A view from the outside.

To truly understand the newest album from Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, professionally known as Bad Bunny, you need to immerse yourself in the entire rollout.

The first thing fans were met with was a vibrant green background and two empty lawn chairs for the album art. Early interpretations of this were pretty spot on. The green background represented Puerto Rico, Ocasio's home country, and the empty lawn chairs conveyed the heartbreaking absence of the Puerto Rican people due to vast waves of foreigners coming to the country.

This art was paired with a short film documenting the context for the album. This was a really fascinating and visually appealing film that made me and many others very excited to listen to the album. It follows the story of an older man who still in lives in Puerto Rico. As he ages, he finds himself reminiscing on the people he's met and the experiences he's had. However, due to his age, he's not able to remember everything, which is when he says, "debí tirar más fotos," the namesake of the album meaning, "I should've taken more photos." The man portrays the entirety of the culture within Puerto Rico that has witnessed this battle between modern colonialism and the preservation of rich history. All the while, the man is actually talking to a small animated Coquí frog, named Concho, symbolic to the country of Puerto Rico.

Bad Bunny. (2025). "BAD BUNNY - DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS (Short Film)." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLSzEYVDads

A short conversation with Concho let's the audience understand the raw feeling and disconnect between the new and old generations, specifically within Puerto Rico. This is also when Concho gets hungry, sending the older man into the town to get pastries from a bakery.

This is another heartbreaking moment in the film that shows the disconnect between the modern day and the past that's being erased due to modern colonialism. The older man struggles with ordering the exact pastries he wants after being prompted with what feels like a thousand different bread styles and cheese options. Finally, when he goes to pay, he's not able to because the bakery no longer accepts cash. The older man politely expresses his confusion, claiming, "I know the original owner," but with a tinge of despair and sadness opposed to the usual holier-than-thou tone that comes with that statement. A younger man comes and pays for the pastries, and powerfully states to the older man, "Seguimos aquí," translating to, "we are still here." It's a heartwarming ending to a scene filled with negative emotions, which is almost the goal of the album itself as a whole. The situation is slowly becoming more and more negative, but the Puerto Rican people are still 'here' whether that be in Puerto Rico or elsewhere. They still live on, carrying their rich culture with them, and being united as one across borders. Ocasio communicates this feeling so well throughout the album, fusing modern dembow with traditional Puerto Rican melodies.

The film ends with the older man in awe of a car blasting music past his home. He's not frustrated by the music, though. Instead, he feels empowered and reminisces on the days that there used to be loud reggaeton playing through his childhood from cars passing by. Concho asks the older man why he can't just play the loud music himself, which is when the older man gets in his car, and brings the music back to Puerto Rico. Concho being the representation of Puerto Rico makes this scene feel like the country speaking to the elderly who believe that their past is being erased - but thanks to people like Bad Bunny, they can take the future of the country into their own hands and continue to express themselves and share their values for years to come.

Debí Tirar Más Fotos is an amazing album that so beautifully communicates the values of an entire country of people, and you can truly feel the emotion in each and every song. You are doing yourself a disservice if you have yet to listen to the album in its entirety.