Bad Bunny’s “LA MuDANZA” Video Proves I Still Belong

Opinion for The Latino Newsletter

When Bad Bunny’s “LA MuDANZA“ video opened with old photos of Benito on that terrazzo floor, something stirred in me. 

Dile que esta es mi casa donde nació mi abuelo.

It wasn’t the house my grandfather was born in, but the house was on the land where he was born.

And that house also had terrazzo floors.

The house sits atop a hill in Quebradillas, Puerto Rico. When my grandfather built it on his ancestral land and the ancestral land of my grandmother (they grew up about 1 km away from each other).

The white house with tremendous arches and a slanted facade greeted you as you turned off the 4484. My grandmother was born and grew up on the top of the hill, and my grandfather grew up at the bottom, en la bajura. They moved to the Bronx to raise their children but always planned to return and build their dream home on the land they had purchased piece by piece and eventually merged the two family plots to make my maternal ancestral home.

When they built the house in the early eighties, everything was the newest style. Including terrazzo floors. Aside from las losas criollas, terrazo floors are one of the most prevalent pieces of Puerto Rican architecture.

Going Back

I moved to Puerto Rico in August of 2023. The move turned out to be shorter than I wanted for a couple of reasons. But one of them was, if I’m honest, it wasn't the home I was looking for. I had spent more extended periods of time there before my move and started thinking I could live there. I had always loved it when I visited, and in a post-pandemic world, it seemed more possible than it ever had. So, my partner and I took the leap and moved. 

I was born in the Bronx. When I was four years old, we headed to Colorado. I was only exposed to my Puerto Rican culture in the home. And I am so thankful my parents worked so hard to show me the culture. But I didn’t grow up speaking much Spanish. I do speak some, and I try, and like so many of us, I understand it just fine. So, looking the way I do and not speaking great Spanish was the first mark against me on the island. 

The second was more self-imposed. We lived in Aguadilla, in a neighborhood that was mostly white and facing rapid gentrification. I worked remotely and soon realized I was part of the problem. Despite my intentions, my background, my love of the island, and having grown up visiting, I was still part of the problem, and that didn’t sit well with me. Between that and not feeling “accepted” or “Puerto Rican enough,” I fell into a deep depression.

I didn’t know who I was.

Back home in Colorado, I was Puerto Rican.

But on the island?

What was I? 

The Privatization Push

During my time there, I was aware of what was happening with the attempted privatization of the beaches. We lived near Playuela, Peña Blanca, and I kayaked around La Muelle de Azúcar.

All beautiful beaches.

All featured in Bad Bunny’s LA MuDANZA video.

And all facing illegal development. 

In the year since I’ve been back from Puerto Rico, I’ve grappled a lot with my identity. That Bad Bunny video made me realize that I recognized those symbols because I’ve done the work to try and understand where I was living and what was happening in that place.

I was somewhere in between the white music writers who wrote about the album and described it as a love letter to Puerto Rico without understanding the symbolism behind the music and images and the people on the island experiencing those changes firsthand. 

In some people’s minds, I may not be as Puerto Rican as those who grew up on the island, but I feel it when I see those terrazzo floors, and I recognize those beaches for something more than just pretty scenery.

Someday, because of what Bad Bunny is saying and doing about a free and sovereign Puerto Rico, I hope to find a meaningful way to participate in the independence movement from the diaspora. Since there are more Puerto Ricans off the island than on it, I think that movement only happens with us as well.

And my hope is that we remain proud of being Puerto Rican, whatever our expression of that identity is. 

About the Author

JoAnna Cintron is a nonprofit leader from the Colorado area and of Puerto Rican descent.

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