Bad Bunny. From Puerto Rico to the world

There were already suspicions that Bad Bunny might be coming to Portugal for a concert, but when it was confirmed, madness set in. Hours and hours of waiting to get a ticket, in endless queues on digital platforms and in person. The goal was one: to get a ticket for the Puerto Rican singer's first concert in Portugal. The madness was such that the artist and the promoter (Live Nation) opened a second date for another concert.

But who is Bad Bunny? He was born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio on March 10, 1994, in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, and was raised in a lower-middle-class family in the Almirante Sur neighborhood. His father was a truck driver and his mother was an English teacher. He is the eldest of three brothers. From an early age, he was a fan of reggaeton, a mix of hip-hop and reggae, and liked artists like Daddy Yankee and Vico C. Sometimes, as he says, he would listen to Tego Calderón in the car on the way to school. He also listened to salsa, merengue and rock and, at one point, he even said that his favorite musicians were the Bee Gees.

As a child, he sang in the choir of his local Catholic church, where he stayed until he was 13. But from then on, he focused on making his own beats in his bedroom, where he spent a lot of time. He would later improvise them at school. As the years went by, Bad Bunny enrolled in the audiovisual communications program at the University of Puerto Rico's Arecibo campus. But it wasn't always easy, and to finance his studies, he bagged groceries at an Econo supermarket.

However, music was never far from his plans. Even before he became famous, he would perform small concerts in San Juan, which he would post on his Instagram and Soundcloud accounts. And it was on Soundcloud that he quickly gained success and support.

In 2018, he explained why he chose his stage name. “When I was little, at school, I had to dress up as a rabbit, and there’s a picture of me with an angry face. And when I saw it, I thought I should call myself ‘Bad Bunny’,” he explained. “It’s a name that I knew would be well-received in the market. Rabbit is something so common that I thought to myself: whenever someone sees one, they’ll remember my song.”

His career has grown over the years and his name is now recognized worldwide. Music critics have no doubts: “This man didn’t just enter the music industry – he distorted it. He doesn’t follow trends. He creates moments, moves culture and manages his brand like a steamroller of narratives, with the right balance between chaos and intention”, can be read in several articles in the specialist press.

A successful career As soon as Bad Bunny gained traction on the internet, he began collaborating with reggaeton heavyweights and from there he only grew. Then came X 100pre, his debut album that quickly gained fame. Years later, his success was already unmistakable to the point that Rolling Stone magazine wrote that Bad Bunny "continues to break records and climb high, reaching a place reserved for rare and unique stars." It was 2022.

The Puerto Rican singer managed to reach number 11 on the US Billboard 200, and his collaborative album OASIS (2019), with Balvin, reached the top 10. In 2020 he released two albums, YHLQMDLG and El Último Tour Del Mundo. The latter became the first all-Spanish album to reach the top of the Billboard 200, while its lead single, Dákiti, reached the top 10 of the Hot 100.

It was followed by Un Verano Sin Ti (2022), which managed to spend 13 weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 and was named the best-performing album of the year in the US and also worldwide. With several globally successful songs, it became the first Spanish-language album to be nominated for a Grammy for Album of the Year. In 2025, he returned to lead with the single Debí Tirar Más Fotos. Throughout his career, the artist has won three Grammy Awards, 11 Latin Grammy Awards, 10 Billboard Music Awards, 30 Billboard Latin Music Awards, 22 Premios Lo Nuestro, 22 Premios Juventud, 21 ASCAP Latin Awards, six American Music Awards, six Premios Tu Música Urbano, four iHeartRadio Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, and two MTV MIAWs. In addition, he was the Artist of the Year, nominated by the streaming platform Apple Music in 2022.

In 2020, he was the first non-English-speaking artist to be most listened to through Spotify in a single year, which was repeated in 2021 and 2022. In August 2024, Billboard placed Bad Bunny at number 23 on its top 25 pop stars of the period 2000-2024, ahead of names such as Ed Sheeran and Katy Perry.

World tour, prices and ecstasy The DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS World Tour arrives at Estádio da Luz on May 26, 2026. Portugal is one of the 23 dates on the tour, which kicks off on November 21, 2025, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and will pass through countries such as Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Poland and Italy, ending in Belgium on July 22, 2026.

As soon as it was possible to buy tickets, thousands of people tried their luck on the platforms and demand was such that, in just 30 to 40 minutes, the cheapest tickets – with prices starting at 70 euros – were already sold out.

Demand was so high that the singer and the promoter have opened another date for a new concert, which will take place the following day, on May 27th. Only VIP tickets are available for the 26th, which cost almost 550 euros. The same goes for the following day.

A real phenomenon.