"It's unnecessary."
That was Bad Bunny's answer when Variety's Latin music critic Thania Garcia recently asked him why he chose to not include any U.S. dates in his epic 2025-26 world tour.
Instead, the Puerto Rican mega-star known among his fans simply as Benito has taken a bold creative and logistical step. He is celebrating the release of his latest album, the blockbuster Debí Tirar Más Fotos, with a 30-date residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan — aptly titled No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí ("I Don’t Want To Leave Here") — from July to September of this year. No other Latin icon has ever gone to such extreme lengths to prove the importance that his own homeland occupies in his personal cosmovision.
How far is Benito going to ensure that the residency is seen as a political act seeking to vindicate the boricua culture that informs most of his musical output? Tickets for the first nine dates were available strictly to residents of the island, with customers having to present proof of Puerto Rico residence at the time of purchase — ensuring that he can celebrate this momentous occasion with his people.
"The political message behind it is really beautiful," says Javier J. Hernández Acosta, Dean of the School of Arts, Design and Creative Industries at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in San Juan. "'We can do this. We can foster cultural and economic development through our own gifts.' In symbolic terms, this is what Benito is doing.
"We can cherish our culture, join forces and envision a different future for the island. We've been at the forefront of music for a very long time, from the salsa movement and Menudo to Ricky Martin and Daddy Yankee," he continues. "But Benito is doing it in a more holistic, all-encompassing fashion. Our country's best raw material is its creative talent."
It is not a coincidence that the series of shows is anchored on Debí Tirar Más Fotos, the one album where the three-time GRAMMY winner intensely celebrates the roots music that he grew up listening to. A vague conceptual record, it includes anti-colonial messages ("LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii"), an affectionate nod to salsa orchestra El Gran Combo ("NUEVAYoL"), and the appearance of folk ensemble Los Pleneros de la Cresta on the zesty "CAFé CON RON" — miles away from the decadent and salacious trap of Bad Bunny smashes like 2023's "MÓNACO."
"What Benito is doing right now is the continuation and evolution of the Caribbean's amazing musical legacy," says Willy Aldarondo of the Puerto Rican tropical indie group Chuwi, who feature on Debí Tirar Más Fotos' electro-tinged party anthem "WELTiTA." "Benito is the most recent chapter of the story, and he's not only made some fascinating music, but also took it to an unprecedented level of popularity. Now, Puerto Rico is becoming a musical mecca."
Just like Jamaica with ska, rocksteady and reggae, Puerto Rico has been at the forefront of popular music since the early decades of the 20th century. The mambo explosion of the '50s was fueled predominantly by Tito Rodríguez and Nuyorican timbales wizard Tito Puente. Similarly, the New York salsa movement of the '70s had a direct line with the island's genre masters, from Eddie Palmieri and El Gran Combo to Cheo Feliciano and La Sonora Ponceña, to name a few. And the initial reggaetón phenomenon of the early 2000's was pioneered by local stars like Daddy Yankee, Don Omar and Tego Calderón.
None of these artists, however, managed to dominate the musical zeitgeist of the past decade on a global level like Benito — not only in terms of massive streaming numbers and universal acclaim, but also in the way that he effectively changed the sound of contemporary Latin music in the current decade. The residency stands as a moving tribute to the place that inspired his vision.
"As a musician myself, I believe that he's doing some extraordinary work by creating an intersection where all these local genres are getting together, from plena and salsa to bolero and aguinaldo," Hernández Acosta asserts. "I've spent years dreaming of the moment when our island would venture into popular music mining the essence of its own genres. It's exactly what Jamaica did with reggae, Spain with flamenco and Colombia with cumbia and vallenato. This is an additional element that we'll be celebrating during the residency."
Benito had already highlighted his roots in multiple ways: wearing the Puerto Rican flag in previous performances, using boricua slang, and mentioning some of the island's specific locales. His 2022 GRAMMY-winning masterpiece, Un Verano Sin Ti, delved deep into Caribbean beach culture, while borrowing openly from venerable formats like salsa and bomba. Still, Debí Tirar Más Fotos may well be his most personal — and emotional — expression of love to the island. Geopolitically, both the album and residency couldn't have arrived at a better time.
"Bad Bunny has exerted the maximum amount of pressure in order to put Puerto Rico on the map — and he did through the power of his music," says Cuban singer/songwriter Daymé Arocena, who decided to stay and live in Puerto Rico a couple of years ago after recording an album in the island. "Benito is telling us, 'If you want to see me in concert, you will have to fly here and withstand the heat. You will have to traverse the dark highways where the lights have still to be replaced following the hurricane.'
"It's a spectacular statement, but Benito has spent many years making spectacular statements," Arocena adds. "He is a risk taker, the kind of guy who ends up winning because he is not afraid of losing."
Perhaps most importantly, the benefits of this artistic gamble goes beyond making an ideological statement. Hernández Acosta mentions a recent study conducted by Dr. Indira Luciano Montalvo, estimating that the residency will bring Puerto Rico the cool sum of $57 million as the result of ticket sales and a spike in tourism (the amount excludes the actual production of the shows, which will employ a number of local craftsmen and technicians).
Following the residency, the singer will embark on an extensive stadium world tour spanning Europe, Latin America, Japan, and Australia. The tour, which has already broken several records at venues around the globe, will kick off in November and end in July of 2026.
Before that, however, Benito will turn the biggest cultural statement of his career into a reality. The residency is likely to be remembered as one of the most soulful chapters of his artistic legacy — and perhaps inspire other boricua artists to follow him in seeking global domination from the inside out.
"As he continues to break records, Bad Bunny is single-handedly changing the status quo of the music business," says Aldarondo. "It's really thrilling that the person doing this is not only Puerto Rican, but also playing Puerto Rican music. This is just incredible. It doesn't seem real to me."