Bad Bunny - nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana (2023)

One of the first things Bad Bunny fans will notice about nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana is its conspicuous lack of reggaetón. Following the vibey highs of the preceding Un Verano Sin Ti, which included some of the biggest songs he’s ever done within the genre, some might have anticipated more in the vein of “Me Porto Bonito” or “Moscow Mule.” Yet limiting his reggaetón exposure to a mere two tracks here, “PERRO NEGRO” and the closing “UN PREVIEW,” marks one of many deliberate decisions made by the Puerto Rican superstar on his fifth proper album.

If fans haven’t quite figured it out just yet, El Conejo Malo does whatever he wants. (This is, after all, the same artist who named his 2020 album Yo Hago Lo Que Me Da La Gana.) He speaks rather directly to his unwillingness to compromise or change for anyone else on “NO ME QUIERO CASAR,” which compounds its throwback nods so adroitly that one might miss the subtle Yandel sample near the end. More often than not, nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana finds him getting things off his chest, beginning with the unapologetically direct opener “NADIE SABE.” Those who’ve been with Bad Bunny since the days of “Soy Peor” and “Chambea” will welcome this overt return to his bold trapero roots, something that echoes through “MONACO,” “VOU 787,” and the especially cutting “GRACIAS POR NADA.”

Yet there’s more to nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana than some rapper rebound. Far from the beach-based pop that peppered Un Verano Sin Ti, here he embraces more nocturnal styles on the thumping tech-house cut “HIBIKI” and the frenetic Jersey club variant “WHERE SHE GOES.” He even ventures into the Latin drill fray for “THUNDER Y LIGHTNING,” with lyrics that demand a rewind, before indulging in some Voltio y Notch nostalgia with the triumphant “ACHO PR.” Both of those songs, and several others, include some rather stellar vocal guests, but Bad Bunny would rather his listeners experience those features in real time. To borrow a sentiment from the album’s title, nobody knows what tomorrow brings, so we might as well live—and listen—in the moment.