February 22, 2023 • 31 mins
Becoming an Icon kicks off with the biggest music star in the world today: Bad Bunny. Starting at his recent Telemundo televised concert in San Juan, we flashback and take a look at the early years of the musical star. How his middle class upbringing separated his taste and his choices from his musical contemporaries, and how his decision to follow his own voice in music and fashion led him down his path to fame.
Lilliana Vázquez and Joseph Carrillo are the hosts of Becoming an Icon with production support by Juan Carlos Arenado, Josie Meléndez, Daniela Sarquis, and Santiago Sierra of Sonoro Media in partnership with iHeart Radio's My Cultura Podcast network. If you want to support the podcast, please rate and review our show.
Follow Lilliana Vázquez on Instagram and Twitter @lillianavazquez
Follow Joseph Carrillo on Instagram @josephcarrillo
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
We're about to get deep into Bad Bunny. Oh, I
want to code drill Joseph. Joseph, do not finish that joke.
Before we kick off with Bad Bunny. I want to
take a quick second to introduce ourselves and what this
podcast is all about. So Joseph and I are besties
who are always dishing about the biggest stars in the
world and of course what's happening in their lives. We
(00:25):
are always out there looking for the tea honey. Yes,
And like most of you, we dish and then we google.
I mean, there's just so much out there to know
about these peeps, so much information. So one day, after
a couple of glasses of the chemo, sh sh sh
sh shut Joseph, Oh, sorry, you don't have to spell
(00:45):
everything in the first episode, Okay, where was I? We
were drunk talking about our favorite Latin artists. Right that night,
I remember, Joseph asked me the most profound question. Oh wait,
I remember now. I asked you if we ever really
do anything out of our own conscious choice, or are
(01:06):
we controlled by some sort of external simulation. That was
a different night. Why is it called a chickpe if
it's neither a chick nor a pe. No, the one
about the icons? Oh yeah, what separates an artist from
just being an artist and becoming an iconic? Yes? That one.
(01:26):
It got me thinking, if Joseph and I are having
these chats about these amazing artistas, then y'all must be
having these chats too, So why not create a show
where we can tell you everything you need to know
about each artist and you get to hang out with us. Exactly? So,
I picked up my cell phone and I called iHeart
and they said, wait, how did you get this number?
(01:49):
Don't be so shady yet they actually said, we love it.
When do we start? So here we are telling you
the stories of the greatest Latin artists in the world.
We're going to celebrate the artistic contributions of all of
these amazing artists, their songs, the movies, the musicals, the fights,
the breakups, the disasters that bring them home dodal, the good,
(02:14):
the bad, and you'll hear how all of it adds
up to create something more than just a star. And
you're going to have fun, bitch, Yes you are? Okay?
Can I go deep into bad bunny? Now? You couldn't
help yourself, could you? Our first artist Bad Bunny. So
it's summer twenty twenty two and everyone is dropping an album.
(02:37):
I'm talking Drake, Kendrick, Lamar, Bts and yes, even Queen
Bee herself are all delivering new bops, and yet there's
one album that is topping them off. It's from a
Puerto Rican rapper with a bold sense of style, defined
by major swag, his often colorful nails, and, as Vogue
recently said, one of the music scenes most exciting risk
(03:00):
taking dressers. Y'all know who we're talking about, Bad Bump.
In just six short years, the star went from bagging
groceries at a local supermarket to selling out stadiums across
the globe as one of the top recording artist ever
in an industry that expects Latin artists to cross over
(03:21):
to the mainstream US market by not only changing their image,
but also changing the native language they sing in. How
does someone like Bad Bunny get away with, as he
likes to say, doing whatever he wants? Join us as
we learn more about his humble beginnings in Vega Baja
to his meteoric rise up the music charts. I'm your host,
(03:44):
Liliana Vasquez and I'm Joseph Carrillo and this is Becoming
an Icon a weekly podcast will we give you the
Rundown on how today's most famous latint stars have shaped
pop culture and given the world some extras. Sit back
and get comfortable, because we are going in the only
(04:05):
way we know how, with some cheeseman and a lot
of opinions as we relive their greatest achievements on our
journey to find out what makes them so iconic. On
(04:29):
July second, twenty twenty two, Bad Bunny went on Instagram
Live to raffle an iPhone twelve. An iPhone twelve that's
like random, as fuzz I know, But that didn't mean
that people weren't tuning in. Okay, so he also raffled
other items like iPads and of course merch from his
(04:49):
most recent album, Unvdanosin. But it kind of left everyone
asking the same question, Okay, for real, why the f
are we really here? And oh, I want to know
who won any of this march because I need a
size extra Smarge fresh shirt. Well, Joseph. To the surprise
and delight of Puerto Rican fans tuning in, Bad Bunny
(05:11):
casually mentioned that he couldn't possibly go on tour to
promote his new album without performing in La Isla de Lencanto. Right,
So he announced three dates at Elcholi think of it
as Madison Square Garden, but of Puerto Rico, and the
fans went gray. But there's always a butt, y'all. To
(05:31):
make sure that only Puerto Ricans could score tickets and
enjoy the three night affair, you had to purchase the
tickets in person. Yep, we're talking old school I R
L stand in line four days style. And then people,
well they went even crazier. Fans started lining up for
tickets as soon as he announced them. Yeah, well that
(05:52):
was seven days before the tickets went on sale, Suitie.
It was chaos. Fights broke out over people cutting the line.
Separate lines started forming just to get in the line,
and then the unofficial lines became the official lines. It
was complete and utter chaos. It was like an episode
of Housewives meets Christina, but you know, less nails and
(06:15):
less trashy. The concert, though, it was going to be
worth all of it, Yes, because it would be the
first ever show by Latin urban artists to be transmitted
live through Telemundo. And if you couldn't score the golden
ticket into Elcholi. That night you could join watch parties
all over the island, where thousands of spectators met in
thirteen plazas to watch the live feed of the concert
(06:38):
together and to rust it was an event. We're going
to get back to the concert later. But the sold
out stadium tour and Bad Bunny's perch atop the global
streaming rankings confirm what many of us already know. Bad
Bunny isn't just having a major moment, He's cementing himself
as a genre breaking music industry icon. Joseph, when we
(07:02):
first started talking about this podcast, we were so excited.
We knew we were going to talk about Jaylo, Ricky Martin.
But there was one person that you and I begged
to kick off this series with. Who was that it
was Bad Bunny like Desperados for him, seriously Desperadoes, and
(07:23):
not that it was a hard sell. I mean we
just talked about it. Right. He is literally at the
top of the charts. He's at the top of everyone's
fashionless So what was your first moment when you realized
Bad Bunny is here to stay? So when I first
heard of Bad Bunny, it was really random. I had
a friend here in New York visiting from Venezuela, and
she had pointed out that there was a singer named Nacho,
(07:45):
so I kind of like looked up his information on
YouTube and he had a music video with Bad Bunny,
and I was like, oh my god, who's that guy?
I love that Nacho. He introduced you to Bad Bunny.
You know, it's funny so many people were dry on
too Bad Bunny through somebody else. That's a common thing
that we both share because at the beginning of his career,
(08:06):
and we're gonna get to this later, I promise, he
was kind of the king of the collab right. He
would do a verse or he would do a hook
on a song, and his sound was so distinct that
it stood out, at least to me. I remember being like,
whoa wait, who's that guy? Right? Right? Right? Collaborations were
the key to that initial exposure, and then that got
(08:27):
us hooked. We heard I like it. We're going to
also talk about how that collaboration came about, because I
don't know if you guys know this, but it was
a surprise for Cardie. She didn't no way, wait, I
didn't even know. Okay, okay, I can't tell you more.
We're going to get to that later in the episode.
But I do think that when you're talking about Bad Bunny.
I read a quote by Patricia from a Lure magazine.
(08:50):
She says this. She said, Bad Bunny's language is a
Caribbean Spanish, punctuated with profanities, broken words, and highly particular
regional phrases. It's a diet like entirely unique to him,
delivered in an unmistakable rumbling baritone, a language that Google
cannot translate. Yet half the world is singing along too.
I mean, it's true, so many of us, regardless of
(09:14):
if you speak Spanish or not, feel his vibras. Bad
Bunny always talks about vibra in his interviews. We got
the vibras. I definitely feel his vibras. Let me chosen
wants to feel all of badness. He's actually amazing. Honestly,
the more and more we're like getting to know it's
he is really surprising me as a human. The craziest
part is that Babe's career is just getting started. It's true.
(09:39):
But let's take it back back back to nineteen ninety four. Okay,
we're going to get all official and shit so bad
Bunny was born Benito Antonio Martinez Occacio in Vegabaja, Puerto Rico,
on March tenth, nineteen ninety four. Okay, so I'm going
to channel my inner wild Mercado here and homeboy is
(10:01):
a Pisce's Sun and Moon and a Gemini rising. So
all I'm gonna say is he is emotional, imaginative, creative.
He's bored with routine and definitely a dreamer. This is
why I believe so deeply and passionately in astrological sign
It's true. It's true, it's true. The way you described him,
(10:21):
you might as well have just written an article for
Rolling Stone Magazine about who he is as a lyricist.
By next job mount. Benito was raised in al Mirantisur,
which is a barrio in the municipality of Babaja. Its
population is roughly around thirty three hundred. Just for reference,
Elcholi holds eighteen thousand people. So his town is small,
(10:43):
and that small town boy charm is evident through his
constant humility as an artist. His father, Tito Martinez, was
a truck driver and his mother, Lisario Cassio, is a
retired school teacher. But he also has two younger brothers
Bernie E. B Sail Benny thought wasn't like others who
(11:03):
grew up in the mean streets and wrote about what
they saw. Oh No, he was a choir boy. He
liked singing in church and was inspired by music itself
and growing up in quote unquote the country. Bad Bunny
recalls that a lot of his free time was spent
with his mother doing what every Latino kid does on
the weekends, helping with chores as Sasa medenge and ballads
(11:26):
blasted through the house, but he says that his favorite
part of the day was their drive to school because
he loved listening to the radio play the kind of
music that would one day become his greatest influence, including
songs from Puerto Rican artists like og Regato bag. I
(11:47):
feel like we're in that part of the show where
I have to ask the hard questions. Oh no, what
has been your favorite Bad Bunny moment so far in
his career? Um, okay, it's not really like a moment.
I'm just going to go out and say, my favorite
bad Bunny moment is anytime he has a shirt off.
What is your favorite Bad Bunny moment? Okay, So I'm
(12:09):
going to take it a totally different direction. It's actually
an interview he did with Jeremy Parsons at the American
Music Awards. So my friend Jeremy fires off a series
of questions in English and Bad Bunny is just watching
and nodding his head, and then Beneatho candidly says in
Spanish and jokingly adds, I don't understand what you say.
(12:33):
It was a career defining moment for him and completely
changed the way I saw his success. And I think
the biggest lesson for me as an interviewer is if
I ever have the privilege of interviewing Benito on a
red carpet, I am doing the whole damn thing in Spanish,
even if it's broken Spanish. Puerto Rico is a small island,
(13:04):
and he is from an even smaller town on a tiny,
tiny island. I don't know that Puerto Rico has had
somebody like a Bad Bunny in a long time, and
we've got a lot of star power on that small island.
But Bad Bunny has exploded and created a global audience
for a very specific type of music. It's incredible, And
to think all of this really started back when the
(13:26):
Latin explosion was just taking off. This was back in
the late nineties and the early two thousand, Bad Bunny
was just five years old. But personally, I remember this
era so vividly because all of a sudden, the music
that I was listening to and with my mom in
my house was now playing and I'm like, whoa wait
a second, Shaquida is singing in English? Mark Anthony, what
(13:49):
is going on? And if you think back to that time,
all of these crossover albums from Ricky J. Loshakida and
Mark Anthony were dominating the park airwaves with this really
well wasn't to you and I, but it was unique
to this new audience. Yeah, well, you know what you're
saying that someone should really do a show about them.
I mean, I'd listened to it, you know, just so funny.
(14:09):
You should mention that. And don't worry, guys, We're getting
there with later episodes of becoming an icon. But we
got to get back to Bad Bunny. Okay. So Baby
Benetho was listening to these Latin stars that were now
singing in English, but he was perceptive. He was taking
in what they had to change about themselves and their music.
(14:29):
When they crossed over. He was also studying what parts
of their Latin sound they were still able to incorporate
into a more Americanized version of their music. So when
I say Latin explosion, I hate black Are we exploding?
Kind of sounds like a mail striper venue or something
(14:49):
like Latin Explosion. Why would they do that name? It's
just weird. So, speaking of the Latin Explosion, who was
your favorite artist of the time, Like I mean, there
was for us, there was a lot of people to
choose from it. Now there's even more. But you know,
we only have Gloria before Gloria or Selena. I was
skeptical even as a young un of the Latin Explosion
(15:11):
because I thought, why do they have to sing in English?
They sound amaze in Spanish. It did get tunes out
there and beats that hadn't really been heard, Honestly, absolutely,
that laid the foundation for other artists, right, It laid
the foundation for j Lo, for Shakida from mark Anthy
And at the end of the day, I will take
any Latin explosion that brings more eyes and awareness to
(15:35):
the power of Latinos across the globe in entertainment, because
we are so underrepresented. So yes, I see the value
of it, but I'm still going to be critical of
the movement because it was unnecessary in terms of how
it was branded, not unnecessary in terms that it happened.
When we talk about Ricky Martin, we can't ignore the
fact that Bad Bunny has come up in the wake
(15:56):
of Ricky Martin. You know, like Ricky crawled so Bad
Bunny could walk, right. He also credits Bad Bunny, credits
him so much. Absolutely, there was an article where Bad
Bunny talks about Ricky Martin coming out back in twenty ten,
and we know what a landmark moment that was for
LGBTQ representation in the Latin community. And here's what Bad
(16:17):
Bunny said. He says, you don't have to be gay
to be inspired by that action of honesty and freedom
of being yourself against the world despite everything you deserve.
I look at it like a very inspiring moment for anybody,
at least for me. It's very inspirational, and truly was
that authenticity is what you hear now from artists in
(16:38):
a way that you never heard in twenty ten. Like
he's not selling out, he is being as authentic as
he is because he was saying, this is who I am.
He presents who he is authentically and the music that
he is singing. That was not part of the Latin explosion.
Back then. We were talking about Latin pop, fine and rock.
(17:01):
But what Bad Bunny was also hearing was this other
infectious sound that was quickly stepping into the mainstream, and
young Benito loved it. Okay, wait a minute, So what
is regaeton? Great question, and I'm not sure I have
the perfect answer, but it's kind of a musical blend
(17:23):
of everything. So sa bomba, reggae, a little dance hall,
it's kind of all of it. But the best way
I've ever heard it described is think of reggaeton as
rap and hip hop's baby Latino cousin. That actually really
makes sense. And as you were naming every single one,
like you said, like sata satin bomba, I was literally
(17:45):
like nodding my head like yeah, yeah, like it actually
was every single one of those. It's also rapping and
singing in Spanish, which is what makes it infectious. That's
that beat that wants you to shake that ass. Okay, So,
before Bad Bunny came to the forefront as Agathon's King,
who was it for you? Excayows me? It was one
(18:07):
hundred percent Evie Queen. Oh you'll get oh my lad,
take us away back Joseph. So before it was bad Bunny,
Who was it for you? This might be the most
basic bitch answer in the world, but it's daddy Yankee obsessed.
Part of it also has to do with the fact
(18:28):
that my parents hated him, so as a teenager, I
was like, yes, Daddy, I love you. He was totally
fines back then, well still, I mean and King. I
was in DC at the times I was in college,
and I remember going out to clubs like late night
and I'm talking like American clubs, and then you hear
Yasoda come on and the whole club who loses their shit?
(18:51):
You know what, because it's like the rattle of the music.
Also remember, oh my god, so good, I know. And
that's also what I think is so cool about reggaeton
is like, because you get these blends, you also get
a really wide runway to what you can do with
the music. So there's all different types of reggaeton for
like every personality and every kind of mood. And I
(19:15):
just remember feeling like everyone was finally dancing to the
music that sounded like home to me, like familiar. Yeah,
And as we were warming up to these sounds, guess
what so was bad? Buddy? Yes, When he was just
ten years old, the radio started playing reggaeton, so you
had Nomar and of course Danny Yankee dominating the airwaves,
(19:40):
and soon they were everywhere, including the two thousand and
five MTV VMAs, where for the first time ever, four
Spanish language songs were performed in one night in two
thousand and five. To even see people like that on
the stage and just being so familiar, it is definitely
in option. Had we seen latinos like that when we
(20:02):
were younger, we would be inspired to take over the world,
which that's what he's doing. He was so inspired, to
his mother's disappointment, he quit choir and said adios too,
like Lesia and hello to the art form of music.
You can shake your ass too. Beneito knew what he
(20:23):
wanted to do with his life and his music, and
now it was just a matter of carving his own path.
As part of the self made generation of late Millennials
and early gen Zers, Benito taught himself how to make
(20:46):
music with software he'd found online. His life literally became
go to school, come home, and write lyrics until he
had to go to sleep. While he was learning to
make music on his own and freestyling at school for
his friends, he was also starting to switch up his style.
During an interview with a Lure in twenty twenty one,
he said, this my look wasn't part of any specific
(21:06):
plan when I was starting to make my music. My
style came as part of the process of liberating my
mind and liberating spirit. Since I was young, I had
it in me. I just had to liberate it. So
remember bad bunnies from a small town on the island.
So he spent his childhood playing with roosters, riding horses,
swimming in the river like think small small like honey
(21:29):
Booboo style. So going to the mall was a special occasion, yes,
And it was on those trips to La Metro that
he began to absorb the endless possibilities of fashion and
the impact of gender stereotypes. He says, going shopping with
my mom was one of my favorite things because I
would get lost in the women's department, seeing the combinations,
(21:49):
the colors, the cuts, the designs, and then it was
my turn to buy clothes and it was boring as hell,
the same jeans and T shirts, jeans and T shirts
and different sizes. The women had it all. Don't either
that means even or ever, so don't either get Bad
Bunny started on purses because the boys got more Jakoma's
tiny bags than Lizzo. Oh, and he brings them to
(22:13):
all of his interviews and in Bad Bunny's own words,
for women, there are so many different options, colors, shapes, designs,
and would a man get a beat up old wallet
to stuff in your pocket? I mean, he's so right.
Sometimes you just want to feel like Mary Poppins or
even Mary j. Blige for real. Now, Bad Bunny says
when it comes to clothes that he's never really seen gender.
(22:36):
When he was growing up, he'd even go as far
as wearing his mom's clothes to school. And yes he
got made fun of, but is Bad Bunny he didn't care,
remember Yo Ago Lokmeday, Oh my god, you are everything
to me. To Bad Bunny, clothes aren't just for men
or women. They're literally just clothes. So prey Chenney Joseph,
(23:00):
what do you think his impact on fashion has been.
We just saw him obviously on the cover of Bizarre,
the first Latino and first man to be on the cover.
What's the biggest impact that his choice in clothes has
on culture? For me, it's just breaking the stereotype of machismo.
(23:22):
He is becoming an inspiration to just be free with clothes.
It's not you don't have to be your man or
a woman to get your nails painted, to get them done,
to wear pink, to wear a skirt. I wore a
kilt inspired by him, Like, you could wear whatever you want. Yeah,
this wasn't happening five years ago, certainly not ten years ago.
(23:43):
And whether or not, as a Latino man you're going
to wear a skirt or not doesn't matter. It just
helps you be more open minded to other people who
are And that's what the biggest impact for me that
Bad Bunny has. It's not so much that other men
might choose to dress like Bad Bunny or paint their
nails that when they see somebody else doing it, that
(24:03):
judgment goes away. And that machismo that we've kind of
been trained to incorporate and how we see people and
how we react to others is slowly starting to chip away.
And I don't think that would be possible without men
like Jay Balvin and Maluma, but really without Bad Bunny
putting it all out there, right, And if you think
(24:25):
about it, in twenty thirteen, he was starting to play
with this. But back then he was just a student
at the University of Puerto Rico and he was working
as a bagger at a local grocery store. And when
he wasn't working, that's when he was writing and creating music. Well,
at that time, he also had his style, he had
a vision, and now he just really needed an audience. Yes,
(24:48):
I'm so happy that you said that, because that brings
us to his SoundCloud era. So Bad Bunny began loading
his music onto SoundCloud and for our older listeners and
myself in included. That is a music sharing platform and
it was super helpful in launching the career of some
major artists. You might also know Megan the Stallion, Billie,
(25:11):
Eilish Kilani Chans to Wrapper, Post, Malone, Lord, Kelly Cheese,
love Her Like You Get It, Yes, exactly. He was
part of this movement. He was uploading these self produced
tracks onto the platform under the user name bad Bunny. Okay,
here is where the name came from. For all of
(25:31):
you that are like, why is it not knejomalo so.
Bad Bunny was his user name on SoundCloud. Bad Bunny
picked this user name because it was referencing this one
time when he had to wear a bunny costume for
an Easter celebration. His mom probably put him in it.
There was a photo of it and he looked unamused,
(25:51):
hashtag not impressed, borderline angry, which of course made him
a bad Bunny. Wait, yeah, I wonder if we can
find that photo. I actually need to see it. One
night in twenty sixteen, without any promotion or marketing, his
SoundCloud track d list win a viral, earning one million
(26:12):
pleas in just one week. Those are astronomical numbers, and
the reason he got there was because young people were
responding to it, of course, and old people listening to
no SoundCloud ain't well the devil that was listening to SoundCloud.
They could not get enough of bad Bunny. Bad Bunny
(26:34):
started to collaborate with some of the biggest names in
the urban genre, names like Mombo Kings, My Girl, Carol
g Faruko, before he found Jesus thank You for a fact,
chucking me, Joseph oh and even Prince Royce Rife and
then the biggest collaboration of all at the time for him,
Jay Valvin. But that first official single with his new label,
(26:57):
Sope that became a break out trap hit. It basically
established him in the Latin American trap scene, and within
a year, Bad Bunny was featured on fifteen other Billboard
Hot Latin songs. That's a lot. Here's what he had
to say about his early days. He says, maybe at
(27:18):
the very beginning of my career, I tried to pretend
I was someone that I'm not. But I learned that
that's the way artists lose themselves. It's because they forget
about themselves them as a person and invented a fictitious personality.
I'm just going to go out and say this. I
have a feeling. Back then, the industry and his label
(27:40):
were kind of trying to turn him into like a
little daddy yankee one hundred percent. His look was completely different.
His head was shaved really like buzzed, he was wearing
a gold chain, and basically they were making him become
another trapped artist to only do singles, but We all
know that Bad Bunny had figured dreams, greater aspirations. He
(28:02):
knew he could do more. He believed this. He felt
like there was a space for his music, for his sound,
for his style. The only question left to ask was
how I'm talking Cardi b Jay Balvin ad Bad Punny.
Everyone knows this song and if you don't, where have
(28:22):
you been? Loca? I don't know that anyone in my
life doesn't know this song. This single top the US
Billboard Hot one hundred charts, becoming Cardi Bi's second number one.
It was historic, you guys. This is the first time
a female rapper achieved this in the charts history, and
(28:44):
also the first time for Jay Balvin and Bad Bunny. Well,
the cool thing about Cardi Bi's producers is they wanted
a song on Invasion of Privacy to pay homage to
Cardi's Latin heritage. And thank goodness because the track was
actually sent to Edgar Matchuka and he's the genius that
came up with the idea to add Bad Bunny and
(29:04):
Jay Balvin to the track. Thank you, ev got Machuca.
I actually just like saying his last name Matchuka Anyway,
So this video received one point four billion views, Let's
be like a bill Yen And in twenty nineteen, Vulture
writer Gary Swatt has stated that I Like It transformed
(29:25):
Bad Bunny into a household name, yes, and set the
stage for his full length debut porciempre back to I
Like It real quick, I like dollars, I like diamonds.
Take it, bitch, I like the balanceiag of the ones
that look like fuck Thaney. He skipped like three lines,
but I'll take it. By twenty eighteen, Bad Bunny was
(29:51):
clearly ready for more. Did j Luianne hear this music?
Mambo Kings? They were all creating something out of Bad
Bunny that they could package, market and sell. But at
the end of the day, they just weren't letting him
be him. My Boo already had his style and his SoundCloud,
and hear this music just didn't have the same vision
for him. You're right. They just weren't a line so
(30:12):
Bad Bunny said he's and his timing couldn't have been
any better. That summer, I Like It deropped and Bad
Bunny became a household name. This man was getting hit
with collaborations from every direction. European tour dates stacked up.
His career was finally taking off the way he wanted it.
(30:35):
But then a storm came for his beloved homeland, and
Bad Bunny put everything on pause. On the next episode
of Becoming an Icon, Hurricane Maria, Bad Bunny and his
love for Puerto Rico. Becoming an Icon is presented by
(30:58):
So Noo and I Heearts Michael Kuda podcast Network. Listen
to Becoming an Icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast,
or wherever you get your podcast
We're about to get deep into Bad Bunny. Oh, I
want to code drill Joseph. Joseph, do not finish that joke.
Before we kick off with Bad Bunny. I want to
take a quick second to introduce ourselves and what this
podcast is all about. So Joseph and I are besties
who are always dishing about the biggest stars in the
world and of course what's happening in their lives. We
(00:25):
are always out there looking for the tea honey. Yes,
And like most of you, we dish and then we google.
I mean, there's just so much out there to know
about these peeps, so much information. So one day, after
a couple of glasses of the chemo, sh sh sh
sh shut Joseph, Oh, sorry, you don't have to spell
(00:45):
everything in the first episode, Okay, where was I? We
were drunk talking about our favorite Latin artists. Right that night,
I remember, Joseph asked me the most profound question. Oh wait,
I remember now. I asked you if we ever really
do anything out of our own conscious choice, or are
(01:06):
we controlled by some sort of external simulation. That was
a different night. Why is it called a chickpe if
it's neither a chick nor a pe. No, the one
about the icons? Oh yeah, what separates an artist from
just being an artist and becoming an iconic? Yes? That one.
(01:26):
It got me thinking, if Joseph and I are having
these chats about these amazing artistas, then y'all must be
having these chats too, So why not create a show
where we can tell you everything you need to know
about each artist and you get to hang out with us. Exactly? So,
I picked up my cell phone and I called iHeart
and they said, wait, how did you get this number?
(01:49):
Don't be so shady yet they actually said, we love it.
When do we start? So here we are telling you
the stories of the greatest Latin artists in the world.
We're going to celebrate the artistic contributions of all of
these amazing artists, their songs, the movies, the musicals, the fights,
the breakups, the disasters that bring them home dodal, the good,
(02:14):
the bad, and you'll hear how all of it adds
up to create something more than just a star. And
you're going to have fun, bitch, Yes you are? Okay?
Can I go deep into bad bunny? Now? You couldn't
help yourself, could you? Our first artist Bad Bunny. So
it's summer twenty twenty two and everyone is dropping an album.
(02:37):
I'm talking Drake, Kendrick, Lamar, Bts and yes, even Queen
Bee herself are all delivering new bops, and yet there's
one album that is topping them off. It's from a
Puerto Rican rapper with a bold sense of style, defined
by major swag, his often colorful nails, and, as Vogue
recently said, one of the music scenes most exciting risk
(03:00):
taking dressers. Y'all know who we're talking about, Bad Bump.
In just six short years, the star went from bagging
groceries at a local supermarket to selling out stadiums across
the globe as one of the top recording artist ever
in an industry that expects Latin artists to cross over
(03:21):
to the mainstream US market by not only changing their image,
but also changing the native language they sing in. How
does someone like Bad Bunny get away with, as he
likes to say, doing whatever he wants? Join us as
we learn more about his humble beginnings in Vega Baja
to his meteoric rise up the music charts. I'm your host,
(03:44):
Liliana Vasquez and I'm Joseph Carrillo and this is Becoming
an Icon a weekly podcast will we give you the
Rundown on how today's most famous latint stars have shaped
pop culture and given the world some extras. Sit back
and get comfortable, because we are going in the only
(04:05):
way we know how, with some cheeseman and a lot
of opinions as we relive their greatest achievements on our
journey to find out what makes them so iconic. On
(04:29):
July second, twenty twenty two, Bad Bunny went on Instagram
Live to raffle an iPhone twelve. An iPhone twelve that's
like random, as fuzz I know, But that didn't mean
that people weren't tuning in. Okay, so he also raffled
other items like iPads and of course merch from his
(04:49):
most recent album, Unvdanosin. But it kind of left everyone
asking the same question, Okay, for real, why the f
are we really here? And oh, I want to know
who won any of this march because I need a
size extra Smarge fresh shirt. Well, Joseph. To the surprise
and delight of Puerto Rican fans tuning in, Bad Bunny
(05:11):
casually mentioned that he couldn't possibly go on tour to
promote his new album without performing in La Isla de Lencanto. Right,
So he announced three dates at Elcholi think of it
as Madison Square Garden, but of Puerto Rico, and the
fans went gray. But there's always a butt, y'all. To
(05:31):
make sure that only Puerto Ricans could score tickets and
enjoy the three night affair, you had to purchase the
tickets in person. Yep, we're talking old school I R
L stand in line four days style. And then people,
well they went even crazier. Fans started lining up for
tickets as soon as he announced them. Yeah, well that
(05:52):
was seven days before the tickets went on sale, Suitie.
It was chaos. Fights broke out over people cutting the line.
Separate lines started forming just to get in the line,
and then the unofficial lines became the official lines. It
was complete and utter chaos. It was like an episode
of Housewives meets Christina, but you know, less nails and
(06:15):
less trashy. The concert, though, it was going to be
worth all of it, Yes, because it would be the
first ever show by Latin urban artists to be transmitted
live through Telemundo. And if you couldn't score the golden
ticket into Elcholi. That night you could join watch parties
all over the island, where thousands of spectators met in
thirteen plazas to watch the live feed of the concert
(06:38):
together and to rust it was an event. We're going
to get back to the concert later. But the sold
out stadium tour and Bad Bunny's perch atop the global
streaming rankings confirm what many of us already know. Bad
Bunny isn't just having a major moment, He's cementing himself
as a genre breaking music industry icon. Joseph, when we
(07:02):
first started talking about this podcast, we were so excited.
We knew we were going to talk about Jaylo, Ricky Martin.
But there was one person that you and I begged
to kick off this series with. Who was that it
was Bad Bunny like Desperados for him, seriously Desperadoes, and
(07:23):
not that it was a hard sell. I mean we
just talked about it. Right. He is literally at the
top of the charts. He's at the top of everyone's
fashionless So what was your first moment when you realized
Bad Bunny is here to stay? So when I first
heard of Bad Bunny, it was really random. I had
a friend here in New York visiting from Venezuela, and
she had pointed out that there was a singer named Nacho,
(07:45):
so I kind of like looked up his information on
YouTube and he had a music video with Bad Bunny,
and I was like, oh my god, who's that guy?
I love that Nacho. He introduced you to Bad Bunny.
You know, it's funny so many people were dry on
too Bad Bunny through somebody else. That's a common thing
that we both share because at the beginning of his career,
(08:06):
and we're gonna get to this later, I promise, he
was kind of the king of the collab right. He
would do a verse or he would do a hook
on a song, and his sound was so distinct that
it stood out, at least to me. I remember being like,
whoa wait, who's that guy? Right? Right? Right? Collaborations were
the key to that initial exposure, and then that got
(08:27):
us hooked. We heard I like it. We're going to
also talk about how that collaboration came about, because I
don't know if you guys know this, but it was
a surprise for Cardie. She didn't no way, wait, I
didn't even know. Okay, okay, I can't tell you more.
We're going to get to that later in the episode.
But I do think that when you're talking about Bad Bunny.
I read a quote by Patricia from a Lure magazine.
(08:50):
She says this. She said, Bad Bunny's language is a
Caribbean Spanish, punctuated with profanities, broken words, and highly particular
regional phrases. It's a diet like entirely unique to him,
delivered in an unmistakable rumbling baritone, a language that Google
cannot translate. Yet half the world is singing along too.
I mean, it's true, so many of us, regardless of
(09:14):
if you speak Spanish or not, feel his vibras. Bad
Bunny always talks about vibra in his interviews. We got
the vibras. I definitely feel his vibras. Let me chosen
wants to feel all of badness. He's actually amazing. Honestly,
the more and more we're like getting to know it's
he is really surprising me as a human. The craziest
part is that Babe's career is just getting started. It's true.
(09:39):
But let's take it back back back to nineteen ninety four. Okay,
we're going to get all official and shit so bad
Bunny was born Benito Antonio Martinez Occacio in Vegabaja, Puerto Rico,
on March tenth, nineteen ninety four. Okay, so I'm going
to channel my inner wild Mercado here and homeboy is
(10:01):
a Pisce's Sun and Moon and a Gemini rising. So
all I'm gonna say is he is emotional, imaginative, creative.
He's bored with routine and definitely a dreamer. This is
why I believe so deeply and passionately in astrological sign
It's true. It's true, it's true. The way you described him,
(10:21):
you might as well have just written an article for
Rolling Stone Magazine about who he is as a lyricist.
By next job mount. Benito was raised in al Mirantisur,
which is a barrio in the municipality of Babaja. Its
population is roughly around thirty three hundred. Just for reference,
Elcholi holds eighteen thousand people. So his town is small,
(10:43):
and that small town boy charm is evident through his
constant humility as an artist. His father, Tito Martinez, was
a truck driver and his mother, Lisario Cassio, is a
retired school teacher. But he also has two younger brothers
Bernie E. B Sail Benny thought wasn't like others who
(11:03):
grew up in the mean streets and wrote about what
they saw. Oh No, he was a choir boy. He
liked singing in church and was inspired by music itself
and growing up in quote unquote the country. Bad Bunny
recalls that a lot of his free time was spent
with his mother doing what every Latino kid does on
the weekends, helping with chores as Sasa medenge and ballads
(11:26):
blasted through the house, but he says that his favorite
part of the day was their drive to school because
he loved listening to the radio play the kind of
music that would one day become his greatest influence, including
songs from Puerto Rican artists like og Regato bag. I
(11:47):
feel like we're in that part of the show where
I have to ask the hard questions. Oh no, what
has been your favorite Bad Bunny moment so far in
his career? Um, okay, it's not really like a moment.
I'm just going to go out and say, my favorite
bad Bunny moment is anytime he has a shirt off.
What is your favorite Bad Bunny moment? Okay, So I'm
(12:09):
going to take it a totally different direction. It's actually
an interview he did with Jeremy Parsons at the American
Music Awards. So my friend Jeremy fires off a series
of questions in English and Bad Bunny is just watching
and nodding his head, and then Beneatho candidly says in
Spanish and jokingly adds, I don't understand what you say.
(12:33):
It was a career defining moment for him and completely
changed the way I saw his success. And I think
the biggest lesson for me as an interviewer is if
I ever have the privilege of interviewing Benito on a
red carpet, I am doing the whole damn thing in Spanish,
even if it's broken Spanish. Puerto Rico is a small island,
(13:04):
and he is from an even smaller town on a tiny,
tiny island. I don't know that Puerto Rico has had
somebody like a Bad Bunny in a long time, and
we've got a lot of star power on that small island.
But Bad Bunny has exploded and created a global audience
for a very specific type of music. It's incredible, And
to think all of this really started back when the
(13:26):
Latin explosion was just taking off. This was back in
the late nineties and the early two thousand, Bad Bunny
was just five years old. But personally, I remember this
era so vividly because all of a sudden, the music
that I was listening to and with my mom in
my house was now playing and I'm like, whoa wait
a second, Shaquida is singing in English? Mark Anthony, what
(13:49):
is going on? And if you think back to that time,
all of these crossover albums from Ricky J. Loshakida and
Mark Anthony were dominating the park airwaves with this really
well wasn't to you and I, but it was unique
to this new audience. Yeah, well, you know what you're
saying that someone should really do a show about them.
I mean, I'd listened to it, you know, just so funny.
(14:09):
You should mention that. And don't worry, guys, We're getting
there with later episodes of becoming an icon. But we
got to get back to Bad Bunny. Okay. So Baby
Benetho was listening to these Latin stars that were now
singing in English, but he was perceptive. He was taking
in what they had to change about themselves and their music.
(14:29):
When they crossed over. He was also studying what parts
of their Latin sound they were still able to incorporate
into a more Americanized version of their music. So when
I say Latin explosion, I hate black Are we exploding?
Kind of sounds like a mail striper venue or something
(14:49):
like Latin Explosion. Why would they do that name? It's
just weird. So, speaking of the Latin Explosion, who was
your favorite artist of the time, Like I mean, there
was for us, there was a lot of people to
choose from it. Now there's even more. But you know,
we only have Gloria before Gloria or Selena. I was
skeptical even as a young un of the Latin Explosion
(15:11):
because I thought, why do they have to sing in English?
They sound amaze in Spanish. It did get tunes out
there and beats that hadn't really been heard, Honestly, absolutely,
that laid the foundation for other artists, right, It laid
the foundation for j Lo, for Shakida from mark Anthy
And at the end of the day, I will take
any Latin explosion that brings more eyes and awareness to
(15:35):
the power of Latinos across the globe in entertainment, because
we are so underrepresented. So yes, I see the value
of it, but I'm still going to be critical of
the movement because it was unnecessary in terms of how
it was branded, not unnecessary in terms that it happened.
When we talk about Ricky Martin, we can't ignore the
fact that Bad Bunny has come up in the wake
(15:56):
of Ricky Martin. You know, like Ricky crawled so Bad
Bunny could walk, right. He also credits Bad Bunny, credits
him so much. Absolutely, there was an article where Bad
Bunny talks about Ricky Martin coming out back in twenty ten,
and we know what a landmark moment that was for
LGBTQ representation in the Latin community. And here's what Bad
(16:17):
Bunny said. He says, you don't have to be gay
to be inspired by that action of honesty and freedom
of being yourself against the world despite everything you deserve.
I look at it like a very inspiring moment for anybody,
at least for me. It's very inspirational, and truly was
that authenticity is what you hear now from artists in
(16:38):
a way that you never heard in twenty ten. Like
he's not selling out, he is being as authentic as
he is because he was saying, this is who I am.
He presents who he is authentically and the music that
he is singing. That was not part of the Latin explosion.
Back then. We were talking about Latin pop, fine and rock.
(17:01):
But what Bad Bunny was also hearing was this other
infectious sound that was quickly stepping into the mainstream, and
young Benito loved it. Okay, wait a minute, So what
is regaeton? Great question, and I'm not sure I have
the perfect answer, but it's kind of a musical blend
(17:23):
of everything. So sa bomba, reggae, a little dance hall,
it's kind of all of it. But the best way
I've ever heard it described is think of reggaeton as
rap and hip hop's baby Latino cousin. That actually really
makes sense. And as you were naming every single one,
like you said, like sata satin bomba, I was literally
(17:45):
like nodding my head like yeah, yeah, like it actually
was every single one of those. It's also rapping and
singing in Spanish, which is what makes it infectious. That's
that beat that wants you to shake that ass. Okay, So,
before Bad Bunny came to the forefront as Agathon's King,
who was it for you? Excayows me? It was one
(18:07):
hundred percent Evie Queen. Oh you'll get oh my lad,
take us away back Joseph. So before it was bad Bunny,
Who was it for you? This might be the most
basic bitch answer in the world, but it's daddy Yankee obsessed.
Part of it also has to do with the fact
(18:28):
that my parents hated him, so as a teenager, I
was like, yes, Daddy, I love you. He was totally
fines back then, well still, I mean and King. I
was in DC at the times I was in college,
and I remember going out to clubs like late night
and I'm talking like American clubs, and then you hear
Yasoda come on and the whole club who loses their shit?
(18:51):
You know what, because it's like the rattle of the music.
Also remember, oh my god, so good, I know. And
that's also what I think is so cool about reggaeton
is like, because you get these blends, you also get
a really wide runway to what you can do with
the music. So there's all different types of reggaeton for
like every personality and every kind of mood. And I
(19:15):
just remember feeling like everyone was finally dancing to the
music that sounded like home to me, like familiar. Yeah,
And as we were warming up to these sounds, guess
what so was bad? Buddy? Yes, When he was just
ten years old, the radio started playing reggaeton, so you
had Nomar and of course Danny Yankee dominating the airwaves,
(19:40):
and soon they were everywhere, including the two thousand and
five MTV VMAs, where for the first time ever, four
Spanish language songs were performed in one night in two
thousand and five. To even see people like that on
the stage and just being so familiar, it is definitely
in option. Had we seen latinos like that when we
(20:02):
were younger, we would be inspired to take over the world,
which that's what he's doing. He was so inspired, to
his mother's disappointment, he quit choir and said adios too,
like Lesia and hello to the art form of music.
You can shake your ass too. Beneito knew what he
(20:23):
wanted to do with his life and his music, and
now it was just a matter of carving his own path.
As part of the self made generation of late Millennials
and early gen Zers, Benito taught himself how to make
(20:46):
music with software he'd found online. His life literally became
go to school, come home, and write lyrics until he
had to go to sleep. While he was learning to
make music on his own and freestyling at school for
his friends, he was also starting to switch up his style.
During an interview with a Lure in twenty twenty one,
he said, this my look wasn't part of any specific
(21:06):
plan when I was starting to make my music. My
style came as part of the process of liberating my
mind and liberating spirit. Since I was young, I had
it in me. I just had to liberate it. So
remember bad bunnies from a small town on the island.
So he spent his childhood playing with roosters, riding horses,
swimming in the river like think small small like honey
(21:29):
Booboo style. So going to the mall was a special occasion, yes,
And it was on those trips to La Metro that
he began to absorb the endless possibilities of fashion and
the impact of gender stereotypes. He says, going shopping with
my mom was one of my favorite things because I
would get lost in the women's department, seeing the combinations,
(21:49):
the colors, the cuts, the designs, and then it was
my turn to buy clothes and it was boring as hell,
the same jeans and T shirts, jeans and T shirts
and different sizes. The women had it all. Don't either
that means even or ever, so don't either get Bad
Bunny started on purses because the boys got more Jakoma's
tiny bags than Lizzo. Oh, and he brings them to
(22:13):
all of his interviews and in Bad Bunny's own words,
for women, there are so many different options, colors, shapes, designs,
and would a man get a beat up old wallet
to stuff in your pocket? I mean, he's so right.
Sometimes you just want to feel like Mary Poppins or
even Mary j. Blige for real. Now, Bad Bunny says
when it comes to clothes that he's never really seen gender.
(22:36):
When he was growing up, he'd even go as far
as wearing his mom's clothes to school. And yes he
got made fun of, but is Bad Bunny he didn't care,
remember Yo Ago Lokmeday, Oh my god, you are everything
to me. To Bad Bunny, clothes aren't just for men
or women. They're literally just clothes. So prey Chenney Joseph,
(23:00):
what do you think his impact on fashion has been.
We just saw him obviously on the cover of Bizarre,
the first Latino and first man to be on the cover.
What's the biggest impact that his choice in clothes has
on culture? For me, it's just breaking the stereotype of machismo.
(23:22):
He is becoming an inspiration to just be free with clothes.
It's not you don't have to be your man or
a woman to get your nails painted, to get them done,
to wear pink, to wear a skirt. I wore a
kilt inspired by him, Like, you could wear whatever you want. Yeah,
this wasn't happening five years ago, certainly not ten years ago.
(23:43):
And whether or not, as a Latino man you're going
to wear a skirt or not doesn't matter. It just
helps you be more open minded to other people who
are And that's what the biggest impact for me that
Bad Bunny has. It's not so much that other men
might choose to dress like Bad Bunny or paint their
nails that when they see somebody else doing it, that
(24:03):
judgment goes away. And that machismo that we've kind of
been trained to incorporate and how we see people and
how we react to others is slowly starting to chip away.
And I don't think that would be possible without men
like Jay Balvin and Maluma, but really without Bad Bunny
putting it all out there, right, And if you think
(24:25):
about it, in twenty thirteen, he was starting to play
with this. But back then he was just a student
at the University of Puerto Rico and he was working
as a bagger at a local grocery store. And when
he wasn't working, that's when he was writing and creating music. Well,
at that time, he also had his style, he had
a vision, and now he just really needed an audience. Yes,
(24:48):
I'm so happy that you said that, because that brings
us to his SoundCloud era. So Bad Bunny began loading
his music onto SoundCloud and for our older listeners and
myself in included. That is a music sharing platform and
it was super helpful in launching the career of some
major artists. You might also know Megan the Stallion, Billie,
(25:11):
Eilish Kilani Chans to Wrapper, Post, Malone, Lord, Kelly Cheese,
love Her Like You Get It, Yes, exactly. He was
part of this movement. He was uploading these self produced
tracks onto the platform under the user name bad Bunny. Okay,
here is where the name came from. For all of
(25:31):
you that are like, why is it not knejomalo so.
Bad Bunny was his user name on SoundCloud. Bad Bunny
picked this user name because it was referencing this one
time when he had to wear a bunny costume for
an Easter celebration. His mom probably put him in it.
There was a photo of it and he looked unamused,
(25:51):
hashtag not impressed, borderline angry, which of course made him
a bad Bunny. Wait, yeah, I wonder if we can
find that photo. I actually need to see it. One
night in twenty sixteen, without any promotion or marketing, his
SoundCloud track d list win a viral, earning one million
(26:12):
pleas in just one week. Those are astronomical numbers, and
the reason he got there was because young people were
responding to it, of course, and old people listening to
no SoundCloud ain't well the devil that was listening to SoundCloud.
They could not get enough of bad Bunny. Bad Bunny
(26:34):
started to collaborate with some of the biggest names in
the urban genre, names like Mombo Kings, My Girl, Carol
g Faruko, before he found Jesus thank You for a fact,
chucking me, Joseph oh and even Prince Royce Rife and
then the biggest collaboration of all at the time for him,
Jay Valvin. But that first official single with his new label,
(26:57):
Sope that became a break out trap hit. It basically
established him in the Latin American trap scene, and within
a year, Bad Bunny was featured on fifteen other Billboard
Hot Latin songs. That's a lot. Here's what he had
to say about his early days. He says, maybe at
(27:18):
the very beginning of my career, I tried to pretend
I was someone that I'm not. But I learned that
that's the way artists lose themselves. It's because they forget
about themselves them as a person and invented a fictitious personality.
I'm just going to go out and say this. I
have a feeling. Back then, the industry and his label
(27:40):
were kind of trying to turn him into like a
little daddy yankee one hundred percent. His look was completely different.
His head was shaved really like buzzed, he was wearing
a gold chain, and basically they were making him become
another trapped artist to only do singles, but We all
know that Bad Bunny had figured dreams, greater aspirations. He
(28:02):
knew he could do more. He believed this. He felt
like there was a space for his music, for his sound,
for his style. The only question left to ask was
how I'm talking Cardi b Jay Balvin ad Bad Punny.
Everyone knows this song and if you don't, where have
(28:22):
you been? Loca? I don't know that anyone in my
life doesn't know this song. This single top the US
Billboard Hot one hundred charts, becoming Cardi Bi's second number one.
It was historic, you guys. This is the first time
a female rapper achieved this in the charts history, and
(28:44):
also the first time for Jay Balvin and Bad Bunny. Well,
the cool thing about Cardi Bi's producers is they wanted
a song on Invasion of Privacy to pay homage to
Cardi's Latin heritage. And thank goodness because the track was
actually sent to Edgar Matchuka and he's the genius that
came up with the idea to add Bad Bunny and
(29:04):
Jay Balvin to the track. Thank you, ev got Machuca.
I actually just like saying his last name Matchuka Anyway,
So this video received one point four billion views, Let's
be like a bill Yen And in twenty nineteen, Vulture
writer Gary Swatt has stated that I Like It transformed
(29:25):
Bad Bunny into a household name, yes, and set the
stage for his full length debut porciempre back to I
Like It real quick, I like dollars, I like diamonds.
Take it, bitch, I like the balanceiag of the ones
that look like fuck Thaney. He skipped like three lines,
but I'll take it. By twenty eighteen, Bad Bunny was
(29:51):
clearly ready for more. Did j Luianne hear this music?
Mambo Kings? They were all creating something out of Bad
Bunny that they could package, market and sell. But at
the end of the day, they just weren't letting him
be him. My Boo already had his style and his SoundCloud,
and hear this music just didn't have the same vision
for him. You're right. They just weren't a line so
(30:12):
Bad Bunny said he's and his timing couldn't have been
any better. That summer, I Like It deropped and Bad
Bunny became a household name. This man was getting hit
with collaborations from every direction. European tour dates stacked up.
His career was finally taking off the way he wanted it.
(30:35):
But then a storm came for his beloved homeland, and
Bad Bunny put everything on pause. On the next episode
of Becoming an Icon, Hurricane Maria, Bad Bunny and his
love for Puerto Rico. Becoming an Icon is presented by
(30:58):
So Noo and I Heearts Michael Kuda podcast Network. Listen
to Becoming an Icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast,
or wherever you get your podcast
Hosts And Creators
Lilliana Vazquez
Joseph Carrillo
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Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!