Bad Bunny, Rosalía y la conquista latina
How Spanish-language music became the soundtrack of the planet.
Spotify's most-streamed artist three years in a row wasn't Taylor Swift or Drake — it was Bad Bunny, who sings entirely in Spanish. Rosalía has worked with Travis Scott and Billie Eilish. Reggaetón beats are everywhere. Knowing these names — and being able to say a paragraph about them in Spanish — gives any exam answer real punch.
Throughout the article, the useful Spanish words and phrases are highlighted (with their meaning in brackets). Tap the on any phrase to hear it.
Bad Bunny (real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) is from Puerto Rico. He has refused to sing in English, despite being the world's most-streamed artist.
Bad Bunny es el artista con más streams del mundo en Spotify.
Bad Bunny is the artist with the most streams in the world on Spotify.
Canta solo en español para mantener su identidad puertorriqueña.
He sings only in Spanish to keep his Puerto Rican identity.
His albums: YHLQMDLG, El Último Tour del Mundo, Un Verano Sin Ti, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana.
Rosalía Vila Tobella is from Catalonia. She trained in classical flamenco, then mixed it with reggaetón and trap to create something nobody had heard before.
Rosalía ha mezclado el flamenco con el pop, el trap y el reguetón.
Rosalía has mixed flamenco with pop, trap and reggaetón.
Su álbum El Mal Querer fue un fenómeno mundial.
Her album El Mal Querer was a global phenomenon.
Collaborations: Travis Scott, Billie Eilish, J Balvin, The Weeknd. She's a fluent moveover between worlds.
C. Tangana (Madrid) reinvented his career by going back to traditional flamenco and bolero, then mixing it with hip-hop and reggaetón. His album El Madrileño was huge in Spain.
C. Tangana mezcla el flamenco tradicional con el hip-hop moderno.
C. Tangana mixes traditional flamenco with modern hip-hop.
Other names: Aitana (pop), Karol G (Colombia, reggaetón), Quevedo (Las Palmas, urban).
Mi cantante favorita es Rosalía porque mezcla el flamenco con el pop moderno.
My favourite singer is Rosalía because she mixes flamenco with modern pop.
Bad Bunny ha hecho del reguetón un género global.
Bad Bunny has made reggaetón a global genre.
Lo que me parece impresionante es que cante solo en español.
What I find impressive is that he sings only in Spanish.
Si pudiera, iría a un concierto de Bad Bunny en Puerto Rico.
If I could, I'd go to a Bad Bunny concert in Puerto Rico.
La música en español domina el streaming hoy en día. Bad Bunny, de Puerto Rico, ha sido el artista con más streams del mundo tres años seguidos en Spotify, y canta solo en español. Lo que me parece impresionante es que ha hecho del reguetón un género global sin renunciar a su identidad latina. También me encanta Rosalía, de Cataluña, porque ha llevado el flamenco al pop mundial. Ha trabajado con Travis Scott y Billie Eilish. Si pudiera, iría a un concierto de Bad Bunny en Puerto Rico o asistiría a una actuación de Rosalía en Madrid.
Mixes facts (3 years of Spotify dominance), opinions and si + conditional — exam-ready Higher language.

