[News] Bad Bunny’s Video for ‘El Apagón’ Is a Blistering Call to Action that Everyone Needs to See

[Anti-Imperialist News]

rollingstone.com
<https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/bad-bunny-releases-documentary-for-el-apagon-1234594915/>
Juan J. Arroyo - September 18, 2022
Bad Bunny’s Video for ‘El Apagón’ Is a Blistering Call to Action that
Everyone Needs to See
https://youtu.be/1TCX_Aqzoo4

The Puerto Rican superstar used his latest music video to share an
18-minute documentary about displacement and other injustices his home
island is facing.
[image: Bad Bunny in the video for]
<https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/bad-bunny-releases-documentary-for-el-apagon-1234594915/>
<https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/bad-bunny-releases-documentary-for-el-apagon-1234594915/>
<https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/bad-bunny-releases-documentary-for-el-apagon-1234594915/>
Bad Bunny

On Friday, Bad Bunny <https://www.rollingstone.com/t/bad-bunny/> released
the highly anticipated music video for “El Apagón,” a spirited ode to
Puerto Rico that addresses several of the socioeconomic issues affecting
the archipelago. The song takes its title from the rolling blackouts that
have plagued Puerto Ricans, especially after Hurricane María struck exactly
five years ago. But, never one to shy away from what’s happening in Puerto
Rico, Bad Bunny surprised many by going much deeper into the track’s
subject matter and  including an entire 18-minute documentary at the end of
the video.

The first four minutes of “El Apagón” show Bad Bunny and locals of all ages
in Old San Juan’s La Perla neighborhood. There’s tons of imagery of Puerto
Rican stars and historical figures, and it all ends with Bad Bunny leading
a rave inside the Guajataca Tunnel, where he turns the spotlight on
LGBTQIA+ dancers voguing and partying with him. Eventually, everyone breaks
into a chant that has already become iconic: “*Puerto Rico está bien cabrón*!”
>From there, the video segues into a sunrise, and quickly shifts gears.

Independent journalist Bianca Graulau <https://twitter.com/bgraulau> takes
over for “Aquí Vive Gente” (“People Live Here”), a short yet detailed and
in-depth documentary. For a few years now, Graulau has used YouTube
<https://www.youtube.com/c/BiancaGraulau> and social media
<https://www.tiktok.com/@biancagraulau> to report on what Puerto Ricans
have been experiencing and how the economic policies of the last
administrations have adversely affected the archipelago. Her videos have
become increasingly popular and widely shared by locals and the diaspora —
and clearly caught even Benito’s attention.

The documentary dedicates time to the maligned sweetheart deal that the
previous administration of former governor Wanda Vázquez made with a
private company called LUMA Energy, the current administrator of Puerto
Rico’s power grid. Bad Bunny spoke out against LUMA during his *Un Verano
Sin Ti
<https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-live-reviews/bad-bunny-yankee-stadium-tour-review-1234582710/>*
concerts in San Juan last month, echoing the frustration clients have had
with poor quality of service and inflated prices.

Graulau also takes viewers through the damaging tax exemptions that have
opened the doors to an influx of wealthy foreigners and corporations who
have moved to Puerto Rico to take advantage of laws and receive massive
breaks. She details how these laws impact  the livelihood of locals —  one
woman she interviews named Maricusa Hernández reads from an eviction letter
she received after the building in Santurce where she had lived in for 26
years was sold to a property management company that’s reselling it for
$1.5 million. “They’re displacing boricuas to become rich,” Hernández says
in the documentary.
Bad Bunny directly addressed these issues in “El Apagón.” He cedes the end
of the track to his partner Gabriela Berlingeri, who sings “Yo no me quiero
ir de aquí… Lo que me pertenece se lo quedan ellos… Esta es mi playa, este
es mi sol… Esta es mi tierra, esta soy yo” (“I don’t want to leave… They
take what belongs to me… This is my beach, this is my sun… This is my land,
this is me.”)

Bad Bunny has been vocal about politics in Puerto Rico for a long time. In
2019, he was one of the biggest names involved in the ouster of
then-governor Ricardo Rosselló, and he has leaned harder into his work as
an activist and advocate. His songs “Afilando Los Cuchillos”
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSh7HIH2pvg> and “Compositor del Año”
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8GT33tkQGU> directly engaged with social
topics in and outside of Puerto Rico, but it’s with “El Apagón” that he’s
planted his flag and declared his full-throated love and support for his
home. That he did so on an album that has become one of the biggest of the
year was special for his Puerto Rican fans, and the immediate reactions to
the music video and documentary show how heartened they are to see him
using his platform to shine a light on important conversations that need to
be had. He’s made sure to clue in fans who haven’t been aware and rally
support to push Puerto Rico toward a future he and its citizens have been
envisioning. The song and music video are more than just a message  —
they’re a call-to-action.
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