The clock struck 12:00 a.m. on Sept. 20 of this year, marking the seventh anniversary of the passing of Hurricane María on the island of Puerto Rico, a devastating storm labeled as “the most destructive Atlantic storm on record”. It left tremendous scars in the Puerto Rican people’s psyche, scars that rapper Bad Bunny is all too familiar with. This date also marked the surprise release of his newest single “Una Velita,”, Spanish for “a little candle.” A song about suffering, resilience and rising up in the face of this next governor’s election. Some people, however, have disgracefully taken this art piece and warped its use to serve their own needs, to bring themselves up in the cheesy nature of a gym/ glow-up trend.
When looking up the sound for “Una Velita” on TikTok, you will find videos from Puerto Rican youth reacting, commenting and deciphering the song and its multiple references to occurrences resulting from María. Strangely enough, if you add the word trend to the search, you will find another section of videos: gym videos, videos that show someone before and after their “glow up” and even outfit videos. While the song is proclaiming a message of empowerment, it is not meant to be used for something as superficial as showing off your physique after going to the gym or showing how good-looking you’ve become in comparison to when you were a child.
Bad Bunny uses the song to speak of our hardships: the constant power outages after the power system was destroyed and the fear that, one day, the power will go out and never come back. The surplus of people left homeless after the storm. The emblematic symbol of a neighborhood old lady that must be helped during hard times. Most importantly, the palm tree that we must topple down in this upcoming election, the palm tree representing the ince before María has run the country into the ground with their lies and deceptions to the good citizens of the island.
These TikTok users have taken what is meant to be a protest song for Puerto Ricans to rise up and have warped it into a stupid, superficial trend. What’s even more annoying is that the people participating in this trend are other Latinos, people who we consider brothers due to our language and the pride of being Latin. Our own sister cultures are using our pain to lift themselves up instead of advocating for us. The only people who seem to have the Puerto Rican people’s interest in mind are the Puerto Ricans living on the island itself. The section of our fellow Latinos and Hispanics that haven’t shown any sort of sympathy for us are using our war cry as their “song of the week” and have the audacity to act nonchalant in comments such as “it’s just a song, anyone can use it” or “it’s not that big of a deal.”.
If you are one of the people that feels this same careless sentiment, let me tell you something: it is a big deal. It’s a tremendously big deal for us Puerto Ricans. When I heard “Una Velita,” my heart broke into a million pieces and tears filled my eyes because I lived through what Bad Bunny sings about. I vividly remember the harsh winds hitting my bedroom window, the roaring sound of debris flying through the air and the rain, the terrifyingly unstoppable rain that made it hard for me to sleep that night. I remember my dad going out the morning after the storm passed and seeing him come back with a depressed look as he told us what he saw. There were whole families with their only salvageable belongings in hand walking to wherever they could receive help, long lines at the gas stations so people could use their power generators and trees left bare of leaves, testaments to the torture Mother Nature put them through. Our pain is not your trend, our sorrow is not your entertainment. We will not tolerate anyone who believes we won’t rise up again, because one day, we will.