“What’s next for Bad Bunny?” has become a polarizing question in the Puerto Rican artist’s fanbase this year.After releasing his culturally shifting record “Un Verano Sin Ti” in 2022, the Grammy award winner has had a magnifying glass pressed up to his career (more recently on his love life) and even more immediately on his newly released, surprise LP “Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana” (“Nobody Knows What Will Happen Tomorrow.”)
After spending most of last year on tour, Bunny proclaimed 2023 as his year of rest, emerging only to headline Coachella or to claim verses on Travis Scott’s and Drake’s new albums, but “Nadie” proves he’s had a plan all along — or at the very least, that he’s had a lot on his mind:One hour and 21 minutes’ worth of trap, reggaeton, drill and electronic beats represent his present and previous muses, while lyrically he appears more vulnerable than ever.
Album opener “Nadie Sabe” begins with an orchestra that propels Bunny’s six-minute prose about adjusting to his acquired level of global fame and his place in the music industry (“the industry bores me, I swear I’ll retire at age 33,” he raps later in “Vuelve Candy B”).You can hear the anger or frustration in his voice when he prompts “Who the hell said that I want to be an example?” in the first 30 seconds of the album.He pledges to keep doing him no matter where he ends up next and much like the rest of the record, “Nadie Sabe” comes off painfully honest; he laments “Everyone wants to be No. 1… you can have it, I don’t even want it,” and makes the first of several nods in response to public commentary about him. He references the controversy involving him throwing a fan’s phone who asked for a picture: “You’re not my real fan, that’s why I threw your phone / The real ones, I’ll love forever,” he sings and later closes with, “I like to be who I am, sometimes good, sometimes bad.”
He addresses pretty much every headline about him in this record, consequently acknowledging and putting aside speculations about his relationship with a certain high- profile reality TV star while also giving listeners a temporary pass into his inner circle. There’s a long list of pop culture and sports references, featuring everyone from baseballer Reggie Jackson to SZA, Doja Cat, Rihanna and J Balvin, along with lyrical nods to him kissing female rappers like Tokischa and Villano Antillano. There’s even a killer sample of Madonna’s 1990 hit “Vogue” on the bouncy “Vou 787.”
The two singles that preceded the album were actually misleading:the Jersey club-inspired “Where She Goes” and the reggaeton banger “Un Preview” didn’t give any indication of a trap-leaning record. However,the latter was placed as the closer which has led many to theorize a new era of Bunny will arrive in 2024, seeing that it begins with the proclamation that it’s a preview of what’s to come.
The front of the record is much more theatrical and pensive compared to the handful of flaring trap bangers that shape up its ending. The romantically delirious strings of Charles Azanvour’s “Hier Encore” introduce track two “Monaco,”and its main chorus lines are sampled as an interlude to parallel Bunny’s gripe with his fast-paced fame:“Just yesterday I was 20, caressing time and enjoying life / While we played love and I lived the night / Without counting on my days which were fleeing in time.”
Bunny is reflecting on his past and contemplating his future, and sometimes those sentiments tend to come off juvenile. Slower moments like “Gracias Por Nada” and “Baby Nueva,” songs about an ex-thing, verge on whining but he and his long-time producer team of Tainy, MAG and La Pacienca, have a knack for amping up the proceedings, pairing any sense of heartache with walloping basslines that give it somewhere to go.
He still leaves room to celebrate his Puerto Rican pride alongside De La Ghetto, Arcángel and Ñengo Flow on “Acho PR,” an ode to the island’s history and musical culture. He also samples his blueprint, Tego Calderón’s “Pa’ Que Retozen” on “Fina,” already a fan favorite for its raunchy lyrics and the impressive flow coming from rising artist Young Miko. He also gets an assist from Colombian star Feid — marking the first collaboration between the two — for the heated “Perro Negro.”
“Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana” offers a wide variety of perspectives: Though most listeners probably can’t relate to selling their Bugatti because it didn’t go fast enough, Bunny proclaims he hasn’t changed since achieving stardom —but now, he’s about to be 30 and is confronting the pitfalls of reaching such a high level of fame in just a few years. And while it’s difficult to resist the draw of Trap Bunny, his latest LP leaves room for innovation just in time for this decisive moment in his career.
