Maldita sea, otro apagón
Damn it, another power outage
"El Apagón" translates to "the blackout," and this torch song refers to Puerto Rico's power outages. In 2017 the world's second-longest blackout in history began after Hurricane Maria decimated the island's power grid. Many more people lost power again four years later when a fire broke out at one of the island's largest power plants.
The song also captures the beauty of Puerto Rico. On the outro, Gabriela Berlingeri, Bad Bunny's girlfriend, sings of her love for the island. She ends with a send-off for the mainland investors who have descended on Puerto Rico in search of tax breaks, driving up home prices and displacing locals.
Lo que me pertenece a mí se lo quedan ellos
Que se vayan ellos
Esta es mi playa, este es mi sol
What belongs to me they keep
Let them go away
This is my beach, this is my sunBad Bunny specifically wrote the lyrics for Berlingeri to sing. "This is a song from the heart," he told
The New York Times. "I didn't want to get a famous artist. I wanted someone to sing it out of love, because it's a sincere message."
In the second verse, Bad Bunny declares:
Aquí el calor es diferente, el sol es Taíno
La capital del perreo, ahora todos quieren ser Latino
Here the heat is different, the sun is Taino
The capital of the perreo, now everyone wants to be Latino
For a long time, the music industry scorned Latino artists. Eventually, they became the flavor of the month and a sudden spate of non-Latino musicians started singing in Spanish or playing with reggaeton. "Even though you can feel proud and happy about that, deep down, you're like, 'Now, cabrones? Why not before?'" Bad Bunny commented to The New York Times.
"It's not a critique, like, 'Don't do it!'" he added. "But remember that it's from here, and that we know how to do it like it's supposed to be done."
The interlude is a sample of "me gusta la chocha de Puerto Rico" repeated 20 times. It's taken from DJ Joe's 2000 salacious track "Vamos A Joder."
Bad Bunny released a video for "El Apagón" on September 17, 2022. A day later, Hurricane Fiona made landfall along the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico, deluging the island with rain. Again, the storm knocked out its electricity grid, leaving Puerto Rico in the dark.
A documentary titled Aquí Vive Gente (People Live Here), plays after the clip. Narrated by Bianca Graulau, it discusses various social and economic issues affecting Puerto Rico, including rising rent prices and the development of luxury accommodations.
Bad Bunny and producer Mag worked on "El Apagón" from scratch. The rapper wanted to create an anthem for Puerto Rico like his sweary 2020 track, "P FKN R," but this time make a curse-free Puerto Rican anthem. "We thought of this '90s freestyle house section for it," Mag recalled to
Billboard. "We then threw in 'me gusta la chocha de Puerto Rico' all over the chorus with Gabriela singing in the outro, which was the cherry on top."
Bad Bunny led a parade onto the stage when he performed "El Apagón" along with "Después De La Playa" to open the Grammy Awards in 2023, where Un Verano Sin Ti was nominated for Album Of The Year and won for Best Música Urbana Album. Accepting the award, Bad Bunny said it was "easy" because he made the album with "love and passion."
Bad Bunny climbed up a power line to sing "El Apagón" during his halftime performance at the 2026 Super Bowl. The misfiring power lines on the set were a reference to Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017.
