What Bad Bunny’s performance meant for Philly’s Latinx community

Flags from Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and El Salvador filled the crowd at Made in America on Sunday night. Viewing the scene from the Rocky Stage, performer Bad Bunny told a crowd of thousands of people, “yo quiero ver las banderas,” honored to see his Latinx community in attendance.

The annual music festival saw nearly 50,000 attendees over Labor Day weekend, but this year was different for Latinx people in the City of Brotherly Love: Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, better known as Bad Bunny, headlined the festival’s second day.

Martínez Ocasio started his music career on SoundCloud, where he was discovered in 2016. Today, he is Spotify’s most-streamed artist — for two consecutive years — with over 9.1 billion streams. While English speakers are attracted to his performances and trap/reggaetón bits, for Spanish speakers, he defies gender norms in a culture marked by machismo, while his refusal to comply with the English-speaking music industry and his lyrics about gentrification, feminism, and being Latinx resonate with younger audiences who reject more traditional thinking.

In a city where 15.1% of the population identify as Latinx, having the Puerto Rican artist as a headliner was much more than seeing an award-winning performer. It was about feeling represented.

Though he was set to play at 9:30 p.m., people started filling the area around the Rocky Stage 20 minutes beforehand, standing shoulder to shoulder, eagerly counting the minutes until the performance. The crowd started chanting “Benito, Benito, Benito” and Bad Bunny emerged on stage sitting on a beach bench with a video of the ocean in Puerto Rico as the background, singing “Moscow Mule.”

Alondra Cuahuizo, 25, made her way through the packed crowd with her friend Kassia Araugo. For Cuahuizo, having someone whose first language is Spanish perform on the Made in America stage meant Latinx culture was being recognized. “No matter the Latin country you are from, it’s nice to see someone that speaks our language succeed on a stage previously dominated by English speakers,” said Cuahuizo.

But not everyone in the crowd was a Spanish speaker. Araugo, for instance, speaks Brazilian Portuguese. Although she doesn’t quite understand Bad Bunny’s Spanish lyrics, having him as a headliner made her feel like Philly’s Latinx community was being heard and seen. “It’s a way for the community to show who we are,” she explained.

Elsewhere, Puerto Rican native Alejandro Longo, 21, couldn’t wait to see his compatriot sing “Neverita.” “It’s so hard for Boricuas to be recognized in America, so seeing him highlighted like this means a lot of pride for the community,” said Longo. The sentiment was shared by his friend Raúl Lopez, who drove all the way from New York to see the performance. “He not only represents the island,” said Lopez. “He represents our community, our language, our people.”

Bad Bunny was set to perform for 45 minutes, but he stayed on the stage until 11:15 p.m. The entire time, he addressed the audience in Spanish. When it seemed like “Ojitos Lindos” was going to be his final song, he took a break to thank the Latinx people for their support.

With flags waving, he then began to sing “El Apagon,” a song that talks about the gentrification of Puerto Rico and alludes to the island’s energy crisis, remarking how at times it feels like “now everyone wants to be Latino,” but only the surface parts — the music, the food, the culture and ignoring the human experience. “But they lack rhythm, drums, and reggaetón,” he sings.

“The American continent belongs to us [Latinxs] too, and I want each of you to be aware of that,” said Bad Bunny. “Be proud of it! Be proud of your roots, your land, and never forget your culture.”

Twenty-four songs later — multiple chants of “otra, otra” from the crowd and a social media influencer jumping on the stage — Bad Bunny ended his performance with “Después de la Playa.” But not before telling the Latinx community, “Made in America, Latinos make America.”