Capturing His Eccentric and Artistic Expression

In this day and age, many genres in the music world as in other industries have
embraced a type of “feminine” styling as a sense of acknowledging gender fluidity and
therefore paving the way for many men in music to freely and fully express themselves.
Whether it may be with makeup and long hair or even painted fingernails as donned by
Bad Bunny, it is a fact that these times have evolved in such ways allowing artists to
embody many stereotypes through fashion making it both a playful and creative outlet.
Living in the Latin American world where masculinity is at the forefront of all that is
expected from men, Bad Bunny breaks all the schemes with his uniqueness and
fashionable risks. Blending a fusion of a slight feminine touch to his style while
providing various expressions of manliness have definitely made Bad Bunny one of the
most eccentric Latin artists of this time.
It is no secret that Puerto Rican trap artist Bad Bunny has been photographed with his
manicured hands and has shared with his millions of followers such posts captioning
his fingernails and posting “By the way, how about my nails?”. After more than 1
million-plus likes and more than 24,000 comments later, Bad Bunny’s excited fans
comments range from an elated “Bad Bunny is a whole MOOOOOD” to “What is the
name of the nail polish???”. As expected, there’s always those with negative
comments such as “What message are you leaving for the young masculine youth, my
brother?”. Yet, this does not diter 25-year-old, born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio. He
continues to provoke and entertain his Latin American audiences and worldwide fans
with his enigmatic wardrobe, originality in style and most importantly his message of
all-inclusiveness.

The video “Caro” (“Expensive”), with more than 100 million views on YouTube released
in January, broke artistic boundaries and especially those of social acceptability to the
masses. In the video, he sits nonchalantly in a pastel-blue room surrounded by pink
furniture as a woman paints his nails. As he thanks her for the fresh new mani, he
transforms into a young woman with a shaved head, who takes on his image for the
majority of the video. Then, Bad Bunny reappears, now both sitting across from one
another and in the same dress, playing hand games which shortly after leads into
kissing. Not to mention one of his notable looks, such as for the music video “Si Tu
Novio Te Deja Sola” (If Your Boyfriend Leaves You Alone”), a 2017 collaboration with
Reggaeton Star – J Balvin, where he wore an all-pink look with matching shades while
rapping with two iguanas on his shoulder. Surely the depiction of these videos and all
of their elements, showcase an unorthodox representation of his artistic expression.
Bad Bunny’s rise to fame, since his highly recognized and breakthrough single “Soy
Peor” (“I am Worse”) in 2017, has made him a pervasive artist for both the Spanish and
English music charts. Successfully collaborating with top artists such as Cardi B,
Daddy Yankee, Drake and Nicki Minaj – let’s just say Bad Bunny is here to stay and
more importantly will continue to grace us with his distinctive artistic identity