Bad Bunny Anchors a Year of Explosive Growth for Latin Music

Since then he has become inescapable, appealing not only to Spanish-speaking listeners but to fans whose personal playlists may also be dotted with hip-hop, K-pop and everything else. Meanwhile, Bad Bunny has expanded into a global brand. He has an Adidas sneaker partnership, has wrestled in the W.W.E. and is set to star in the new Marvel superhero movie “El Muerto,” from Sony Pictures — while also being outspoken about political and social struggles in Puerto Rico.

“I don’t think that pop culture really has borders or language barriers anymore,” said Jbeau Lewis of United Talent Agency, who books Bad Bunny’s tours. “I don’t know that a fan necessarily draws a distinction between BTS, Taylor Swift or Bad Bunny.”

When tickets to his arena outing, El Último Tour del Mundo, were put on sale in April 2021, it became one of the fastest-selling tours in Ticketmaster’s history, and a key data point showing the industry that fans were eager to return to concerts amid the pandemic.

Lewis said that while those tickets were being sold, he could see in Ticketmaster’s back-end system that, for some shows, up to 300,000 fans were waiting to buy more — a sign of huge demand. That day, Lewis said, he and Noah Assad, Bad Bunny’s manager, had a discussion and realized, “Oh man, we need to hold some stadiums for next year.”

The recent Latin touring powerhouses encompass a wide spectrum of aesthetics and traditions. Karol G, known for neon-colored wigs and her Caribbean-flavored hit “Provenza,” made a splash at Coachella in April — where she paid tribute to past Latin crossovers like “Macarena” and Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” — and then sold $70 million in tickets for her North American tour. That may be the biggest haul in history for a Latin female act.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/16/arts/music/bad-bunny-latin-music-touring.html