Bad Bunny premieres a documentary video with his song “El Apagón”

(CNN Spanish) — Bad Bunny premiered this Friday the video official version of his song “El Apagón”: instead of a traditional clip, the singer opted for an audiovisual of more than 20 minutes in length that, with a documentary style, makes multiple complaints about the situation that Puerto Rico is going through.

“El Apagón” is one of the songs from the latest album by ‘Conejo Malo’, “Un Verano Sin Ti”, which was released in 2022. The song is an ode to the familiar power outages on the island that the artist has denounced on their social networks.

“I hope that in Puerto Rico they can see it before the power goes out,” the music star wrote this Friday in an Instagram story with a link to the “El Apagón” video.

bad bunny he has been very vocal in his criticism to the current administration of Puerto Rico. “We have a government over us that is ruining our lives,” he said at a concert in San Juan in late July, echoing the frustrations of many Puerto Ricans. “The country belongs to us and we are the ones in control,” he added, a message he sent to the packed arena in a frenzy.

Bad Bunny’s message resonates with Puerto Rico’s “crisis generation”

Many younger Puerto Ricans have only known a life of hardship. Years of economic recession and a mounting debt crisis have resulted in school closures, cutbacks in government services, layoffs, and increases in college tuition.

In July 2019, then-governor Ricardo Roselló resigned after weeks of protests over a series of scandals that included the disclosure of crude, sexist, and homophobic chat messages between the governor and members of his inner circle.

But the eventual downfall of his administration may have been triggered by Hurricane Maria, which made landfall on the island on September 20, 2017, nearly five years ago, less than nine months after Rosselló took office. The Category 4 storm decimated the aging power grid, leaving more than a million people without electricity or running water for what would be months.

Problems with the distribution of food, water and other vital supplies were widespread. And it took the Rosselló government almost a year to admit that the storm killed thousands of people, not the dozens that had been officially reported.

Bad Bunny and other young Puerto Rican artists attended the July 2019 protests. He also helped write the song “Sharpening the Knives,” which became an anthem for the movement. The song gave voice to the historic moment, touching on issues such as homophobia, government mismanagement and neglect, and homes left roofless by hurricanes.

At the July 28 concert in San Juan, Bad Bunny told the audience that the island is “the only place” where he performs where he needs to “install like 15 industrial electric generators because I can’t trust the electric grid.” from Puerto Rico”.

Mayra Vélez Serrano, professor of Political Science at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, said that Bad Bunny’s message resonates with “many young people, the generation of the crisis,” who have only known despair and uncertainty.

“A generation that feels like they have no future on this island. They keep moving. They’re highly educated. They can’t find decent jobs. And what they see is that their politicians just don’t do their job and steal money and engage in acts corrupt,” he said.

Asked days after the concert about Bad Bunny’s criticism of his government, current Governor Pedro Pierluisi praised what he said were his administration’s successes during the pandemic, in fighting crime and improving education. and infrastructure, according to local media reports.

LUMA Energy, the Canadian-American private consortium that began operating the island’s power transmission and distribution system in June 2021, said for its part that it shared customers’ frustration with the “reliability of Puerto Rico’s electrical system that has suffered from years, if not decades, of neglect and mismanagement. “All Puerto Ricans, including Bad Bunny, deserve a world-class energy system and LUMA works every day to build a better future.”

With information from Ray Sánchez.

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Bad Bunny premieres a documentary video with his song “El Apagón”