Four years, six albums and millions of dollars: Bad Bunny

In more than one interview, the son of truck driver Tito Martinez and English teacher Lysaurie Ocasio talked about his childhood as the happiest time of his life. He liked staying home with his family, unlike other kids of his generation who turned to the school of life in the streets. That’s because the musical education of the world’s top Western singer happened at home. It was an uninhibited, joyful and wide-ranging education full of salsa, Juan Gabriel, merengue, ballads, and choir music that lasted until he was 13 years old. After that, Héctor Lavoe and Daddy Yankee showed him the way.

Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio – straight from outer space as one of his collaborations with J Balvin says – understands that his rise to stardom may come from a fabricated dynamic. He’s a seemingly ubiquitous prop in the consumer ecosystem: magazine covers, TV series, merchandise, social media posts and tags, and an outsized media presence that has propelled him to the highest peaks of the fashion and music industries.

Despite his youth, “Badbo’s” charisma and musical range are guided by a crystal clear vision. He has wanted to be a singer since he was five years old, a singer with a love for his homeland – his caserío as they say in Puerto Rico – and its people, music and food. Yet people don’t see the superstar as an opportunistic poser pretending to be a man of the people, and he doesn’t feel any need to show his credentials to anyone.

Part of Bad Bunny’s charm is that he doesn’t let the scorn of musical elitists and critics to keep him from freely expressing himself in his songs. Nor does he slow his breakneck pace to accommodate the latest fads. Most of the time, anyhow.

In one of the few in-depth articles about Bad Bunny, Carina del Valle looks at the musician’s characteristically Puerto Rican nature, describing him as uninhibited, warm, irresponsible at times, and equal parts intimate and public. It’s an unmistakably Latin American identity born out of the region’s socioeconomic reality – life in the shadow of the Anglo-Saxon king, always in crisis and always unstable. These clues help explain why the charismatic singer has become one of the most profitable and sought-after popular music stars in the post-pandemic world, whose trademark cry of “yeah-yeah” can be heard everywhere, all the time.

Benito Martinez is prone to feeding his own “man of the people” legend, a kid from humble origins who used to work in a supermarket. In a 2018 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Martinez said, “I’m from Vega Baja; it’s a small place, not a metropolis like San Juan, which is where most of the artists of the genre come from. That’s the most incredible thing about it all – I came from nothing. When I was in school I used to sing from the balcony of my house and people would stop to listen.”

Benito ignored his mother’s pleas to become an engineer, and instead began churning out hit after hit and doing ads for brands like adidas and Crocs. Or performing live with Rene from Calle 13. Or leading a protest march against Governor Ricardo Rossello in 2019 with Ricky Martin and Residente. Or dressing as a woman for more market share – sexualizing and objectifying, understanding and sensitizing.

A few months after the release of his sixth and latest album, Un verano sin ti (Summer without You), which many consider his best work, Bad Bunny still sits atop the Spotify list of most played albums since 2018, eclipsing Harry Styles and K-Pop band BTS. And he’s only four years into his career.

Bad Bunny is currently the biggest money-maker in the music industry: since May he has raked in $8.4 million from Spotify plays and $3.6 million from YouTube views. On top of that are his live performances, collaborations with other artists, and on and on. His net worth is estimated at close to $20 million. Not bad for a supermarket bagger with a dream and a musical sensibility suited to the world around him.