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Associated Press

The Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny has redefined what it means to be a global giant – and he may once again make history at the 2026 Grammy Awards.
The artist, born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, is up for six awards at the February 1 show, becoming the first Spanish-language artist to be nominated simultaneously for album, song and record of the year.
His critically acclaimed album, Debi Tirar Mas Fotos, is only the second Spanish-language record to be nominated for album of the year. The first? Well, that also belonged to Bad Bunny, 2022’s Un Verano Sin Ti.
Win or lose, experts say that Bad Bunny’s Grammy nominations mark a symbolic moment for Latinos. Just a week later, after all, he will headline the Super Bowl half-time show.
Vanessa Diaz, associate professor of Chicano and Latino studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, and co-author of P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance, says Bad Bunny’s nods extend beyond his own art and serve as a “very welcome recognition of Latin music that is growing”.
Albert Laguna, associate professor of American studies and ethnicity, race and migration at Yale University in Connecticut, adds: “Music from the Spanish-speaking Caribbean has been shaping global music tastes since the 19th century. Bad Bunny is another link in a much longer chain of the popularity of Caribbean music on a global stage.”

Much of this music – particularly Latin trap and reggaeton, the genres Bad Bunny got his start in and continues to use in his new work – has been historically criminalised in Puerto Rico, not unlike hip-hop in the US.
Reggaeton in particular, Diaz points out, “comes from the most marginalised communities in Puerto Rico. And so, the fact that Bad Bunny is receiving nominations in three main categories, and this is an artist who came up with trap … is the most groundbreaking thing about the entire situation.”
Petra Rivera-Rideau, associate professor of American studies at Wellesley College in Massachusetts and co-author of P FKN R, says that element is particularly noteworthy because institutions often ignore marginalised genres – including at the Latin Grammys, a sister award show to the Grammys.
A victory in the major categories could have “profound, symbolic meaning”, she says. But with a caveat: “I’m interested to see if this is going to open doors for other people.”
After all, Bad Bunny himself is not immune to the Recording Academy’s institutional biases: he already has three career Grammys, but all have been in música urbana, or Latin urban, categories – even though he is the most-streamed artist on the planet.
Across Debi Tirar Mas Fotos, Bad Bunny and his producers weave traditional Puerto Rican folkloric styles into a hyper-contemporary context. While Bad Bunny’s previous albums also fused different genres – including bossa nova, mambo, rock, merengue and more – this album’s melange was more home-grown.

Laguna sees Debi Tirar Mas Fotos as a direct challenge to the prevailing “formula for global pop stardom”, which he describes as an artist making it locally, gaining traction and then “watering down” their sound into something commercial and palatable for a global audience.
“Bad Bunny went in the opposite direction. It’s his most Puerto Rican album ever,” says Laguna. He hopes it will communicate to other artists that they, too, can look to their ancestry and history for artmaking.
“There’s so much amazing Latin music that has been overlooked, and that’s part of what is so beautiful about this moment,” Diaz says. “And that’s why it feels like a win for all Latinos.”
The timing of the album’s release and recognition, too, feels consequential, Diaz adds. “The US has a history of othering Latinos, othering the Spanish language … we’re in a moment where that feels extremely acute. For a community that is being targeted on such a deep level, it is a little bit of light, a little bit of faith that we can still carve out our place here.”
Latinos and the Spanish-speaking community in the US have grown increasingly wary amid growing anti-immigrant sentiment and raids, as US President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and executive actions have vastly expanded who is eligible for deportation, and routine hearings have turned into deportation traps for migrants.

If Bad Bunny does win, Diaz says, it will be “akin to Halle Berry being the first black woman to win an Oscar. That was a watershed moment. Or Rita Moreno being the first Latina to win.”
Beyond that, Laguna says the politics of the album are not exclusive to Puerto Rican or even Latino identity – “the lyrics on this album align with global struggles”, he says.
Rivera-Rideau says one of the reasons Debi Tirar Mas Fotos has resonated is not just the political implications of using folkloric music in addition to música urbana, but its sound. The traditional genres are “a lot more digestible” to listeners who embrace the antiquated taboos surrounding Latin trap and scoff at reggaeton’s sexuality. As a result, the combination of sounds makes for an album that is “popular across generations”, she says.
But it only works because it is “musically really interesting. If it was just traditional music, and that’s only what people cared about, it wouldn’t have done as well as it did,” she says.
“Musically, it is super innovative and makes accessible a lot of these older genres that people in Puerto Rico listen to, but he’s been able to globalise these very local genres in a way that no one else has.”


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Bad Bunny performs onstage on March 17, 2025. Photo: Getty Images for iHeartRadio

Bad Bunny performs during a concert of his Debi Tirar Mas Fotos World Tour in Mexico City, Mexico, on December 10, 2025. Photo: Reuters

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Bad Bunny’s nods for the 2026 Grammy Awards serve as a ‘very welcome recognition of Latin music that is growing’ on the global stage


Bad Bunny’s nods for the 2026 Grammy Awards serve as a ‘very welcome recognition of Latin music that is growing’ on the global stage.


Fame and celebrity

Bad Bunny

Why Bad Bunny’s Grammy nominations mark a symbolic moment for Latinos

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Bad Bunny’s nods for the 2026 Grammy Awards serve as a ‘very welcome recognition of Latin music that is growing’ on the global stage

Bad Bunny’s nods for the 2026 Grammy Awards serve as a ‘very welcome recognition of Latin music that is growing’ on the global stage