“My heart stopped”Meléndez-Badillo recalled in an interview with AFP. “I immediately said yes!”
Early Christmas Eve began, when the historian noticed that several of his followers on Instagram asked him if he would collaborate with Bad Bunny. At that time, He was on vacation with his family in Portugal.
“I had promised my partner, my son, my therapist who I was going to leave the computer during the holidays”He said humorously.
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“But When Bad Bunny calls, he answers, ”he said.
The artist, whose real name is Benito Martínez Ocasio, prepares to launch his sixth studio album, I had to throw more photosdescribed as A love letter to its native Puerto Rico. His goal is that the historian – author of the book Puerto Rico: a national history– Help it develop the visuals that will accompany each song from the album.
A Slide History course
Meléndez-Badillo He wrote 74 pages of notes that then digitized. He delivered the material on January 1, after constant communication with the artist’s team.
The slides accompanied by musical themes have a presentation styleThey abound in text and serve as a kind of intensive course on Puerto Rico. To date, the main single viewer Newyol —Centrated in the creation of the first Puerto Rican flag – adds more than 58 million views. The other 16 visualizers have also reached millionaire figures.
“As academics, Our books are only read by our studentsand a few colleagues write reviews, ”Meléndez-Badillo ironic.
From the beginning, Bad Bunny was clear: I wanted The album affirmed Puerto Rican identity and cultureespecially in relation to colonialism and displacement. (Puerto Rico is the territory of the United States since 1898).
“The project focuses on marginalized people,” explained the historian. “Benito was very interested, for example, Highlight the history of surveillance and repression in Puerto RicoHe added.
It also seeks that the stories reach the population, social projects and the workers’ neighborhoods. All visualizers are in Spanish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfrpjtvsns
History between Beats
Meléndez-Badillo has received photos of clubs where they project the visualizers. “They are drinking and dancing, and there are how A strange background story. It is surreal”, He described.
The project has also served as criticism of the island’s educational system, where the story of Puerto Rico is barely taught. To this is added the closure of many public schools, a consequence of the debt crisis and recent hurricanes.
The album includes references to real problems, such as electricity cuts, a tax regime that favors foreign and cultural displacement. All this is part of the short films that Bad Bunny has produced in recent years.
“We have seen Benito grow under the spotlights,” said the professor. “Is more aware of being a political subject and to use its platform to amplify those conversations, ”he said.
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History lessons also extend to music. The album celebrates traditional sounds and rhythms of Puerto Ricoand offers a positive vision of the place, often represented only through disasters.
“Those media cycles They rarely allow Puerto Ricans to speak for themselves“Meléndez-Badillo criticized.” They reproduce these problematic colonial topics, “he added.
With I had to throw more photosBad Bunny invests that narrative. “Forces people to recognize the complexity of Puerto Rican,” said the historian.
And, in addition, as he says, “Perreo’s songs are my favorites.”