Bad Bunny Closes World Tour, Honors Dominican Republic

Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny closes his "Debí Tirar Más Fotos" world tour this weekend, August 22 and 23, at the Estadio Hiram Bithorn in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The artist, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio and who is 32, is ending an ambitious run that began far from home.

The tour included a 31-show residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico during 2025 before becoming a global trek. It opened not in Puerto Rico but at the Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez in the Dominican Republic last November.

The Dominican Republic was one of the first countries outside Puerto Rico to embrace Bad Bunny, and he has said so repeatedly, sealing the point after his two opening concerts in Santo Domingo in November 2025.

He thanked the Dominican Republic for believing in him before the rest of the world did, saying the country had seen long ago what much of the world sees only now, and thanked Dominicans with humility and affection for supporting "this kid from Puerto Rico." He recalled that the Dominican Republic was the first place outside Puerto Rico where he felt people understood what he was trying to do.

2016: A First Dominican Connection

Martínez Ocasio was 22 when he first made an impression in the Dominican Republic, singing in nightclubs, attending the La Vega carnival and even doing promotional work for a motor-oil brand. He was not yet the stadium-filling phenomenon he is today.

His first musical footprint in the country came through "Dema Ga Ge Gi Go Gu," a 2016 collaboration with Dominican artist El Alfa. Puerto Rican trap was gaining momentum at the time, and Dominican dembow, with its fast tempo and street slang, gave him one of his first hits in the country.

Festival Presidente Breakthrough

With trap hits such as "Soy Peor," "Chambea," "Tú no vive así" (with Arcángel, DJ Luian and Mambo Kingz) and "Krippy Kush" (with Farruko, Rvssian and 21 Savage), Bad Bunny was becoming a phenomenon. He played his first massive concert in the Dominican Republic as a rising artist at Festival Presidente 2017.

Dominican media at the time described him as a popular face of the new urban genre revolution and one of trap's ambassadors, and his set was a hit.

That night's headliners included Enrique Iglesias, Justin Timberlake, J Balvin, Marc Anthony and Maluma. Bad Bunny performed in an urban-music segment alongside emerging artists Ozuna and Bryant Myers, among others.

"La Romana" Deepens the Bond

By 2018, Bad Bunny was already well known in the country. That year came "La Romana," a track with El Alfa included on the album X100PRE, released in December 2018. Built around the chorus "es que la calle bota fuego, fuego, faya, faya," the song blended trap, dembow and bachata elements and reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart, folding Dominican dembow into a project that was helping define the new urban Latin sound.

First Award, First Solo Concert

In 2019, Bad Bunny received a Soberano Internacional award from the Asociación de Cronistas de Arte, known as Acroarte, the first award of his career. He dedicated it to his Dominican audience for its support from day one, and to his native Puerto Rico.

That year also brought his first solo massive concert, at Estadio Quisqueya on June 15, 2019. He wore a number 34 Boston Red Sox jersey honoring David "Big Papi" Ortiz, who had been the victim of an attack that same month.

A Turn Toward Bachata

In August 2021, Bad Bunny collaborated with the group Aventura on "Volví." The song reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the most important collaborations of that period, earning him the endorsement of Aventura members Romeo Santos, Henry, Leny and Max, the bachata phenomenon of the 2000s.

Filling the Olympic Stadium

The 2022 album "Un Verano Sin Ti" pushed his Caribbean mix further and marked a shift away from being seen as just a trap artist. "Tití Me Preguntó" combined dembow, trap and bachata, drawing sound references to Dominican bachata artist Antony Santos, and became one of the biggest hits of his career.

In October 2022, Bad Bunny played two shows of his "World's Hottest Tour" at the Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez in Santo Domingo. Both nights sold out.

Merengue at the Grammys

Bad Bunny did not perform in the Dominican Republic in 2023 or 2024, but his music remained present in Dominican urban culture. In February 2023, he opened the 65th Grammy Awards with the merengue-based track "Después de la Playa," from "Un Verano Sin Ti."

The song's arrangements were by Dominican musician Dahian El Apechao, who performed live with the band at the Grammys and later toured with Bad Bunny, closing "World's Hottest Tour" shows with a beach-party segment featuring live güira and tambora. His music also kept circulating in clubs and on streaming platforms, as Dominican dembow became an increasingly common feature of international urban pop.

Santo Domingo Starts the Tour Again

Bad Bunny chose Santo Domingo to open the "Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour" on November 21, 2025, once again turning the Estadio Olímpico into the stage for an international moment.

During the two concerts, produced by Gamal Haché, he said he feels practically at home when he is in the Dominican Republic and pointed to the cultural similarities between Dominicans and Puerto Ricans.

Dominican Echoes at the Super Bowl

The Super Bowl LX halftime show, held February 8 in Santa Clara, California, became the biggest showcase of Bad Bunny's career. The performance opened with a Dominican reference in "Hoy Se Bebe," popularized by bachata artist Anthony Santos, and featured Alexander Mercedes, a young man from La Romana who appeared in a sugarcane field before Bad Bunny's entrance.

The set also included dembow and the song "Nueva Yol," while the lyrics of "Tití Me Preguntó" again referenced a Dominican woman and the staging incorporated the Dominican tricolor flag.

Bad Bunny closes the "Debí Tirar Más Fotos" tour this Saturday and Sunday in San Juan, the most emblematic run of his decade-long career, having carried the Caribbean to stages around the world. Alongside his beloved Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic has remained part of that international story, a country that, as he put it, believed from day one in this kid from Puerto Rico.