Culture March 28, 2023

Bad Bunny talks headlining Coachella, appears on history-making Time magazine cover

WATCH: By the Numbers: Bad Bunny’s summer of streaming

A trailblazer in Latino pop culture, Bad Bunny is once again making history on the new cover of Time magazine.

The global sensation, who made history earlier this year by performing the first all-Spanish opening act at the 65th Grammy Awards and who will be the first Latino solo artist to headline Coachella this spring, is featured on the first Time magazine cover with all Spanish text.

The history-making cover reads "EL MUNDO DE BAD BUNNY - 'No Voy A Hacer Otra Cosa Para Que A Ti Te Guste,'" which translates to "BAD BUNNY'S WORLD - 'I'm not going to do anything else to make you like it.'"

The Puerto Rican artist, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, poses with gold jewelry, a black suit and a large flower on his chest.

Editor's Picks
MORE: How Bad Bunny's Grammys performance put the culture at the center of the show

The related cover story, published in English and Spanish by Andrew Chow and Mariah Espada, is a deep dive into the multifaceted artist and explores everything from how he remains resilient and stays true to himself in the pop industry to politics to headlining the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April and more.

On being the first Latino to headline Coachella, Bad Bunny said he felt more pressure performing at Hiram Bithorn stadium in Puerto Rico than Coachella. "I performed at Azteca. I performed at Yankee Stadium. I've performed every place," he said. "Coachella is going to be another … performance to me."

He added, "Obviously I'm excited. I want to do my best."

"There's a lot of megastars that have performed at Coachella before so I don't want to compete with any of them," he continued. "I just want to be myself. A lot of legends have performed at Coachella but no one like me. There's never been a Benito performing at Coachella. And that's the cool thing for me."

Bad Bunny has become one of the biggest artists in the world. His fifth solo album, "Un Verano Sin Ti," was Billboard's top-performing album of 2022 and he was Spotify's most streamed artist for three years in a row, in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

In 2022, Bad Bunny also broke the all-time record for tour revenue in one calendar year, according to Pollstar.

The celebrated artist told Time that he'd be lying if he said he didn't care about remaining the world's top artist, calling himself "very competitive." He noted that seeing others create good music makes him a stronger artist.

"I like to see people have good music because it'll make me better. If I see someone making a song that's rompiendo (breaking or hitting the records), if there is someone who made a cabróna (badass) song, I am going to make a more cabróna (badass) song," he said.

"I want to do something better. But not to overshadow them, but because I want to do something better," he added. "We can all win, we can all shine together."

The magazine is available on newsstands Friday, March 31.