Following Bad Bunny’s landmark album of the year win at the 68th Grammy Awards for “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” Ricky Martin penned a letter of appreciation to commemorate the moment.
In an opinion piece for the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día published Tuesday, the Boricua hitmaker said Bad Bunny’s accomplishment stirred deep feelings within him.
“Benito, brother, seeing you win three Grammy Awards, one of them for album of the year, with a production entirely in Spanish, touched me deeply,” Martin wrote. “Not only as an artist, but as a Puerto Rican who has walked stages around the world carrying his language, his accent and his history.”
In addition to becoming the first all-Spanish album of the year winner, the “Nuevayol” artist took home the Grammy Awards for música urbana album and global music performance for the track “EoO” on Sunday.
Martin further called Bad Bunny’s achievement a “human” and “cultural” win, lauding him for not bending to the will of anyone who tried to change his sound in any way.
“You won without changing the color of your voice. You won without erasing your roots. You won by staying true to Puerto Rico,” Martin wrote. “You stayed true to your language, your rhythms and your authentic narrative.”
Martin, who first broke out as a solo musical act in the mid-’90s, became an international superstar off the back of his Spanish-language hits including 1995’s “María,” 1998’s “Vuelve” and “Perdido Sin Ti.”
He reached a new strata of stardom after his track “La Copa de Vida” was used as the official anthem for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. That song charted in over 60 countries and was translated into English. He landed his biggest hit with “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” which was the lead single from his 1999 self-titled English album.
When accepting his album of the year award Sunday night, Bad Bunny addressed the crowd predominantly in Spanish and spoke of the strugglesof the immigrant experience.
“I want to dedicate this award to all the people who had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams,” he said in English.
“Puerto Rico, believe me when I say that we are so much bigger than 100 by 35 and there is nothing that exists that we can’t accomplish,” the “Dakiti” artist said in Spanish. “Thank God, thank you to the academy, thank you to all the people who have believed in me throughout my whole career. To all the people who worked on this album. Thank you, Mami, for giving birth to me in Puerto Rico. I love you.”
The 54-year-old singer also showed love to Bad Bunny for using his platform to show solidarity for vulnerable communities.
“What touched me most about seeing you on the Grammys stage was the audience’s silence when you spoke,” Martin wrote. “When you defended the immigrant community, when you called out a system that persecutes and separates, you spoke from a place I know very well where fear and hope coexist, where millions live between languages, borders and deferred dreams.”
Martin concluded his letter by thanking Bad Bunny for reminding him and showing other Puerto Ricans that there is power in being true and authentic to yourself.
“This achievement is for a generation to whom you taught that their identity is non-negotiable and that success is not at odds with authenticity,” Martin wrote.
“This was for Puerto Ricans, for all our Latino brothers and sisters who dream in Spanish, for those crossing seas and borders wearing their cultures like a flag. From the heart, from one Boricua to another, with respect and love, I thank you for reminding us that when one of ours succeeds, we all succeed.”