The 25-year-old singer says "it's an honor to represent urban music, reggaeton, and trap."
Benito is giving it his all.
The Puerto Rican rapper released his sophomore album, YHLQMDLG, on Feb. 29. The 20-track project has been a labor of love for Bad Bunny, which features collaborations with Sech and Daddy Yankee. The name of the album spells out "Yo hago lo que me da la gana," which translates to "I do whatever I want."
"The inspiration, I think this album is so easy. It's simple, it's just for dancing, having fun, so the inspiration was like, good vibes, happiness, nothing complicated or anything serious," he told ET's Denny Directo on Monday. "It's just [about] having fun."
"My first album, X 100pre, was like, emotional, sad, nostalgic," Bad Bunny said, noting YHLQMDLG is still nostalgic, "but in a good way, like in el modo de perreo, de baile de celebración... [it has more] energy, más urbano, more reggaeton."
ET also spoke with the singer ahead of the release of his highly anticipated album, where he explained what's at the heart of his music.
"My job is what I’m passionate about. I simply do what fulfills me," Bad Bunny told ET. "I try to please people. I try to please myself."
"[I try] to be genuine and do what I want to do,” he added. “I try not to have any limits. The fact that people connect with me and are inspired by me, para mi es super cabr*n."
The reggaeton singer says 2020 is all about “elevating the game.”
“It's an honor for me to represent urban music, reggaeton, trap and hip-hop,” he said. His first album, X100pre, was released December 2018 after having collaborated on over 30 songs with big artists like J Balvin, Jennifer Lopez, Becky G and Cardi B.
"If you've listened to my [first] album, you know it has a bit of everything. It's an album that I did with a lot of love. I tried to give the world a bit of creativity, lyrics. And for me, I will always represent music from Puerto Rico, reggaeton, Latin music."
Last year, Bad Bunny took home the Latin GRAMMY for Best Urban Album, where he touched on the reggaeton controversy and lack of representation at the awards ceremony.
"To all the musicians, to the [Latin Recording] Academy, with all due respect, reggaeton is part of our Latin culture," he told ET at the time. "And it's representing as much as any other genre at the worldwide level. I tell my fellow reggaetoneros, keep giving it your all and bring more creativity. Our genre has become views, numbers and let's keep going and giving people new things."
Bad Bunny, like J Balvin, Luis Fonsi, Karol G and Daddy Yankee, is proving that Latinx musicians can have successful crossover careers in the U.S. without having to record in English.
“Music has the power to inspire the world,” Bad Bunny told ET in 2018. “The music we do is for people to enjoy, dance and sing to it. Dreamers -- keep on dreaming and keep working hard to achieve your goals. There are many difficulties, but what matters is to stay focused and have perseverance.”
“We’re impacting the world like never before and now is our time,” he concluded.
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