Bad Bunny New Anthem of Nostalgia and Resistance: Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawai’i

DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS (Spanish for “I should have taken more photos”) is the latest album by Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican singer and rapper.

It is a true musical triumph, one that the singer himself did not expect to achieve.

It is an album that doesn’t aim to be pop, but to be genuine.

The album transcends the language barrier and goes viral on a global scale. Entire stadiums sell out within minutes for the artist’s worldwide tour.

The song sharing the album’s title has become an anthem of nostalgia, as well as a viral trend on social media, where users share thoughts, photos, and tributes to lost loved ones, childhood memories, and places filled with history.

The entire album revolves around a feeling of melancholy for the past - both the recent past (with recurring references to a breakup) and the more distant past, denouncing the still-open wounds of colonization.

The song that highlights this aspect more than any other is Lo Que Le Pasó A Hawai'i.

Three minutes and fifty-one seconds of pure reflection. The song is slow, almost meditative, with a much more stripped-down sound compared to the more radio-friendly reggaetón tracks. Bad Bunny seems to want to offer the world not just catchy, commercial dance music, but also something to listen to with the soul and heart.

There are no pounding reggaetón beats or club basslines; instead, we find an ethereal, spacious production that leaves plenty of room for the voice and the message.

Bad Bunny wants the listener to focus on the lyrics, which strike like a dagger to the heart. A letter of love and fear to his people, whose future the artist deeply worries about.

Se oye al jíbaro llorando, otro más que se marchó / No quería irse pa' Orlando, pero el corrupto lo echó.

Translation: You can hear the jíbaro (symbol of the Puerto Rican identity) crying, another one who left. / He didn’t want to go to Orlando (popular destination for puerto rican immigrants), but the corrupt one pushed him out.

But it’s also a clear political message, shining a spotlight on colonization and the devastating history of Hawai’i. With this flag-bearing album, the rapper claims his past and denounces the monster of colonization.

Quieren quitarme el río y también la playa / Quieren el barrio mío y que abuelita se vaya / No, no suelte' la bandera ni olvide' el lelolai / Que no quiero que hagan contigo lo que le pasó a Hawái

Translation: They want to take my river and my beach too / They want my neighborhood, and for my grandma to leave / No — don’t let go of the flag, don’t forget the lelolai (traditional Puerto Rican folk chants) / Because I don’t want them to do to you what they did to Hawai’i.

But what happened to Hawaii?

Once an independent and sovereign nation, the Kingdom of Hawai‘i was overthrown in 1893 by a group of American businessmen and sugar plantation owners with the backing of U.S. military forces. Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last monarch of Hawai‘i, was deposed in a coup that many Native Hawaiians and historians consider illegal. Despite strong resistance and petitions from Native Hawaiians, the U.S. formally annexed Hawai‘i in 1898 without a vote from its people. In 1959, Hawai‘i became the 50th state of the United States.

Native Hawaiians have been displaced from their ancestral lands due to tourism, real estate development, and military occupation. Traditional practices and language were suppressed for decades, and today, Native Hawaiians remain one of the most economically and socially marginalized groups in the state.

"There’s a lot of political lines that you can’t tell are political. I’m a normal human being and I have feelings and I get mad and I get happy and that’s how I make my music. Sometimes you want to cry, sometimes you want to dance, sometimes you want to fall in love and sometimes you want to talk about political things." - Bad Bunny