Bad Bunny’s ‘DtMF’ Transcends Language

Bad Bunny reacting to the “DtMF” trend on TikTok Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photo: @badbunny/Tiktok

To promote his sixth album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, Bad Bunny has surprised New York City commuters with a guerrilla subway concert and popped up as an anchorman on local news. But his music has gone viral on TikTok for a much purer reason: People really connect to his songs. As the video-sharing app prepares to go dark, users have paid tribute to their families with the album’s title track and shared videos of themselves crying while listening to it. In the song’s chorus, Bad Bunny sings: “Debí tirar más fotos de cuando te tuve / Debí darte más besos y abrazos las veces que pude.” Translated to English, this means: “I should have taken more photos when I had you / I should have given you more kisses and hugs when I had the chance.” It’s a sentiment that transcends language.

Bad Bunny reacted to the trend by posting a TikTok of himself tearing up — no additional words necessary. Debí Tirar Más Fotos is the global superstar’s love letter to his home of Puerto Rico. It’s a party, remembrance, and rallying cry all at once, honoring the island’s vibrant culture and resilient locals struggling with government neglect and displacement by American gentrifiers. (As proof of his commitment, Bad Bunny has announced a 30-show residency in San Juan’s Coliseo de Puerto Rico; the first nine concerts will be exclusive to locals.) Where he could have stuck to streaming-friendly urbano-pop, Bad Bunny draws from older musical traditions including salsa, plena, and bomba. As Pitchfork’s review states, “Bad Bunny’s most impressive achievement with this record is that older generations have never wanted to listen to música urbana more.”

Listening to “DtMF” has been an emotional experience for many of my colleagues. The Cut’s senior shopping editor, Bianca Nieves, told me that the rollout has been equally “heartwarming and gut-wrenching. When the short film came out, I sent it to my mom, and she told me in Spanish, ‘I don’t know if I should laugh or if I should cry.’ The amount of times I’ve said, ‘I love us’ when listening to the album with tears in my eyes should be studied.”

Senior writer Andrea González-Ramírez said her parents are “all in” on this Bad Bunny album even though they’ve historically been resistant to reggaeton: “At a friend’s quinceañera, my dad infamously fell asleep next to a speaker while Jowell y Randy rapped and everyone was throwing ass on the dance floor.” Both of her folks are “ragingly pro-independence” and became curious about the album after Andrea mentioned the historical notes in the YouTube visualizers on their weekly call. While she hasn’t convinced them to attend the Bad Bunny residency with her yet, “at least I know when they visit me next month we’ll be able to play the album together.” That’s enough to make you cry all over again.