The 2023 Grammy’s took place on Feb. 5 in Los Angeles, California. The prestigious award show started with a performance by Bad Bunny. Bad Bunny is a Puerto Rican singer who has been the most streamed artist in the world for the past three years.
This opening performance was not your average Grammy performance. Bad Bunny included a lot of Latin symbolism. Even the song choices were bold! Bad Bunny is known for bringing Latin representation to American award shows. He has previously performed at the VMA’s, Billboard Music Awards and the 55th Superbowl alongside singer Shakira.
This performance was different from the rest. He recently came out with his album Un Verano Sin Ti. Instead of picking one of his more chill or known reggaeton-style songs, he picked two of the most dangerous songs. Dangerous in the way that they are unknown. The songs he chose were bold and he was clearly trying to get a message across.
His performance was the first ever all-Spanish opening act in Grammy History. The performance started with him singing “El Apagon” a song that highlights the poverty and struggles Puerto Rican natives have to face every single day. His backup dancers were dressed in traditional Dominican Republic and Puerto Rican dresses and suits. Some of the dancers were also wearing big heads, these heads represented iconic Puerto Rican people such as Tego Calderon, Roberto Clemente and Julia de Burgos. The diversity and inclusion of these people is Bad Bunny’s way of bringing Latin culture into an American award show. He wants his culture and its people represented in American Society. He continued his performance with the song “Después de la Playa” which is a merengue-style song. Not only was he singing but he brought in a band and dancers from the Dominican Republic to dance merengue.
While his performance was going on, stars like Taylor Swift, Jack Harlow and more were getting up and dancing along. This performance attracted a lot of attention because it was “unconventional” but it brought attention to Latin culture and music in the American pop-culture scene. As a Latina, seeing his performance was amazing. It made me proud to watch someone who speaks my language perform two of his most unique songs while my favorite American artists danced to them. I love how Bad Bunny is constantly looking for ways to introduce and spread Hispanic culture throughout the world. He is breaking down walls and doing things people would think impossible.
In addition to being the first Hispanic to open at the Grammys, he was also nominated for its most prestigious award: Album of the Year. The nominees alongside him were legends like Adele and Beyonce. To have a Latin artist be nominated for an album completely in Spanish is truly surreal to me. As a young Hispanic girl, this gives me hope for Latin Artists. Bad Bunny also walked away that night with a Grammy for Best Musica Urbana Album, making him a three-time award winner.
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