Bad Bunny's New Song "Andrea" Sends Powerful Message on Femicide

Bad Bunny has been an advocate against gender-based violence since the early days of his career when he wrote the female empowerment anthem "Yo perreo sola."

Now, with the release of his highly-anticipated album Un Verano Sin Ti on May 6, El Conejo Malo is shining a light on a case that went viral in Puerto Rico in 2021 after courts failed to protect a Puerto Rican woman from her abusive ex-boyfriend.

"Andrea" retells the story of Andrea Ruiz, who testified in court under Puerto Rico's domestic violence intervention and protection law after they denied her petition for a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend, Miguel Ocasio.

Andrea Ruiz/IG

During her viral testimony in March 2021, Ruiz detailed how Ocasio stalked, persecuted and abused her emotionally. She also explained how the man had threatened to share intimate photos of her on social media. However, despite her pleading, the judge found "no cause" for arresting him.

A month later, on April 28, 2021, the 35-year-old woman was found burned on the side of the road. Ocasio confessed to killing Ruiz, according to the police. He later committed suicide in prison.

For the song, Bad Bunny collaborated with Buscabulla, to retell Ruiz's story and shed light on how she was a champion for herself and tried living under her own terms.

"Making a mistake in love (Equivocándose de amore')While the right one shows up (En lo que llega el indicado)Quiere quedarse en PR (She wants to stay in PR)No irse pa' ningún estado (Not go to any other state)Pero todo se ha complicado (But everything's gotten complicated)Como si ser mujer, Fuera un pecado (As if being a woman was a sin)"

In an interview with the New York Times, Luis Alfredo Del Valle and Raquel Berríos, Buscabulla's band members spoke about the process of making the song and its impact. In the song, Berríos assumes Ruiz's voice.

"I felt that the chorus had to carry a lot of weight about what it means to be a woman from the Caribbean," Berríos said. "I had never worked this hard for a song."

According to the National Observatory of Gender Equality in Puerto Rico (Observatorio Nacional de Equidad de Genero), in 2021 the Caribbean country reported 53 femicides.

In April of that year, there were seven cases of femicide, making it the deadliest month for women. Toxic masculinity, or machismo, is said to be the leading cause of gender-based violence.

Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

"That is a number greater than countries that have 20 times our population. So, of course, we have to do more," Maite Oronoz, the presiding judge of Puerto Rico's Supreme Court, told NBC News during the court investigation of Ruiz's case after her death.

Oronoz added that according to an investigation of the judicial, administrative and operational processes related to gender-based-violence cases, courts were not involved in 91.3 percent of cases that resulted in femicide.

"People are not going to the courts for help," Oronoz said. "The response of the judiciary has to be much better. If, in Puerto Rico, women and men are dying from gender violence, we have a serious problem," she added. "That is why the judiciary constantly evaluates itself ... to do better."