Bad Bunny’s ‘Una Velita’ Is a Little Candle of Hope After a Hurricane

On “Una Velita,” Bad Bunny addresses the devastating effects of Hurricane Maria on his native Puerto Rico and the rest of the Caribbean in 2017. The music is based on a swirling, doleful guitar line, which a choir and percussion section mix up until he takes over with his own sighing, lachrymal verses. A visualizer video reflects the mood of the song, focusing on candles lighting a dark room during a blackout; the song title translates to “a little candle.”

The lyrics, in Spanish, describe the beginning of rain and how “a storm is coming.” At the end of his first verse, he asks, “Quién nos va a salvar?” drawing out that last word with anguish, as he asks, “Who’s going to save us?” Some of the lyrics reference a palm tree, which is also the emblem for the New Progressive Party on the island. The tempest crescendos and subsides, and Bad Bunny ends the song with a helium-high voice expressing hope for the sun to rise.

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Pitchfork notes that the song arrives a few weeks ahead of Election Day in November when Puerto Ricans vote for a new governor. Bad Bunny has been active in encouraging Puerto Ricans to vote. For his concerts on the island in June, he offered two-for-one tickets to fans who purchased admission while showing their voter registrations, according to Remezcla.

Bad Bunny previously released a song about Hurricane Maria, “El Apagon,” in 2022. He told Rolling Stone that the song came to him while hanging out with friends on the beach. “I was at the beach with my friends, a great, drunken party,” he said. “And suddenly, I was watching the beach, the waves, and I started to go, ‘Diablo, Puerto Rico en verdad que Puerto Rico esta bien cabron. On my next album, I want to make a song about Puerto Rico, and I want it to be beautiful.'”