With a traditional pava hat atop his black curls, Bad Bunny crooned “La Mudanza” (“The Move”), the final song in a four-hour concert livestreamed worldwide from the Coliseum (known as El Choli) in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was the eighth anniversary of Hurricane Maria making landfall on the island. As I sat on my living room couch, eyes glued to the TV screen for the entire performance—even forgoing bathroom breaks—I had what I can only describe as a spiritual experience.
Religion is what connects humans to that which exists beyond our knowing and being, and that night on my couch was the closest I’ve come to being in church outside of an actual Sunday service. The words traveled from Bad Bunny’s mouth to my ears:
De Borinquen, PR, archipiélago perfecto . . .
Aquí mataron gente por sacar la bandera
Por eso es que ahora yo la llevo donde quiera.
