I spent the first five years of my life falling asleep to the song of Coquis in the coastal town of Arecibo, Puerto Rico—until my parents and I moved a time zone away to the suburbs of North Texas. Although I met countless wonderful Latin Americans from various backgrounds throughout my adolescence, Puerto Rican culture was never part of the mainstream in Texas. Until one day in 2017, I turned on my local pop radio station and heard the unmistakably Puerto Rican voice of Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, AKA Bad Bunny. He was already trending on the local Latin radio stations (and my Spotify playlist), but to hear him crossover to the U.S. charts made me literally giddy.
Over the last eight years, it’s been inspiring to witness Bad Bunny, who attended university in my hometown, become one of the biggest artists in the world. Through all of his massive success, he proudly represents our island everywhere he goes. He still faces his fair share of criticism, even amongst the Puerto Rican public—particularly dividing younger and older generations regarding the “morality” of his entire image. But despite years of disagreement, he’s seemed to have done the impossible and united abuelos y nietos alike with his sixth studio album, DeBí TiRAR MáS FOToS. It’s his most unapologetically Puerto Rican album yet, ripe with political and social commentary and sounds specific to our culture like salsa, plena, bomba, reggaeton, and more.
If it isn’t going to make me feel like I’m wrapped up in a warm hug, I’m not wearing it.
I’m not sure I can accurately express how personal this album is to me. From the moment I hit play, it was as if I stepped into Abuela’s backyard with the exact same plastic white chairs and giant plantain trees on his album cover art. This album encompasses my nostalgia for the balmy summers spent visiting my family, the grief of a life I never got to experience, and the immense pride of seeing my heritage on full display. It’s a love letter to Boricuas on the island and in the diaspora, and within a week, it’s already at the top of the global charts. Rating each song felt like choosing a favorite child, but I managed to stop crying long enough (kinda) to write up my thoughts. My ratings are based on my own personal music taste, but overall I truly feel this is his best album yet. As an OG Bad Bunny fan and proud Puerto Rican, here’s my official ranking of DtMF:
Every song on Bad Bunny’s DtMF, ranked
17. EL CLúB
My Sagittarius Sun and Cancer Moon can totally understand stepping out to forget an ex and then ending up deep in your feelings instead. It’s a whole vibe, but I’m only rating it last because I end up wanting to skip through the EDM portion and get straight to the beat change infused with plena (a style of Puerto Rican folk music) toward the end.
Score: 6.5/10
16. PERFuMITO NUEVO
I may catch some heat for this one… but it’s just not one of my favorites, sorry! I love that he features up-and-coming Puerto Rican artist RaiNao, as her voice meshes so well with the electronic-infused reggaeton beat. However, it’s just not a song I find myself replaying often.
Score: 6.5/10
15. KLOuFRENS
A track about an ex stringing you along via IG Close Friends? Truly the breakup song of our generation. If you didn’t catch it, this line might be a subtle-but-not-so-subtle dig at a certain ex (ahem, Kendall Jenner), “me dejaste hipnotiza’o, coloniza’o,” which translates to “you left me hypnotized, colonized.”
Score: 7/10
14. WELTiTA
I hit play on WELTiTA and instantly yearned for the beach, especially when the magical voices of the Chuwi band members began singing. I also love that he wrote many of these song titles using Puerto Rican slang. “Weltita” is actually spelled “vueltita,” but Puerto Ricans (and other Caribbean Latinos) use unique slang when we speak, and he made sure that integral part of our identity was represented in this album, too. As someone raised around non-Caribbean Spanish speakers who were unfamiliar with (and sometimes even teased) my accented Spanish, these small details mean so much to me.
Score: 8/10
13. VOY A LLeVARTE PA PR
Every perreo (a style of dance music associated with reggaeton) track on this album is heavily influenced by old-school reggaeton from the early ’00s, and Bad Bunny teamed up with Grammy award-winning producer and frequent collaborator Tainy to create a song that had me bobbing my head from start to finish. As the decade-long producer of countless reggaeton hits, Tainy has such a talent for weaving in samples from the classics and making them feel seamless and fresh.
Score: 8/10
12. VeLDÁ
And speaking of old-school reggaeton, VeLDÁ fuses newer artists Omar Courtz and Dei V with early ’00s beats for another instant classic. That intro beat is stuck in my head on a loop. And when I first heard OG reggaetonero Wisin make an appearance with one of his famous outros, I screamed in surprise—and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Score: 8.5/10
11. TURiSTA
It’s imperative that you know my all-time favorite music genre is The Sad Boy Bop™. Hence, why his more emo songs are placed toward the top of my rankings. Not only is this song full of heartbreak over an old love, but it’s also a metaphor for tourists who visit the island without understanding (or caring) about the social issues that tourism creates. Tourism is a hot-button topic amongst natives, and there are great Puerto Rican experts and creators who shed light on the subject. This is why it’s so crucial to support local businesses and be respectful of native customs when visiting Puerto Rico and any country. Especially for those considering attending one of his shows during his 21-date residency at El Coliseo de Puerto Rico that’s open to non-natives in August 2025, I recommend using travel guides created by natives.
Score: 9/10
10. NUEVAYoL
New York, or NUEVAYoL as Boricuas say, is a prominent hub for Puerto Ricans and many other Caribbean brothers and sisters. My abuela spent her adolescence and early adulthood in Brooklyn, where she met my grandpa and had my dad and aunt there before moving back to the island. This track perfectly encompasses the Nuyorican experience by starting with a classic salsa sample and then smoothly transitioning into Dominican dembow. He makes countless references throughout the song, including a shout-out to the longest-standing Latin social club in Williamsburg, Toñitas.
Score: 9/10
9. KETU TeCRÉ
Bad Bunny and his “Big Three,” Tainy, La Pacienca, and MAG, come together to produce this absolute banger. I’m a big fan of songs that take me on a rollercoaster of emotions, both lyrically and with tempo changes. KETU TeCRÉ starts with a flirtatious Benito reminiscing about his ex—but then the heartbreak hits him. The mood becomes more somber, and his frustration escapes when he demands, “Who the hell do you think you are?” And like the sicko I am, I can’t help but love every second of it.
Score: 9/10
8. PIToRRO DE COCO
Although Benito gifted us this one a week before the album was released on Christmas Day, it’s still one of my top songs. There’s just something about a man borderline crying over a woman that gets me. “Ooh, ooh, ooh, tu ere’ mala, te fuiste como la luz,” he sings, referring to the constant power blackouts on the island that leave citizens without electricity. He also mentions native customs like Dia de Reyes, domino games, and pitorro, a local rum only found in Puerto Rico. Combine those lyrics with the strumming of our national guitar, el cuatro, and it’s a modern folksong that transcends generations.
Score: 9.5/10
7. DtMF
I heard the sample from his iconic song Callaita and knew this one would gut me. The title track evokes waves of nostalgia with the chorus, “I should have taken more photos while I had you.” For me, it represents all the times I tried to assimilate after moving to the states and didn’t realize that the best parts of myself were reflected in my loved ones and my culture right there in front of me (a mindset I shed years ago, thankfully). Plus all of the memories I wish I would’ve captured during my visits back home. The song even started a heartwarming TikTok trend that brought Benito himself to tears. It’s also the first plena to reach #1 on the Apple Music global charts (¡Wepa!).
Score: 9.5/10
6. CAFé CON RON
“From Arecibo to Ponce, from Fajardo to Rincón, It’s the voice of an entire neighborhood from Almirante to Frontón.” This song makes me want to grab a guiro, slap on a pava hat, and run into the mountains behind Abuela’s house to sing like a Taina Disney Princess. The traditional plena features the voices of Los Pleneros de la Cresta to give it that authentic jíbaro sound. It’s important to note that plena was inspired by bomba, a music style that comes out of the musical traditions brought by enslaved Africans during the 17th century. Bomba music was a source of political and spiritual expression and is an integral part of Afro-Puerto Rican identity today.
Score: 10/10
5. LA MuDANZA
I’m a sucker for a good prologue, and in the spoken intro of LA MuDANZA, Benito shares the origins of how his parents met, setting the scene for the story of his epic rise to stardom. Those first 40 seconds without background music built delicious suspense for the incoming beat drop. And when those trumpets go off, you can feel families listening everywhere break out into a salsa that spans generations. He goes on to reference Puerto Rican Independence advocate Eugenio María de Hostos and the original light-blue Puerto Rican flag that was once outlawed and then changed by the U.S. government. When that drum solo hits and he starts singing, “From here no one will kick me out, from here I’ll never move, tell them this is my home, where my grandfather was born,” I lose it. By the time the chorus is yelling, “yo soy de P FKN R,” alluding to the famous track on his second album, YHLQMDLG, I’m screaming and crying along with them.
Score: 10/10
4. EoO
I know every ’90s baby jumped out of their seat when this track came on. Tainy and Bad Bunny leave us with one last epic old-school perreo in EoO. The beat morphs and shifts several times, yet it all flows together so smoothly, and I can’t help but do the stank face the entire time. Using even more legendary reggaeton samples and beats, it’s automatically earned its place in the playlist of every Latin club and house party. I can only imagine the energy in a room when the interlude cuts in and that second chorus builds more momentum for the second verse. Phew.
Score: 10/10
3. LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii
Benito has always been vocal about Puerto Rican social and political issues. He spent the 2024 election season speaking out against corrupt political parties in PR and even endorsed the Independent candidate for governor. He also released a short film in anticipation of this album starring prominent Puerto Rican filmmaker Jacobo Morales and a caricature of el Sapo Concho, a native toad that’s now an endangered species. The film showcases the detrimental effects that gentrification has on natives when non-Puerto Ricans and U.S. corporations purchase land on the island and participate in cultural erasure.
He explores that heartbreak even further with the lyrics of this song, begging that his island not go through the colonization that’s occurred in Hawaii. In the background, Luis Sanz expertly plays el cuatro to create a hauntingly beautiful folksong that’s been rallying Latin Americans from all nationalities. “No one here wanted to leave, and those who left dream of coming back,” a sentiment anyone in the diaspora resonates with deeply.
Score: 10/10
2. BAILE INoLVIDABLE
When I first heard this song, I nearly levitated out of my body. You could immediately tell that the mournful synth and his deep baritone were building up to an epic beat drop—y diache—epic it was. First, the trumpets creep in, then everything goes quiet to reveal Jacobo’s line from the DtMF short film, next the unmistakable salsa drums fill your ears, and then finally, the salsa begins. With this incredible transition, BAILE INoLVIDABLE made history as the first salsa song to reach #1 on the Apple Music global charts. He enlisted students from la Escuela Libre de Musica in Puerto Rico to play the live instruments for this song, making this accomplishment even more special.
Score: 10/10
1. BOKeTE
OK, for context, my favorite song of all time is RLNDT (I even have the lyrics tattooed on my arm), which is arguably one of the saddest songs he’s ever made. BOKeTE gave me similar vibes. It’s the kinda song you scream-cry during an everything shower, and that’s reason enough to earn #1 for me. I was mind blown when he said, “Stay on your flight because when you land no one will applause,” alluding to our custom of clapping whenever our flight lands on the island. Talk about a clever dig.
He makes another inside joke by comparing his ex to the potholes that everyone swerves on Puerto Rico’s roads, which are big enough to make your bumper fly off. But I knew this was my favorite song on the album when the music abruptly stops, and he confesses that no matter how many times he gets his heart broken, he can’t help but keep falling in love (how very Pisces of him). And as a hopeless romantic myself, I’m giggling and kicking my feet right there with him.
Score: 10/10
Steph Alleva Cornell, Branded Content Editor at The Everymom
Steph was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Texas at a young age, where she quickly discovered a love for writing as she learned English. With several years of marketing and content production experience, she finds joy in capturing life’s everyday moments creatively. As Branded Content Editor at The Everymom, she produces authentic editorial and social content for our sponsors that prioritizes our brand values and readers’ interests.