Another week, another record broken by Bad Bunny aka one of Puerto Rico’s biggest forces since 2004 or by his Colombian fellow J Balvin: At this point, it would be fair enough to ask Puerto Rican rum company Don Q if they’re down to inherit Guiness as sponsor for ‘Guiness World Records‘.
Just this month, Bad Bunny sold a stunning 505,555 tickets for eleven live shows. Highest one-month gross in history? Check. And while the two reggaeton artists extraordinaire continue their stronghold on charts worldwide, their influence extends far beyond musical success:
Not only is Bad Bunny constantly challenging gender norms through painted fingernails or wearing skirts on big-time covers he is also joining the Marvel universe soon as the company’s first Latino hero ‘El Muerto’. J Balvin, on the other hand, can be seen turning heads with a puffer skirt or brazen patterns and bright colors everyday.
By constantly changing narratives through bold expressions of style, masculinity and Latin identity alike, Bad Bunny and J Balvin also broke down doors for Latin representation in fashion as collabs with some of the world’s biggest brands followed foot: This resulted in Bad Bunny’s highly successful adidas Forum Low models and J Balvin becoming the first Latino artist to collab on the Air Jordan I (which – surprise – turned out very colorful) or his recent Air Jordan II ‘Blue Celestine’.
Long gone seem the days in which the Panama canal and Puerto Rico’s colonial relationship with the U.S. heavily influenced reggaeton in terms of dress codes and seemingly every reggaetonero could be identified as such by baggy clothes, the inevitable Yankees hat and Timberland boots. J Balvin and Bad Bunny, amongst others, have flipped the script these days: The genre influences on its own now. And it doesn’t look like this is going to change anytime soon.
For apparel from the latest J Balvin x Jordan collection and the Air Jordan II SP x J Balvin ‘Celestine Blue’, head to BSTN now:
