Solely 10 years in the past, Dangerous Bunny labored bagging groceries – a surprising distinction with the cosmic fame the artist now instructions.However his bestselling albums, final yr’s monumental live performance residency in Puerto Rico and an limitless string of smashed information are in some way only the start.On Sunday, the artist born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio might make Grammys historical past. Then per week later, he’ll take the world’s most seen stage because the Tremendous Bowl’s halftime performer.Dangerous Bunny is within the working for six prizes on the Grammy Awards, together with the night time’s most prestigious Album of the 12 months gramophone.His acclaimed “Debi Tirar Mas Fotos” is simply the second Spanish-language document ever nominated for essentially the most coveted Grammy – the primary was additionally his, when “Un Verano Sin Ti” was tipped in 2022.A win can be historic. However the nominations – it is the primary time work in Spanish has been concurrently acknowledged for greatest album, greatest document and greatest track – are significant all the identical, mentioned Petra Rivera-Rideau, an American research professor at Wellesley Faculty whose analysis focuses on Latin music and racial politics.Dangerous Bunny’s success is especially poignant as President Donald Trump’s administration carries out a hardline immigration crackdown that partly targets Latinos.“We have now ICE raids, we’re watching movies on daily basis of individuals being profiled for talking Spanish, whether or not or not they’re US residents,” Rivera-Rideau, co-author of “P FKN R: How Dangerous Bunny Turned the International Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance,” informed AFP.“The present political second simply type of ups the ante of what’s already a profoundly important factor.”
– Inherently political –
Dangerous Bunny, 31, grew up close to Puerto Rico’s capital San Juan, honing his vocal expertise in a church kids’s choir earlier than creating right into a pre-teen who liked creating beats on his pc.He went viral on the DIY platform SoundCloud – and thus started his speedy ascent to the highest of world music.However at the same time as his star rose, Dangerous Bunny remained firmly rooted in his heritage.Each on the Grammys and the Tremendous Bowl, his mere presence is “deeply political,” mentioned Jorell Melendez-Badillo, a College of Wisconsin-Madison historian who collaborated with Dangerous Bunny on visible components of the newest album.The artist is a US citizen: Puerto Rico is a Caribbean territory beneath US management since 1898.However, Melendez-Badillo says, he is additionally a colonial topic – a actuality explored on “Debi Tirar Mas Fotos,” which options an ingenious melange of conventional sounds together with salsa, bomba and plena, with infusions of reggaeton.Dangerous Bunny’s dedication to singing in Spanish in a music trade that has traditionally marginalized Latino voices makes his mammoth success much more emblematic.For Melendez-Badillo, language has grow to be “coded for the broader kind of racialized understandings of immigrants and immigration… this kind of nationalist thought of who will get to belong in america.”
– Multi-generational attraction –
Since 2000, the Latin Recording Academy has celebrated Spanish- and Portuguese-language music on the Latin Grammys.The Grammys additionally honor Latin music in particular classes.Each are necessary for guaranteeing illustration, however they’ve additionally enabled Recording Academy voters to disregard Latin music’s mainstream recognition.This yr, Latin Recording Academy voters are eligible to vote for the primary Grammy winners as properly, a bid to create a extra globally consultant pool.That would make a big distinction for the likes of Dangerous Bunny – however even then, Rivera-Rideau mentioned, it is sophisticated. Very similar to Grammy voters lengthy neglected hip-hop, Latin Grammy voters have lengthy sidelined the affect of reggaeton and Latin entice – massively well-liked genres Dangerous Bunny got here up in.However his newest album has discovered multi-generational attraction, and that might enhance its likelihood, as it’s “extra digestible” to Grammy voters, Rivera-Rideau mentioned.
– Tremendous Bowl-bound –
One week after the Grammys, Dangerous Bunny will attain one more milestone because the headliner of the Nationwide Soccer League’s Tremendous Bowl halftime present – a reserving that prompted hand-wringing particularly from conservatives over the “woke” alternative.However the Tremendous Bowl is among the many world’s high broadcasts and its halftime presentation is for enormous stars.Clearly, Dangerous Bunny matches that invoice.“The NFL needs to go international,” Melendez-Badillo mentioned, citing video games held in Europe and Brazil. “Benito sells tickets. Benito attracts crowds.”And naturally, Dangerous Bunny is massively well-liked throughout america, which has among the many largest Spanish-speaking populations globally – so why would not he participate in one of many nation’s cultural touchstones?“In that context, it is simply extremely significant,” Rivera-Rideau mentioned.