This past weekend Bad Bunny began his long-awaited and unprecedented 30-show residency at the Choli in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is a fitting arrangement to support Debi Tirar Más Fotos, his latest record, which celebrates and pays homage to the music and culture of his homeland—and which, above all, works as a resounding statement on amor a la patria, or love of the country, and the importance of preserving the island’s traditions. The residency is titled No Me Quiero Ir de Aqui, which references both the artist’s desire to stay home after years of touring and projects that took him abroad and the idea of having to emigrate to the mainland United States in search of more opportunities, like so many Puerto Ricans have been forced to do. The first 12 dates were exclusively available to island residents, further emphasizing the point that this is a record dedicated to Boricuas.
For the past few years, method dressing at concerts has become the norm, but at these Bad Bunny shows, the method also held a deeper meaning as attendees embraced elements of the Puerto Rican national costume. Many young people came dressed like jíbaros, a term that was coined in the 1800s to refer to the poor people who lived in the mountains and worked as farmers but has since become a symbol of national Puerto Rican identity. For women, that meant ruffled skirts and off-the-shoulder white ruffled blouses, while men wore white button-down shirts with sleeves rolled up, white or khaki pants, and a red scarf tied around the neck, all topped off with a pava: a brimless hat woven from straw, with the leftover pieces creating a kind of fringe all around it. The pava was a particularly popular accessory at the shows, since Bad Bunny has incorporated it into his personal style (including at the Met Gala, where he had a special version made by the Puerto Rican milliner De León Headwear to accompany his Prada look).
Other than the pava, the most popular motif was obviously the Puerto Rican flag, seen on everything from hats to bikini tops and dresses and in makeup. The Flor de Maga, the national flower of the island, was another recurring accessory, usually seen tucked behind young women’s ears. The vibe perfectly encapsulated a popular saying on the island: “Yo soy Boricua, pa’ que tu lo sepas.”
