We love Bad Bunny!
The musical artist from Puerto Rico recently released his new album YHLQMDLG meaning Yo Hago Lo Que Me Da La Gana, which translates to I Do What I Want To Do. In order to promote the new album, Bad Bunny released a new music video this week for “Yo Perreo Sola.” The song itself tells the story of a single girl who twerks alone and likes to party. Despite that seemingly being a typical story celebrating partying, the lyrics actually spotlight the need to let women dance in couples without being harassed.
As Bad Boney shared in an interview with Rolling Stone, “I wrote it from the perspective of a woman. I wanted a woman’s voice to sing it — ‘yo perreo sola’ — because it doesn’t mean the same thing when a man sings it. But I do feel like that woman sometimes.”
And that perspective is one of the two reasons why the adjoining music video has garnered our appreciation. While the song itself celebrates women and the freedoms they should have in enjoying their time and bodies without outside pressure, Bad Bunny didn’t stop just there. The singer also tried to honor the LGBTQ community, and specifically the drag & trans communities, through the music video.
In the music video above, we see that Bad Bunny is dressed in drag. This, of course, isn’t the first time that the artist has played with gender expression and stereotypes. In the video for “Caro,” which came out in 2019, Bad Bunny was depicted getting his nails done. He then transformed into Puerto Rican model Jazmyne Joy who then acted as Bad Bunny for the rest of the video. While the music video was Bad Bunny’s way of expressing his feminine side, he was ridiculed later on for “sexual deviancy.”
But is Bad Bonny a member of the LGBTQ community? Well, the artist himself has not chosen to comment on that beyond saying that he’d rather not limit himself with a label. Earlier this month, the artist said in an interview with the LA Times that he would like to think of his sexuality as fluid.
“It does not define me,” he said. “At the end of the day, I don’t know if in 20 years I will like a man. One never knows in life.”
No matter whether you think that counts as LGBTQ or not, there’s no question that Bad Bunny is an ally to LGBTQ people. Not only did he confirm his support in his new music video, but the singer also acknowledged trans existence last month.
While performing “Ignorantes” on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Bad Bunny wore a skirt and a pale pink coat. Towards the end of the performance, the singer opened his jacket to reveal that he was wearing a shirt with the text, “”Mataron a Alexa, no a un hombre con falda.” This line translates to, “They killed Alexa, not a man in a skirt.”
The shirt was a reference to the murder of Puerto Rican resident Neulisa Alexa Luciano Ruiz. Ruiz was hunted and killed for using the women’s bathroom at a Mcdonald’s in late February. After a woman complained to local police, other customers were recorded on video saying things like, “We’re gonna run him over” and “You bet I am going to go and shoot him.” After this, gunshots were heard. Alexa was later shot and killed the following morning around 3:50. Bad Bunny’s shirt was then a protest against Puerto Rican press for misgendering Alexa in their coverage of the murder.
While we may not be able to call Bad Bunny LGBTQ himself, he has surely shown his support for LGBTQ people and his ability to push the conversation on gender identity and gender expression. For that, we’re thankful.
