Bad Bunny
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On Monday (Oct. 9), Bad Bunny fans rejoiced as Benito took to Instagram to make the announcement that his millions of faithful day-ones have been waiting for.
No, he didn’t announce that he and Kylie Jenner were breaking up (y’all still mad at him about that??), but he did reveal that this Friday (Oct. 13), his next album, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va Pasar Mañana (“Nobody Knows What Will Happen Tomorrow”), will be hitting the streets. Benito’s upcoming fifth studio album will serve as the follow-up to his record-breaking 2022 LP, Un Verano Sin Ti, which went on to become the most streamed album in Spotify’s history.
In the video announcement, Bad Bunny rolls through the streets of the city of what seems to be old New York (are those the Twin Towers in the backdrop?) before eventually making his way past some paparazzi and into Carbone, a high-end popular Italian-American restaurant. Revealing his latest buzzcut hairstyle that he rocked back in 2018, the scene cuts to black before the album title is shown, followed by the release date.
Though details about the album aren’t known, many fans are speculating it’s going to be a trap album. Now that the album is already pre-loaded on Spotify, which each of it’s 22 tracks titled “Fuego” (Fire), y’all know this joint will rule the remainder of the year if his previous album is any indication of what we can expect from his faithful following.
Check out Bad Bunny’s video announcement below. Let us know if you’ll be checking for Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va Pasar Mañana this weekend and what your expectations from Benito are in the comments section below.
Bad Bunny is ready to sing a new song live on Oct. 5 for the first time, when he takes the stage at the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards.
Billboard and Telemundo announced Thursday (Sept. 28) that the Puerto Rican superstar will be part of the ceremony at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Florida. The show will be broadcast live on Telemundo and simultaneously on the Spanish entertainment cable network Universo, on Peacock and on the Telemundo app. Throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, it will be available on Telemundo Internacional.
They didn’t specify what song Bad Bunny will be performing, but it says in a press release that the hitmaker “will set the stage on fire at the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards with a worldwide premiere.” His most recent release is the reggaetón banger “Un Preview,” which just came out Monday.
The singer of “Tití Me Preguntó” and “Me Porto Bonito,” a 15-time finalist at this year’s Latin Billboards, joins a stellar list of artists confirmed to sing at the gala, including Calibre 50, Chiquis, Eddy Lover, El Alfa, Eladio Carrión, Farruko, Grupo Frontera, Justin Quiles, La Factoría, Los Ángeles Azules, Manuel Turizo, Marc Anthony, Marshmello, Olga Tañón, Los Sebastianes, Myke Towers, Nicki Nicole, Pepe Aguilar, Peso Pluma, Sky Rompiendo, Sofía Reyes, Tini, Ximena Sariñana, Yandel and Yng Lvcas.
Mexican music sensation Peso Pluma leads the list of finalists with 21 nods across 15 categories, including Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Global 200 Latin Artist of the Year and Top Latin Album of the Year. His collaboration with Eslabon Armado, “Ella Baila Sola,” is up for six awards, including Hot Latin Song of the Year, Global 200 Latin Song of the Year and Sales Song of the Year. And his hit with Yng Lvcas, “La Bebe,” competes in five categories, including Hot Latin Song of the Year and Latin Rhythm Song of the Year.
Following Peso Pluma are Bad Bunny and Grupo Frontera with 15 nods each, including four together for their collab “un X100to,” while Karol G has 13, and Shakira and Fuerza Regida have 12 each. See the complete list of finalists here.
Among the special honorees, Los Ángeles Azules will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Latin Billboard Music Awards 2023, while Ivy Queen will be recognized with the Icon Award. Colombian superstar Karol G will be honored with the Spirit of Hope Award in recognition of her commitment to civic, community and humanitarian causes through her Con Cora Foundation.
As has been the case for more than 20 years, the Billboard Latin Music Awards coincide with Billboard’s annual Latin Music Week, the single largest and most important gathering of the Latin music industry, taking place Oct. 2-6. The event will feature panels, conversations and workshops at the Faena Forum and exclusive performances and fan experiences throughout the week in Miami. Shakira, Myke Towers, Vico C, Grupo Frontera, Peso Pluma, Nicki Nicole, RBD and many more are confirmed to participate.
Purchase tickets to the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Week here.
Bad Bunny does a Mexican accent in Cassandro, a biopic starring Gael García Bernal as the queer wrestling icon and the Puerto Rican music superstar as a drug dealer and his love interest. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In a clip from the biopic shared exclusively with […]
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Even with all the backlash that Bad Bunny earned himself from the Latino community by dating notorious culture vulture, Kendall Jenner, his latest album, Un Verano Sin Ti, still continues to make history in 2023.
Already being named the most streamed album of 2022, Un Verano Sin Ti has now gone on to become the most streamed album in Spotify’s history as it’s beaten out Ed Sheeran’s Divide to sit atop that streaming throne. Who knew reggaeton would go on to be more popular than folk-pop these days? According to Digital Music News, Bad Bunny’s fourth studio album hit the stream running with 356.66 million on-demand streams in its debut week May 6, 2022.
It’s only been dubs and love from there as the king of reggaeton has enjoyed all the success from the fruits of his labor as he’s let his work speak for itself.
Digital Music News reports:
The record spent 13 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with 22 songs from the set on the Billboard Hot 100, the most in a week for a core Latin music artist and the most in a week performed all in Spanish. Un Verano Sin Ti became the first non-English album ever to top the Year-End Billboard 200.
Featuring collaborations with The Marías, Buscabulla, and Chencho Corleone, the album also made history at the Grammys last year as the first Spanish-language album to receive a nomination for Album of the Year.
“I never dreamed I wanted to be the biggest one or No. 1. I simply wanted to make it. Why? Because I love what I do. I’ve been doing rhythms since I was 13 years old, writing, singing songs in my head,” Bad Bunny told Billboard last year. “I never said I want to be the biggest or the best or the richest. I did it because I loved it, and my only dream was to be able to make a living out of it.”
Hopefully, the Kardashian Kurse doesn’t hit him like it did some of Kendall’s exes such as Ben Simmons, Devin Booker (whom Bad Bunny threw a subliminal shot at over Kendall), Blake Griffin or Kyle Kuzma. Aside from Booker, all them dudes looked washed up these days, but Booker’s chances at getting a ring seem as slim as his teammate, Kevin Durant.
Luckily the “kurse” hasn’t affected Bad Bunny’s success, but if that next album flops both critically and commercially, y’all already know what happened. Just sayin’.
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The Kardashian Kurse strikes again!
Well, kinda but not really. Months after Bad Bunny infuriated his Puerto Rican fanbase by allegedly dating Kendall Jenner, Sony Pictures is announcing that his Marvel feature film, El Muerto, is being removed from its release date, which was set for Sept. 22, 2023. According to Deadline, Bad Bunny’s big superhero movie will not be dropping as scheduled due to Bad Bunny’s current situation as he continues to tour along with the other factors that are currently engulfing Hollywood.
Deadline reports:
Sony and Marvel set Cuarón to direct El Muerto in October. At the time it was in early development, with Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer writing the script about El Muerto, a character within Spider-Man’s universe. In Marvel lore, he is an antihero and the son of a luchador next in line to inherit the ancestral power of “El Muerto.”
We’re hearing that the film remains in development, but that between Bad Bunny’s tour schedule and the ongoing WGA strike it makes finalizing a date complicated.
The studio previously had set El Muerto to hit theaters on January 12, 2024. Today it said that slot will be filled with The Book of Clarence, the Jeymes Samuel-directed pic starring LaKeith Stanfield hailing from Legendary Pictures. It had been slated for release on September 22, 2023.
Could this be attributed to the Kardashian Kurse? Of course not, but that’s not going to keep angry Bad Bunny fans from blaming the notorious Kulture Vulture Klan of reality TV stars, that’s for sure.
Guess Bad Bunny and Marvel fans will have to wait a bit longer (depending on the strike getting resolved) before they get to see the “Diles” singer save the day in Sony’s Spider-Verse.
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Bad Bunny gives us some Jersey club sounds with his new track ‘Where She Goes.’ Miley Cyrus spilled some serious tea for the cover of British Vogue, opening up about whether ‘Flowers’ is about her ex-husband Liam Hemsworth, the advice she’s received from Dolly Parton, and her thoughts about touring. The long-awaited track for the ‘Fast X’ soundtrack ‘Angel Pt. 1’ featuring BTS’ Jimin is here. Baby Tate & Saweetie test how well they know each other. And more!
Tetris Kelly 0:00Miley clears up rumors and says she doesn’t want to tour. Justin Timberlake laughs when the internet jokes about his wife Jessica Biel. We’ve got hit after hit in your Friday music guide. You see how well Saweetie and Baby Tate know each other. And Maria Becerra builds her ultimate girl group. Happy Friday! I’m Tetris and this is Billboard News. It’s May 19th and we’ve got a ton of new bops in your Friday music guide.
Tetris Kelly 0:32Has Bad Bunny ever failed? I think not. He gives us everything we need with new track ‘Where She Goes,’ including cameos from Frank Ocean and Lil Uzi Vert.
Tetris Kelly 0:49We’ll have more new music throughout the show, but first, let’s get to our top story. Miley Cyrus is on the cover of British Vogue and on the inside she’s having quite the tea party because she is spilling — here are three things to know from her revealing cover story.
Tetris Kelly 1:09First Miley’s eight-week Hot 100 chart topper ‘Flowers’ was almost very different. She said the empowering song used to be said with one lyric saying “I can buy myself flowers, right? Write my name in the sand, but I can’t love me better than you can.” Plus Miley says she doesn’t have time for the rumors that the song is about her ex-husband Liam Hemsworth. She’s not into tricking the audience. If it were about him, you’d know.
Tetris Kelly 1:37Second, Miley said she’s not a fan of those major tours. She said there’s no safety. It’s also not natural. It’s so isolated because you’re in front of 100,000 people then you are alone. It’s not that she can’t do it. She just doesn’t have the desire to do it.
Tetris Kelly 1:57Finally, she reveals some of the best advice she got from her godmother Dolly Parton when she remembered a wardrobe malfunction while hosting New Year’s Eve with Pete Davidson.
Tetris Kelly 2:19It’s safe to say I’m in my grave. BTS’ Jimin is joined by Muni Long, Kodak Black, NLE Choppa and Jvke on ‘Angel Pt.1’ from ‘Fast X.’ And the only way to describe this song is angelic.
Tetris Kelly 2:38Saweetie and Baby Tate made me a bop together with ‘Hey Mickey’. So to celebrate we put their friendship to the test.
Saweetie and Baby Tate 2:45I’m Baby Tate and I’m Saweetie and we’re gonna see how well we know each other
Producer 2:58Who would win in a twerk off?
Baby Tate 3:01Me — not in this dress
Producer 3;08Who’s most likely to be late to set?
Saweetie 3:09Don’t judge me, there was traffic today. I think it’s neutral.
Producer 3:17Who’s the bigger spender?
Baby Tate 3:22Probably Saweetie — you see this shirt?
Producer 3:27Who takes the most selfies?
Saweetie 3:29Oh I don’t know, that might be a tie. Yeah, I feel like we’re both picture girls.
Baby Tate 3:33I was definitely taking pictures earlier
Saweetie 3:36Me too.
Baby Tate 3:38Gotta get that good light
Saweetie 3:38Right?
Producer 3:40Who is most likely to Google themselves?
Baby Tate 3:43Me.
Saweetie 3:44Me too.
Producer 3:52Who is the better driver?
Saweetie 3:53Oh me.
Baby Tate 3:54I don’t drive, so definitely Saweetie.
Saweetie 3:55I’m like the best getaway driver. I’m thinking in another life…
Baby Tate 3:59Like a race car?
Saweetie 4:00No like a getaway driver.
Baby Tate 4:03That’s good to know.
Producer 4:08Who’s the bigger crier?
Baby Tate 4:11Oh, I mean, I don’t really cry that much.
Saweetie 4:12Me either.
Baby Tate 4:13I don’t have any water in my chart.
Saweetie 3 4:13I have hella water in my chart, but shoot.
Baby Tate 4:16You don’t be crying?
Saweetie 4:17No I don’t.
Baby Tate 4:18It’s no more pain over here.
Producer 4:20Who is most likely to forget lyrics while performing?
Baby Tate 4:28Yeah, definitely we forget. We have so many songs.
Saweetie 4:32Right?
Baby Tate 4:32I think people, like they get a little hard on artists like how you don’t remember your words. Like I write a lot of words.
Saweetie 4:38I think it’d be like the choreo with the rapping. I did it one time and they caught me in 4k.
Tetris Kelly 4:47Kesha is showing us only love can save us now. Her new album ‘Gag Order’ has arrived.
Tetris Kelly 4:59Kylie Minogue is entering a new era with ‘Padam Padam’
Tetris Kelly 5:12Justin Timberlake is responding to a TikTok user claiming the singer’s girlfriend looks just like Jessica Biel.
Tetris Kelly 5:27Justin Timberlake got in on the fun this week after someone pointed out the stark similarities between his wife and Jessica Biel. The joke started when the TikTok user left a comment on the pop star’s video writing, “I don’t know who you are, but your girlfriend looks like Jessica Biel, Congrats” followed by a pair of starry-eyed and thumbs-up emojis. The couple has been married for more than a decade and the singer couldn’t resist turning the comment into a bit. In the video, JT lowers his sunglasses to look directly at the camera, and he doubled down in the caption, writing ‘from now on I’m only going by Jessica Biel’s boyfriend.’ Gotta love it. Justin can jump in and make a joke out of this — now where’s some new music?
Tetris Kelly 6:10The worlds of Disney and K-pop have collided and I couldn’t be happier. Danielle from NewJeans voices ‘The Little Mermaid’ and K-pop idol Ailee lends her voice to Disney’s ‘The Ghost and Molly McGee.’
Tetris Kelly 6:35Now let’s toss it to Maria Becerra who told us down in Miami who would be in her ultimate girl group.
Tetris Kelly 7:11That’s it for today, we’ll be back Monday with your latest in charts and music news. But before you go, we’ve got one more entry in your Friday music guide. If your heart is broken, you might need to stay away from this next one. Lewis Capaldi returns with ‘Broken By Desire to Be Heavenly Sent.’ For even more new music make sure you head to Billboard.com. I’m Tetris Kelly and this is Billboard News.
Following his cumbia-norteña hit duet “un x100to” with Grupo Frontera, Bad Bunny continues to prove his genre-hopping prowess with his just-released Jersey club cut “Where She Goes.” The English-titled, Spanish-language song sees the Puerto Rican hitmaker playing with dynamism with a subtle dembow rhythm, courtesy of super producer MAG.
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Looking like a swaggering frontiersman armed with a cowboy buckle to boot, Bad Bunny rides around in a vintage Rolls-Royce in the Stillz-directed music video. He then appears on top of a tree amid the desert, and there’s also a scene that projects a Burning Man vibe with a tribe of people surrounding a massing bonfire. Special guests include Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldinho, Frank Ocean, Lil Uzi Vert, Dominic Fike, Sabrina Lada and more.
Lil Uzi Vert, who is also featured doing his famous TikTok dance, is an appropriate guest, as the “Just Wanna Rock” hitmaker helped spark Jersey club’s rise in 2022, a genre that is permeating the New York drill scene. Bad Bunny is the first artist in Latin music to embrace the East Coast sound. Jersey club first originated in Newark, New Jersey, in the early new millennium.
“Baby, tell me the truth if you forgot about me/ I know it was only one night, that we’re not going to repeat,” Bunny croons in the opening verse against a dramatic, ominous electronic sound. “In you I wanted to find what I lost in someone else/ Your pride doesn’t want to speak to me, so we’re going to compete.”
Two days before the song’s arrival, the Puerto Rican hitmaker teased the new track on social media, introducing its first 42 seconds.
Although he mentioned a possible break in last December’s cover story, Benito proceeds to be at the forefront of pop culture. This year, he became the first Spanish-speaking artist to headline Coachella and made waves at the Met Gala. He also continues to churn out a bevy of No. 1 hits on Billboard‘s charts.
Sony Music Corp. is in the process of helping Bad Bunny manager Noah Assad — the CEO of Latin music label and management company Rimas Entertainment — buy out his partner, Rafael Ricardo Jiménez Dan, a former Venezuelan government official who has a 60% majority stake in the company, sources familiar with the matter tell Billboard.
Rimas — which manages, records and publishes Bad Bunny — also has a label and management roster that includes Arcángel, Eladio Carrión, Jowell & Randy and Tommy Torres. The company was founded in 2014 in Puerto Rico and now has about 100 employees.
According to sources, Sony will participate in a buyout of Jiménez, who has not been involved in running Rimas’ day-to-day operations since 2018. That will result in a reshuffling of the company’s ownership and will likely leave Bad Bunny with an equity stake in the firm— and either Assad, or the combination of Assad and Bad Bunny, with majority ownership.
However the deal is ultimately financed, Sony itself is expected to wind up with a significant minority share in Rimas, which it will assign to The Orchard, its rapidly growing music distribution and artists/label services powerhouse that currently distributes Rimas.
Billboard estimates that Rimas Entertainment — the record label and the management company — has a valuation above $300 million without including the company’s publishing assets, which sources say are not currently being considered as a part of this transaction.
Assad and Jimenez, respectively, also have the same 40–60% ownership stakes in the music publishing assets, Jiménez tells Billboard. The publishing company, which includes some Bad Bunny songs and was launched by Assad, Jiménez and lawyer Carlos Souffront, is also up for sale. The sellers are seeking a $70 million to $75 million valuation for the overall publishing company, those sources add. As on the recorded music side, Assad plans to retain his stake in the song catalog, which means that the Jiménez stake could potentially fetch $42 million to $45 million.
Assessing a valuation for the publishing deal is tricky, sources say, because many of Bad Bunny’s songs are still widely popular, which makes it harder to calculate how much their plays will decay until they level off and become a predictable income stream, likely in a decade or two from now. As it is, the Rimas publishing portfolio —which is currently being administered by Universal Music Publishing Group — has about $5 million to $7.5 million in net publisher share (gross profit after paying songwriter royalties), a level it is expected to maintain over the next few years.
The music publishing portion of Jiménez’s Rimas holdings have been shopped to private equity players, sources say, and there is currently no known buyer. That’s in contrast to the hoped-for sale of the label/management holdings, which appears to have only been offered to Sony. However, sources wonder if Assad has matching rights on the publishing assets, which means that he could also arrange a deal to buy the Jimenez publishing stake if he matches the highest offer.
Jiménez is being represented for the expected publishing sale by Brian Richards, co-founder and managing partner of the investment advisory firm Artisan. On the record label/management side of Rimas, sources say Jiménez is being advised by Mitchell, Silberberg & Krupp partner Joel Schoenfeld, the former general counsel of eMusic and BMG’s senior vp of business affairs before that; and by Colin Finkelstein, the former CFO for EMI Music, who sometimes consults with investors on music assets and also owns and runs a few artist management firms.
Both deals are said to be very complex, and sources say they have been in the works for months — with some wondering whether the deals have been stalled due to friction between the two partners, Jiménez and Assad.
Another looming issue may be how much financial capacity Sony Music Group has to close deals right now. As Sony negotiates the stake in Rimas, it is reportedly also in talks to acquire part — or possibly all — of the Michael Jackson estate in a deal that could carry a valuation of $1.5 billion to $2 billion.
The question is whether Sony’s corporate leadership in Japan has signed off on the funding and the completion of both deals and if the costs involved in the deals might force Sony to choose to between them.
If both deals are completed, sources suggest that they would likely still need to be approved by regulators. Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, as of Feb. 27, 2023, any merger and/or acquisition that has a transaction value of more than $111 million — or if the contemplated combined entity will have total assets of more than $445 million — must file and seek regulatory approval.
Assad, Jiménez, Sony, Finkelstein, Schoenfeld and Richards either declined to comment or didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Additional reporting by Alexei Barrionuevo
Fans will now be able to “say cheese” with a Bad Bunny wax figure in Sin City. Madame Tussauds Las Vegas unveiled the superstar’s new figurine on Tuesday (April 18), in which he’s seen rocking his look from the 2021 American Music Awards.
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The figure’s surrounding set (seen above), inspired by Bad Bunny’s El Último Tour Del Mundo album cover, features a purple semi-truck decked out with flames in the middle of a vast desert landscape. The Puerto Rican singer has two other wax figures, one in NYC’s Times Square location and the other in Orlando, Fla.
“We’re revealing Bad Bunny’s figure today to not only celebrate his 11 nominations for the upcoming Latin American Music Awards, but to congratulate and honor him for being the first latin artist to headline Coachella,” said Gabriel Hewitt, general manager for Madame Tussauds Las Vegas. “He’s having such an incrediblen incredible year and we’re excited to be a part of his success by revealing his third figure.”
The new figure took approximately six months to create by a team of 20 London-based artists, according to a press release. The process included analyzing hundreds of videos and images to capture every single one of the 29-year-old star’s features, including his hair color and texture, eye color, skin tone, nail shape and more.
Visit Madame Tussauds Las Vegas’ website here to book a trip to see Bad Bunny’s newest wax figure.
As if Bad Bunny wasn’t charming enough, he had fans swooning with his adorable Carpool Karaoke segment on The Late Late Show With James Corden.
The Puerto Rican superstar and the talk show host drove around Los Angeles singing along with a number of his own hits including “Dakiti,” “Tití Me Pregunto” and “I Like It.” Bunny also jammed along to two covers: Harry Styles‘ “As It Was” and Ariana Grande‘s Zedd collaboration, “Break Free.”
When the 2014 My Everything song began to play, Bad Bunny gets visibly excited, and begins passionately singing along. “This is the English song that I most know the lyrics,” the 29-year-old explained. “I listen to English music, I like it but I never –” he says before hilariously cutting himself off to belt the chorus as loud as he can.
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Grande herself saw the clip on Thursday (March 16) and even reposted it to her Instagram Stories, along with a series of crying face emojis. See her post before it disappears here.
Elsewhere in the 15-minute video, the hip-hopper also discussed his love of drawing and wrestling. He demonstrated it, at one point enticing Corden into the ring with WWE wrestler Rey Mysterio.
Watch the full Carpool Karaoke segment with Bad Bunny below.