Bad Bunny's secret: from working in a supermarket to being "number one" in world pop and sharing the screen with Brad Pitt in six years

Bad Bunny has been the artist with the most

listeners in the world for two years.

And in these times that means he is the greatest artist in the world.

”Bad Bunny continues to break records and climb into the sky.

He occupies that place reserved for stars that only occur once a generation”, read this week in

, the umpteenth publication in the United States that recognizes that, for the first time in history, the greatest luminary of world pop is Latin.

It's hard to deny.

The musician from Puerto Rico has just filled New York's Yankee Stadium for two nights.

One hundred thousand tickets sold, basically because there weren't any more for sale.

During one of those concerts he picked up the MTV VMA Award for best artist of the year, becoming the first non-English speaking winner.

“I have been saying it and I always believed from the beginning that I could become great, that I could become one of the biggest stars in the world without having to change my culture, my language, my language, my jargon.

I am Benito Antonio Martínez, from Puerto Rico to the whole world”, he said on stage, holding the award in his hand.

To finish making sure that this would be an unforgettable date, that boy who worked in 2016 bagging the purchase of customers from a supermarket in Vega Baja, a city half an hour from San Juan, kissed on the mouth with one of his dancers .

After dressing in skirts or painting his nails, he publicly broke another taboo in the world of urban music, that scene that according to Pablito Wilson, author of

(Liburuak, 2022), a book on the history of the genre, is generally masculine and conservative.

“It is impossible to know why she did it.

A kiss has the meaning you want to give it”, says the Argentine journalist.

“A straight, cisgender man knows that kissing a dancer means something important to the LGBTI community.

It will be a support and it will not take away his manhood.

It is also possible that he is discovering bisexuality, that has already been said about him.

What surprises me is that he scandalizes so much.

That discussion seems crazy to me, ”he concludes.

Three legendary kisses at the MTV VMAs: Britney Spears and Madonna.

Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley.

Bad Bunny and one of her dancers.

What Wilson is clear about is what makes Bad Bunny a special musician.

"A lot of things.

The main thing is that we are in an age where honesty is rewarded and anything perceived as dishonesty is punished.

That comes with the

and the TikTok generation.

Bad Bunny had super misogynistic lyrics, super strong.

He was an irresponsible teenager, as many of us were at the time.

And he has allowed himself to be shaped, he has become a more responsible person.

I think he was greatly nurtured by his relationship with Gabriela, ”he explains.

Gabriela Berlingeri is the only couple known to him since 2017. According to his criteria, it was she who made him aware, to the point that the musician took advantage of his speech by winning the award for best Latin artist at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards for launch a message in Spanish against sexist violence on American television.

“I want to dedicate this award to all women around the world, especially to Latin women and women from Puerto Rico.

Without you, neither music nor reggaeton would exist, so enough of sexist violence, against women, we are going to educate now in the present for a better future, ”said the Puerto Rican after interpreting his success

“She learned about women's concerns from Gabriela,” continues Wilson.

“He knew how to listen and that fed him and made him take part in certain slogans, which he also believes are valid.

I think he is a very genuine guy, the main key is there.

He adds to all that he produces.

Since he was 12 years old he produced a lot of music.

He started on SoundCloud and was followed by DJs and producers for a long time.

Later he broke it up with

and

, but by then he was already known in the scene.

And, in addition, there is a brutal

image and

That doesn't mean he's dishonest.

Once a person told me that the problem is not to build a character, but to build a character that is not in accordance with what you are, "concludes the journalist

The person in charge of this

and discoverer of Bad Bunny is the Puerto Rican businessman Noah Assad, founder of the independent label Rimas.

The rapid implementation of YouTube and

services in Latin America has changed the profile of successful artists, now that they are not dependent on record buyers or large radio networks.

Trends are set by young people and popular classes with an Internet connection.

In 2019, Assad assured

that the beginning of his success came when he met the person who was in charge of expanding YouTube in countries like Puerto Rico and Colombia.

"I was able to introduce her to the artists that she was a fan of, and before I knew it, she was like, 'I'm going to try to give you a big break,'" she stated in the magazine.

That executive gave Rimas the first YouTube direct monetization deal in Puerto Rico.

Little was known about the capitalization of Rimas until, in early August, Assad's former partner filed a complaint to claim half of his assets, which he values ​​at one billion dollars, of which 500 would come from his relationship with Bad Bunny.

The detailed document states that Rimas was founded in 2014 with two million dollars contributed by a former deputy minister of the Chavez government, now a Miami resident and who would be the true owner of the label.

With a skirt and proud: one of the images of Bad Bunny in last spring's campaign for designer Jacquemus.

What is clear is that Assad and Benito build Bad Bunny together.

“Noah Assad has the label and gets to work with him.

And the idea was to do things differently, to look from another side”, explains Wilson.

“I imagine it was like: What do you want to project?

How are we going to do it?

We are in an era where a lot of people are coming out independently or without labels, TV channels or mainstream media.

People who break it differently.

I think it comes from there.

And that they are still there.

At this moment Bad Bunny will already be working on the other album, and thinking: 'Well, what are we going to do?

How are we going to break it?

What are we going to build here?

The method worked.

In November 2020, his third album,

was the first work completely in Spanish to debut at the top of the Billboard 200 list. It was also his first number in the United States, two years after the Koreans BTS managed to reach the same position.

If we join the two cases with the same line, the conclusion is clear: the epicenter of pop has shifted from the English-speaking countries to those areas of the globe traditionally considered the peripheries.

Since 2021, BTS and Bad Bunny have shared a label, The Orchard, a Sony subsidiary specializing in

Along the way, that same kid has become almost a style benchmark.

Just this week, Mr Porter, the world's leading luxury menswear website, named him one of the best dressed men in the world.

He has previously participated in campaigns such as Jacquemus, in which he dressed in a woman's dress, and enjoys unusual prestige among brands.

He rubs shoulders with movie stars like Brad Pitt after sharing a cast in

where he plays a bully.

The reception was so good already from test viewings before the premiere that the studio, Sony Pictures, offered him his first leading man.

He will be in

a film from the Spider-man universe.

The film is tailor-made for them, to the point that they have created a main character practically from scratch.

El Muerto is the alias of Juan Carlos Sánchez, a Mexican wrestler who faced Spider-Man in two issues of the comic in 2006. Period.

They say that not even the creator of it remembered its existence and now it will have its own title, which will be released in 2024.

And at the same time,

his latest album, an album that transcends reggaeton and is simply a collection of infallible pop songs, remains at number one of the best-selling albums in the US.

they did it from 70 songs with which they were They sat down to say 'Which ones are suitable for the south of the continent?

Which ones work in Colombia?

Which ones in Puerto Rico?” Wilson reflects.

“That's why they like the album so much, it has something for all audiences.

We all like the album, but we all like one part more than another.

But it is impossible to break down all the factors of Bad Bunny's success.

There are a lot of factors, there are a lot that escape us”.

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