Everything That Happened at Bad Bunny’s Star-Studded Listening Party In Puerto Rico

What does an artist as big as Bad Bunny — the most streamed artist in the world for multiple years — do to follow up an album like last summer’s acclaimed Un Verano Sin Ti? How does he navigate the danger of listeners feeling like he’s close to hitting a creative wall?

By reminding them why they fell in love with him to begin with.

On Thursday night, Bad Bunny convened 16,000 of his loyal fans at San Juan’s José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum for what was billed as a ”listening party” for his newest studio album, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana. As the clock ticked closer to midnight, the time the show was set to start, the coliseum filled with the sounds of jazz from Bill Evans and Wes Montgomery, bossa nova from João Gilberto, and boleros from La Lupe. It’s the soundtrack of upscale lounges from New York in the Seventies, the kind evoked on his album announcement video just three days ago. Confusing matters was a large structure, made out of haystacks and shaped like a  Mesoamerican pyramid, situated on the far side of the arena. Some fans, inspired by the album art showing a sketch of Bad Bunny bronc riding a horse, showed up wearing cowboy hats and vague Western wear. If the general theme was a mystery, the one obvious link was the act of reaching into the past. Twenty minutes before midnight, everyone discovered just how true that would be. The lights went down and the event kicked off early, to most people’s surprise, with a video compilation of clips that were both a career retrospective as well as visuals from movies and cartoons suggesting the tone to come.

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There’s a line of demarcation in Bad Bunny’s career that long-time followers agree on: There’s the Benito of today, who is a superstar of the world, and then there’s the Bad Bunny that started it all back in Puerto Rico in 2016. That’s the one local fans affectionately nicknamed Trap Bunny. He’s the foul-mouthed kid with the shaved head who made “Diles,” “Tú No Vive Así,” and “Soy Peor.” He’s the one who hopped on other artist’s songs and gave them a devil-may-care attitude unique to him, and which listeners ate up. The Trap Bunny phase didn’t exactly end, it just morphed slowly with each new LP. His vocabulary was still dirty, and his attitude still brusque. But Trap Bunny wasn’t front and center anymore. Fans didn’t mind, especially because they still got glimpses into his old persona on songs like the gritty and nostalgic “Dos Mil 16” from Un Verano Sin Ti.

Now, as the opening of “MONACO” reverberated throughout El Choli, a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow was lowered from its hiding spot in the ceiling. There was Bad Bunny, right at the wheel — and the vision behind Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana started to become clear. A handful of tracks later, as the chassis-shaking bass of “TELÉFONO NUEVO” faded away, a fan euphorically yelled out: “He’s back! He’s back!” Trap Bunny had made a triumphant return, and as if to acknowledge this, Benito placed a pinky finger under each eye: his iconic gesture from Trap Bunny’s peak.

He stayed silent most of the evening, spending the first nine songs masked and playing the tracks off his phone via an aux cord connected to the Rolls-Royce. At times, a camera mounted inside the car would give a glimpse over his shoulder as he navigated between tabs, showing him checking Instagram, WhatsApp, and other applications while the music played. At one point he took a selfie with the crowd, quickly dismissing it and taking a second. When he finally moved out of the car, he dapped up fans who were gathered around the enclosed area and signed merch sold at the entrance, all while dancing to his own music before making his way to join his special guests.

Artists and producers who collaborated on the album filled up the makeshift stands on the haystack pyramid. Young Miko, who is featured on the album’s third track “FINA,” was there, another endorsement after Benito publicly co-signed her and hand-selected her as part of Rolling Stone’s Future 25. Arcángel and Ñengo Flow, two of Benito’s idols and closest collaborators who also back him up on “ACHO PR,” were present. A surprise guest, who received an enthusiastic reception from the crowd, was Colombian artist Feid, who sings alongside Bad Bunny on “PERRO NEGRO.” Producers like Tainy, Caleb Calloway, Mauro, and La Paciencia mingled as well, recognized by diehard fans who know they’re as essential to a song’s success as Benito himself.

There’s something surreal about being in a stadium packed with thousands of people who don’t know the words to any of the songs they’re hearing, but there was also familiarity in a strange way: This is a Bad Bunny everyone there knew — the guy who made trap songs for SoundCloud from his bedroom in el barrio. On Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana, he sounds refreshed and eager to make noise like he did back in the day. Benito spent most of 2023 talking about how much he needed a break. He wanted to rest, maybe even not put out another song this year. Perhaps this is what he slyly meant this whole time: Bad Bunny is resting, and Trap Bunny is taking the wheel for a while.

As the crowd let out just after 1 a.m., the surrounding parking lots began to fill up with cars snaking their way towards the exit. The new tracks could be heard from each vehicle. Fans had just experienced Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana, and were immediately running it back. Bad Bunny had done it again, and this time he did it going back to his roots and giving his fans what they wanted.

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