DeBI TiRAR MaS FOToS - Bad Bunny: Review

Bad Bunny

is one of the singular biggest stars in all of music and when he drops, a substantial portion of the world pays attention. That became the case more than ever before in 2022 when his album Un Verano Sin Ti took the world by storm and also won over critics with some of his most compelling and beloved songs to date. That was less the case with last year's nadie sabe a record that I along with most fans and critics felt was a bit of a letdown as a follow-up. But now right at the dawn of 2025 Bad Bunny is back, with what very well could be his best crop of tracks to date. 

If you're surprised to hear me say that it's probably because I didn't love the album's lead single El Club last year. The track is all about Bad Bunny being in the club but still stuck thinking about whatever his ex is doing. My biggest problem is that neither of its two distinct instrumental styles really do much for me and the dime switch it makes between them definitely needed another try. I was much more positive towards the second single, and official Bad Bunny 2024 Christmas special Pitorro De Coco. That's not a joke either the song actually uses Christmas as a dramatic centerpiece for Bad Bunny's loneliness, though I think it could have been a bit more sonically somber to match. 

Speaking of which, this is an album that deals with quite a bit of sadness in the wake of a break-up. For the most part is chooses to play this in a smiling through-the-pain kind of way dabbling in drugs, clubs, and excess. But when the album slows it down great things happen. Bokete is the best example and really the first time the record is even willing to engage in balladry. It does a great job at framing Bad Bunny's emotional recovery as a real journey and he emerges From the other side with more optimism than I anticipated. It kind of makes me wonder why this isn't the closing track. 

Turista is a gentle moment rich with fluttering strings where Bad Bunny confesses to hiding the true extent of what he's going through. And just a few tracks later DTMF delivers a similarly gentler touch though it's laced with one incredibly catchy refrain after another as BB does some genuinely heartfelt storytelling complete with a lot of nice little details. Earlier on in the record, there are two duets Perfumito Nuevo and Weltita that take for a more romantic slant but still achieve a touching exhale. The former in particular features a great collaborator opposite Bad Bunny in RaiNao and the pair have boatloads of chemistry. 

There are also even stranger ways on the record that Bad Bunny processes his emotions. Lo Que Le Paso A Hawaii is the album's most ominous track taunting an undefined "what happened in Hawaii" with murmuring bass weaved in underneath its instrumental. And Cafe Con Ron feels like the one song in a musical that doesn't have any purpose in terms of moving the story along but everyone loves it because it's funny and unique so they include it in every single rendition. 

There are also a lot of songs on the record that aim for something more akin to some of the bangers Bad Bunny has littered his past with. Occasionally these try and take a more serious and emotional poise and while I get what he's going for sometimes the "crying behind my sunglasses" contrast doesn't translate. A good example is Baile Inolvidable which has a really wonderful array of lyrics and the second half features a charming push and pull between Bad Bunny and the instrumentation. But it can't help but feeling like his lyricism deserves a bit less playful of an instrumental. Tracks like Ketu Tecra and Kloufrens are better but experience similar contrasts. The latter features a lyric about Bad Bunny's ex forgetting to take him off of her close friends story that has lived completely rent-free in my head since the album dropped. 

I want to credit this record for its emotional depth and storytelling, Bad Bunny really has improved at these as he's grown artistically. But he's always had a deep well of confidence-soaked bangers, and this album is no different. Opening track Nuevayol is a flat-out fucking jam with a perfectly flipped sample kicking it off. BB spends the entire track justifiably flexing that he's one of the biggest artists in the entire world. That wraps around to the end of the record with La Mudanze, a sort of flag-planting moment right at the end of the record where BB assures that despite his hardships he's earned his spot at the top and isn't giving it up any time soon. 

In between, there's tracks like Voy A Llev Arte Pa Pr where Bad Bunny hilarious goes on about how good of a boyfriend he would be. It features several laugh-out-loud lyrics and even a Rosalia name drop. There's also Eoo whose thumping beat across the first verse matches the energy of Bad Bunny and his girl being completely untouchable at the club. But it also has this trippy Travis Scott-esque beat switch into the second half that sounds awesome. 

So that's Debi Tirar Mas Fotos, one of Bad Bunny's best albums to date. Though its bulky runtime could definitely use a bit of trimming down and the order of the tracklist hurts some of the more sentimental moments by spreading them out so far, the quality of the music here is still strong. Bad Bunny is more acute than ever at slipping between a variety of styles and using his commanding charisma and great vocals to make it all work together seamlessly. Debi feels like the proper follow-up that Un Verano deserved and an album that proves exactly why Bad Bunny belongs on the A-list. 7.5/10

For more chart-topping records, check out my review of Kendrick Lamar's GNX