#76 – Un Verano Sin Ti

Apple Music Rank: 76

Album: Un Verano Sin Ti

Artist: Bad Bunny

Year: 2022

Genre: Latin

Was I familiar with Bad Bunny?  Yes, but it had more to do with his status as an icon than it did his music. Translated: I saw him on SNL and the Grammys.

Had I heard Un Verano Sin Ti?  No

Thoughts on Un Verano Sin Ti: I think Bad Bunny is one of the coolest motherfuckers out there. Before I heard his music I assumed he was just another shitty 2020s rapper who just happened to speak Spanish. Then I tuned into the 2023 Grammys. When they opened the show with Bad Bunny I rolled my eyes and probably would’ve skipped it, but I was watching live. I’m glad I was. It was electric. One of the best performance I’ve seen in 40+ years watching the Grammys. I’d love to put a link up here for you, but I can’t find a decent quality version. Then he hosted Saturday Night Live and he confirmed what I saw at the Grammys. I always appreciate the rare legitimately funny musician or athlete who shows up on SNL and he’s one of them. Dude is just charismatic as hell, and charisma transcends language. Then I saw him on the SNL 50 special. Amazing again. Shit, three days ago his Tiny Desk performance dropped and it was more of the same. Why haven’t I been listening to this guy?

Sadly, the answer is obvious: I can’t understand 95% of what he’s saying. It’s been a lifelong ambition to learn Spanish and I’ve done the Babbel thing a few times but never dedicated the amount of time it takes to make it stick. As I type this I’m thinking if I spent more of my free time learning instead of writing I’d speak it fluently by now. It’s difficult to say I love music or even endorse it when I can’t understand what he’s saying. For all I know right now he could be supporting Nazis or rapping about murdering children and I don’t want to write about how much I love the guy. I’m sure that’s not what he’s saying, but I think you get my point. I’m listening to Un Verano Sin Ti like a jazz album. Just riding the vibe and basing my opinion on the feeling.

My love of hip hop is well documented, and this is a hip hop album straight out of the Caribbean. Feels like the perfect soundtrack to a beach party. You hear the word “melting pot” thrown around frequently, but I can think of no better description of this album. I hear so many musical styles represented on this album and the result is beautiful. There’s a run in the middle of Un Verano Sin Ti starting with “Tití Me Preguntó” that I like as much as any English-language hip hop in the past 20 years. He’s rapping, he’s singing, there are guitars, horns, and multiple percussionists. It’s like a Roots concert in Spanish.

My lone complaint about the album is the length. 23 tracks over 81 minutes. That’s a lot. It starts to feel monotonous after a while. Again, that has a lot to do with me not understanding the language. By the time I get to the last 30 minutes of the album I think to myself that he could’ve easily cut the album short and saved the rest of these tracks for another one.

I have another complaint, but it has nothing to do with Bad Bunny or this album. I struggle with Apple Music including an album from 2022 on the list of 100 greatest albums of all time. The album was barely two years old when the list was released. I don’t know how one would determine where the cutoff is, but two years with an album doesn’t seem like enough time to determine its place alongside albums that we’ve heard for decades. Recency bias has to play at least a small part in its inclusion on this list. I’m not saying that it will happen, but there’s a chance people look back at this list in 20 years and question Un Verano Sin Ti the same way people wonder how the hell Christian Laettner made the Dream Team.

That said, I’m a quarter of the way into the Apple Top 100 list and I like Un Verano Sin Ti more than most of the music I’ve heard so far. I enjoyed the hell out of this album and I’m done being surprised when by Bad Bunny. The guy is crazy talented and does cool shit. Time to reactivate that Babbel account and figure out what he’s saying…

Favorite track:  There’s a lot to pick from here, but the song I keep going back to is “Yo No Soy Celoso“, which translates to “I Am Not Jealous”. Super chill. I can see listening to this song on a summer evening with a drink in my hand next to a lake and/or fire pit.

Will I listen to Un Verano Sin Ti again? Absolutely. it’s been added to the Apple Music library and I’ve listened multiple times already.

Would I buy it on vinyl? For sure, but I think LP1 would get a lot more play than LP2.

To access more expert analysis of the Apple 100 Best Albums list click here.