2025 in Review: Why did Bad Bunny’s anthem to Puerto Rico strike a global chord?

We’re looking back at 10 of the episodes that defined 2025 at The Take. This originally aired on February 10. None of the dates or references have been changed.

Bad Bunny’s new album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, became the number-one streamed album worldwide. It mixes different Puerto Rican music genres and touches on themes of gentrification and a loss of cultural identity. How is the album bringing the Puerto Rican fight for survival to the world?

In this episode:

• Jorell Meléndez-Badillo (@jorellmelendezb), Author of “Puerto Rico: A National History”

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Marcos Bartolomé, with Hanah Shokeir, Hagir Saleh, Melanie Marich and our guest host, Natasha Del Toro. It was edited by Noor Wazwaz.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

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