Every year that passes, the list of Bad Bunny’s accomplishments gets longer. Today, he scratches off a big one that fans have been requesting for a very long time: NPR’s Tiny Desk.
On Monday, NPR dropped the long-awaited Bad Bunny episode of their popular series. A casual search of “bad bunny tiny desk” on social media brings up dozens of results, showing that fans of the Puerto Rican superstar had been clamoring for an appearance on the program for years now. Since the release of his most recent album — the worldwide chart-topper DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS — the calls had grown even more urgent. Followers guessed that the album’s traditional Puerto Rican folk sounds (like plena, bomba, decima, and salsa) would work great on Tiny Desk. Some predicted that it would become an instant hit, while others were slightly less subtle about how much they were looking forward to it.
The performance was shot back in February at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C., and Bad Bunny arrived with his backing band LoS SOBRiNOS, led by musical director and percussionist Julito Gastón. Other members included keyboardist Luis Irizarry, producer “Big Jay” Anthony on the bongos, bassist Krystal Santana, Emanuel Santana on the güiro and tambourine, and cuatro players Luis Sanz and Fabiola Méndez — the latter who had her own Tiny Desk concert back in September.
Two Puerto Rican flags, hand-sewn by artist Milagros Rosado, were draped on the iconic desk for the occasion. Rosado hails from the town of Morovis, which is the same place Benito cheekily shared that he was conceived on the song “LA MuDANZA.” Rosado’s flags have been popular for years now, gaining acclaim after tennis player Mónica Puig raised one at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she became the first Puerto Rican to win a gold medal in any sport. The flag utilizes the “light blue” shade associated with the Puerto Rican independence movement, which Bad Bunny has referenced in videos.
He showed up wearing his now-iconic Saint Barth/West Indies cap from Chamade and a colorful BODE brand luxury “Slugger” cardigan with a vintage 1980s wraparound drawing of a baseball game. Tiny Desk’s backdrop is famous for being equally colorful and vibrant, which makes his sartorial choice appear like he was trying to match the surroundings.
Benito seemed nervous as he fidgeted around while being graciously introduced by Alt.Latino podcast co-host Anamaría Sayre. But once the music got going, it didn’t take long for his Bad Bunny side to take over and kick off with a rendition of “PIToRRO DE COCO.”
From there, Benito dove into more bangers from the album: There was “VOY A LLeVARTE PA PR” arranged in more of a bolero style, and a slower version of “KLOuFRENS.” They felt like a one-two punch of songs steeped in nostalgia, melancholy, and yearning. It’s difficult to think of anyone in his genre who reaches towards these themes better, and seeing him sing in such a subdued setting gave the tracks even more gravitas than fans usually get the opportunity to see.
Afterwards, he took a moment to introduce the next song with some backstory. He’s mentioned before that “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii” began as a dream he had. Here, he went into slightly more detail, remarking about how he woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall back asleep until he wrote down the lyrics. The song famously deals with the subject of Puerto Rico’s colonization and gentrification, and the fear of its residents being irreversibly displaced from their own land. As he performed it, he caught himself at one point, seeming to become emotional.
At another moment, he lightened the mood and provoked laughs from the crowd as he playfully struggled with his desk chair in an exaggerated manner, wondering aloud why he thought it’d be a good idea to do the whole show in such a constricted seat.
Toward the end, he surprised the audience by going into storytelling mode and improvising an anecdote about how he and his band were practicing for the show in front of the White House, braving the cold (temperatures in D.C. reached a high of 38 degrees that week.) He joked that a security guard came out and broke into a conversation about Puerto Rico’s colonial status and relationship with the United States. It soon became apparent this free-flowing tale was his creative way of setting up their next song, “LA MuDANZA.”
Here he brought the house down, with everyone in the room joining in for the chorus. His band went all-out as well, bringing bombastic salsa to warm up a frigid D.C. day. It’s hard not to imagine how this five-song performance might foreshadow his shows as he counts down the days to his multi-month Puerto Rican residency in July. The possibilities of what he could do when he unleashes the potential of DTmF under his “sol Taíno” only heighten the anticipation for what’s sure to be the music event of the year.
From Rolling Stone US
