benito and company took that add that extra sentimental weight, making this event an even more significant gift than first assumed.

Read on to learn why the three neighborhoods through which Bad Bunny traveled last night are notable, important representations of U.S. Latinx history.

The Bronx
About 29% of the people living in New York City are Latinx. And while Bad Bunny is for everyone, of course, beginning his spectacle surrounded by the highest concentration of Latinx people in the state of New York feels like a nod to those who love him most. The Bronx is, of course, home to many Puerto Ricans and Dominicans; for many, Bad Bunny is a bridge to the Caribbean islands they miss and cherish.

Washington Heights
Trills of a bachata-trap blend rang through the streets of Little Dominican Republic when Bad Bunny played “La Romana,” named for the city and featuring Dominican dembow star El Alfa, while rolling through Washington Heights.

The Dominican population of the area has dropped in recent years—a result of gentrification, primarily. In 2018, however, between W. 175th and Broadway was officially dubbed Little Dominican Republic in an effort to honor and preserve the work that so many Dominican people have put into the flourishing of that very community.

Save for Santo Domingo, by the way, more Dominicans live in New York City than any other city in the world.

Harlem
Bad Bunny paused the show to give thanks to the entirety of Harlem Hospital’s professionals, from the nurses, doctors, ICU staff and other frontline healthcare workers, who labor tirelessly to help Covid-19 patients. As NYC became a hotspot for cases, the hospital has been inundated—it is a challenging environment, to say the least, where beds are scarce and equipment is lacking.

Black people and other POC, including Latinxs, are especially susceptible to COVID-19’s effects. Systemic issues like eonomic inequity, housing conditions, discrimination and racism are all a part of this incredible injustice.

A block away from Harlem Hospital is El Barrio (East Harlem), inarguably the epicenter of Nuyorican community and culture. Like other majorly minority populated neighborhoods, the grip of gentrification is tight here—but this long-standing community perpetually pushes back.

How Bad Bunny’s Concert Route Through NYC Paid Tribute to Latinx & POC Communities