Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti” Album Review

Album artwork from Spotify

By Víctor Muñiz Rosa

If you want to know what it feels like to be in Puerto Rico during the summer, this is the album for you.

Un Verano Sin Ti (A Summer Without You in English) by the Puerto Rican reggaeton singer Bad Bunny was released last Friday with praise from fans who were anxious for a new disc. Fans were so excited, that many tattooed the sad smiley heart that one sees on the cover of the album.

The album starts with seagulls singing and then the first song plays. “Moscow Mule”, named after the cocktail, was a perfect start for the album and gives you the instant vibe that this is the perfect record to play in the summer with your feet in the sand and the shades on. “Despues de la Playa” came next and surprised everybody. Bad Bunny sings merengue now? Merengue, which is a type of music and dance genre originating from the Dominican Republic, is very popular in Latin America and was a great song that makes you want to dance, or at least it made me dance.

After listening to these two songs, I was excited about what was next. The first feature appeared with the veteran reggaeton singer Chencho Corleone with a great mix of reggaeton and perreo. Then came what I think is going to be the banger we will listen to if you go to a club soon. “Titi Me Pregunto” makes you shake and shake all those worries and makes you think of the question every aunt asks “do you have girlfriend?”.

After that, I believe the album takes a decline in quality. Songs like “Un Ratito”, “Yo No Soy Celoso”, “Efecto”, and “Neverita” sound like more of the same and are there as fillers in the album. I also believe the features of Puerto Rican artists like Jhay Cortez (“Tarot”), Rauw Alejandro (“Party”), and Tony Dize (“La Corriente”) weren’t as strong as they should be. However, the features with Latin American duos like Bomba Estereo (“Ojitos Lindos”), The Marías (“Otro Atardecer”), and Buscabulla (“Andrea”) were amazing and conserved the summer vibes we wanted in the album.

Other songs that stood out were “El Apagón”, a song that is a homage to Puerto Rico, “Me Fui de Vacaciones” which is what people think when they want “good vibes”, and “Agosto” in which the singer pleads the summer to never end.

Listening to a Bad Bunny album is almost a holiday in Puerto Rico. Everyone stops what they’re doing and hears the record from start to finish. It’s the fourth time Bad Bunny fans do this ritual, and many were satisfied with the result. I have to say that I did not love the album.

Seeing what Bad Bunny has done since his debut album “X100PRE”, I expected a more impactful album where the artist explores new genres, without losing his essence. I believe he tried to do that in some songs, but in the end, I suspect he recycled some of his material to release a new album. On a scale from one to five, I must give the Puerto Rican star a 3 out of 5.

You can listen to “Un Verano Sin Ti” on every streaming platform.