{"id":104,"date":"2024-12-08T23:59:44","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T04:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/lao354-f24\/?p=104"},"modified":"2024-12-20T21:46:44","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T02:46:44","slug":"thinking-with-the-polarities-in-bad-bunny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/lao354-f24\/thinking-with-the-polarities-in-bad-bunny\/","title":{"rendered":"Thinking with the Polarities in Bad Bunny"},"content":{"rendered":"

Through Bad Bunny\u2019s music, I explore the conflicting emotional states that he expresses. I choose pairs of songs that express such states as self-aggrandizement versus existential emptiness and unconsciousness versus self-awareness. These polarities mirror the archetypal struggle of good versus evil and light versus shadow, which plays out on an individual and also collective level. The \u201cbad\u201d in Bad Bunny\u2019s name points to these deeper issues: how do we come to terms with the \u201cbad\u201d or \u201cevil\u201d within ourselves? What is \u201cevil\u201d in the first place?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To answer those questions, I turn to the Native American concept of \u201cwetiko.\u201d Wetiko is like a virus or disease, but one whose influence is more difficult to discern since it afflicts the mind. In Jack Forbes\u2019s book <\/span>Columbus and Other Cannibals<\/span><\/i>, he names wetiko the sickness of \u201ccannibalism,\u201d and calls it \u201cthe greatest epidemic sickness known to man\u201d (Forbes, xvi). The idea of wetiko exists within the traditions of all the Algonquin nations, with at least 45 recorded variations on the word, including windigo in Ojibwe (Vaughan, 328). Wetiko generally refers to a spirit which possesses a person, causing them to do harmful, cannibalistic actions against others (Forbes, 24). It is telling that these pre-contact Native cultures were aware of the dangers of self-serving consumption gone out of control.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Though wetiko is a culturally-specific term, Forbes generalized its use to explain the behavior of European exploiters. For instance, through the lens of wetiko, Columbus is not just a greedy man, but \u201ca wetiko<\/span> \u2026 mentally ill or insane, the carrier of a terribly contagious psychological disease\u201d (Forbes, 22). Moreover, in Paul Levy\u2019s book <\/span>Wetiko: Healing the Mind-virus That Plagues Our World<\/span><\/i>, he articulates wetiko as a universal affliction part of the essential experience of being human. In his argument, wetiko is not a \u201cphysical, objectively existing virus outside of ourselves,\u201d but is endogenous to the human psyche, existing as the darkness within ourselves we are unaware of\u00a0 (Levy, 12). Before discovering the Native term wetiko, Levy referred to the same phenomenon as \u201cMalignant Egophrenia,\u201d whose acronym fittingly spells \u201cME\u201d (Levy, 16). However, Levy argues that it is impossible to definitely say that wetiko is \u201cthis or that, here or there.\u201d He compares wetiko to the alchemical figure Mercurius, who consists of extreme opposites\u2013good and evil\u2013and takes on endless forms (Levy, 31). In my exploration of Bad Bunny, I don\u2019t assume an understanding of wetiko from a fixed viewpoint. Rather, I explore wetiko as a multi-faceted phenomenon which helps make sense of the imbalances and polarities within Bad Bunny\u2019s music and the colonial context of Puerto Rico in which he operates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u00bfQuien Tu Eres?\u201d versus \u201cRLNDT\u201d<\/span><\/h1>\n

These two songs are from Bad Bunny\u2019s first album, X 100pre, and express nearly polar opposite sentiments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the first song, Bad Bunny repeats the refrain \u201c\u00bfQuien Tu Eres?\u201d (\u201cWho are you?\u201d) in an accusatory and confrontational manner. Bad Bunny asserts his superiority by flaunting his wealth and new-found status, in a comically extreme way. For instance, the line \u201cT\u00fa robando en Macy’s y yo en el desfile\u201d compares someone stealing at Macy\u2019s to him performing at the Macy\u2019s parade, which he did in the Thanksgiving of 2018. The line \u201cMe hice due\u00f1o del mundo y no lo quiero soltar\u201d expresses the fantasy of \u201cowning\u201d the world. Even more fantastical, he also refers to himself as \u201cel Magneto,\u201d the mutant in the X-men series who can control the electromagnetic force. The English outro condenses the creativity of his lyrics above to a direct statement: \u201cThe whole world knows who I am \/ But who are you? Nobody.\u201d Here we see a duality operating in plain sight\u2013Bad Bunny\u2019s elevation of himself relies on the denigration of someone else. Additionally, while there is truth to Bad Bunny\u2019s power over the world, that power depends as much on external validation as his own creative skill.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The second song, \u201cRLNDT,\u201d alludes to a child who went missing in Puerto Rico in 1999, nicknamed Rolandito (Acevedo). He connects the missing child to his own feeling of losing his identity and purpose in life, as with the line \u201cY no s\u00e9 si me raptaron o estoy perdido\u201d (\u201cI don’t know if I was kidnapped or I’m lost\u201d). While \u201c\u00bfQuien Tu Eres?\u201d is outward-directed, \u201cRLNDT\u201d focuses inwards, instead asking \u201cHola, \u00bfqui\u00e9n soy?\u201d (Hello, who am I?\u201d), to which he replies \u201cNo s\u00e9, se me olvid\u00f3\u201d (I don’t know, I forgot). This loss of true identity can be seen as the shadow side to his inflated and externally-validated identity in \u201c\u00bfQuien Tu Eres?\u201d. The fact that Bad Bunny can express this vulnerable state shows his self-awareness and nuanced relationship with his own shadow.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Imagery of light and dark feature prominently in his lyrics. For instance, the line \u201cNo s\u00e9 navegar con esta oscuridad, siento que estoy algaro\u201d expresses feeling lost and adrift within darkness. At the same time, he distrusts \u201clos faros,\u201d the lighthouses which could illuminate him. These \u201clighthouses\u201d connect to the navigational tools referenced throughout the song, such as the GPS, compass, clock, horoscopes, stars, and even traditional spiritual guides such as God and guardian angels. The chorus at the end of the song represents Bad Bunny\u2019s return to himself: \u201cYo mismo hice mi camino \u2026 Hola, qui\u00e9n soy, siempre he sido yo\u201d (I made my path by myself \u2026 Hello, who am I? I’ve always been myself.)\u201d According to Levy, the word \u201cre-turn\u201d is etymologically connected to \u201crepentance,\u201d which he calls \u201cthe highest expression of humanity\u2019s capacity to choose freely\u201d (Levy, 58). By acknowledging his own existential emptiness and inner darkness, Bad Bunny seeks to \u201cturn towards\u201d his authentic self\u2013an action which depends only on his conscious choice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEstamos Bien\u201d versus \u201cEl Apag\u00f3n\u201d<\/span><\/h1>\n

In this next pair of songs, I compare two songs which react to the problems faced by Puerto Rico: \u201cEstamos Bien\u201d reacting to Hurricane Maria, and \u201cEl Apag\u00f3n\u201d to blackouts and land dispossessions.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In his TV debut on Jimmy Fallon\u2019s Tonight Show, Bad Bunny sang \u201cEstamos Bien\u201d and dedicated it to the victims of Hurricane Maria: \u201cAfter one year of the hurricane there are still people without electricity in their homes. More than 3,000 people died and Trump\u2019s still in denial\u201d (Exposito). The song itself has an ambiguous relationship with denial. Bad Bunny asserts that \u201cTo’s los m\u00edos est\u00e1n bien\u201d (\u201cAll my people are fine\u201d) yet the main bulk of the song details his own wealth and distance from suffering. For example, a repeated line is \u201cSobran los billetes de cien\u201d (\u201cThere are hundred dollar bills to spare\u201d). Additionally, the line \u201cEn privado siempre vuelo \/ En el cuello tengo hielo\u201d (\u201cI always fly in jet private \/ I have ice on my neck\u201d) emphasizes his separation from the suffering of the world. Despite the seeming denial of suffering, \u201cEstamos Bien\u201d can also be seen as an extreme way of finding the good within the bad. The line \u201cAunque pa’ casa no ha llega’o la luz \/ Gracias a Dios porque tengo salud\u201d (\u201cEven if there’s no electric light at home \/ Thank God because I’m healthy\u201d) exemplifies this optimistic mindset.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the almost complete absence of the shadow element from \u201cEstamos Bien\u201d does not necessarily mean the shadow, or evil, has been vanquished. In Levy\u2019s analysis of wetiko, he noted that a central feature of the wetiko affliction is to see wetiko outside oneself. In other words, when one sees with the \u201cshadow\u2019s lens,\u201d the world appears shadowless. \u201cOur blindness to our blindness is one of the chief features of wetiko,\u201d he writes (Levy, 221). Though Bad Bunny was definitely not blind to the devastation of the hurricane, the song falls prey to the habitual wetiko response. This wetiko-driven response encourages the separation of oneself from the suffering and shadows in the world.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n