Like a whole lot of immigrants these days—like a whole lot of Individuals these days—Trevor Noah is mulling life after america. Early on this yr’s Grammys, throughout an interlude between speeches and performances, the ceremony’s host requested Unhealthy Bunny a query: “If issues hold getting worse in America, can I come reside with you in Puerto Rico?”
Unhealthy Bunny grimaced and acknowledged the apparent: Puerto Rico is in America. Noah tried to shush him, saying, “Don’t inform them that.”
This jokey phase set the desk for what turned out to be Unhealthy Bunny’s night time, at a time when the nation is roiling in battle over the character of American id. One week earlier than the 31-year-old singer and rapper Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio will take the stage on the Tremendous Bowl halftime present, he received three trophies, together with the night time’s last prize, Album of the 12 months. He was amongst a raft of stars who spoke out on behalf of immigrants and towards ICE from the stage—however his wins, and his phrases, met the second in a novel manner. He’s turn out to be a political flashpoint due to the place he comes from and what language he speaks, and he’s not pretending in any other case.
His first win of the night time was for Finest Música Urbana Album—a class established in 2022 to rejoice the ascendent pressure of Spanish-language standard music of which Unhealthy Bunny is the undisputed king. The award was introduced by the Cuban-Dominican-American Saturday Evening Stay actor Marcello Hernández and the Colombian pop star Karol G, who riffed in regards to the Spanish-language music their mother and father performed round the home once they have been children. The nominees on this yr’s Música Urbana class, Hernández mentioned, are the musicians he himself will some day mess around the home for his personal children.
“Earlier than I say due to God, I am gonna say, ‘ICE out,”” Unhealthy Bunny mentioned throughout his speech for this award. “We’re not savage. We’re not animals. We’re not aliens. We’re people, and we’re Individuals.” The phrases he used echoed ones that Donald Trump and his followers have used to explain immigrants over the previous yr. Unhealthy Bunny underplayed his anger, talking with quiet depth, and ended with a name to keep away from hatred and to battle again with love.
The phrase he had used, “ICE Out,” was inscribed on pins sported by quite a few artists on the Grammys. The 26-year-old British singer Olivia Dean, accepting the award for Finest New Artist, started her speech by mentioning that she is a granddaughter of an immigrant. She added, “I’m a product of bravery, and I feel these folks should be celebrated.” When Billie Eilish received the award for Music of the 12 months, she mentioned, “Nobody is prohibited on stolen land”—a typical slogan at anti-ICE protests.
That Unhealthy Bunny received Album of the 12 months wasn’t an enormous shock: His 2025 album, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, is a business smash and a essential darling that earned him his fourth yr of being probably the most streamed artist on the earth. What’s extra, that is the primary yr during which all of the members of the voting physique for the Latin Grammys have been invited to vote in the principle Grammys. Even so, Unhealthy Bunny didn’t appear to be he took the victory with no consideration. When the singer Harry Kinds, presenting the night time’s massive award, learn out Unhealthy Bunny’s identify, the rapper seemed down and coated his face together with his hand. All night, he’d seemed slick and dapper in a tuxedo with corset-like stitching on the again. Now, the room was cheering, however Unhealthy Bunny was silent and tearing up.
The speech he gave was primarily in Spanish. This additionally was no shock, on condition that Unhealthy Bunny solely ever performs in his native language. Nevertheless it was additionally a reminder of the historic nature of his win: DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS is the primary Album of the 12 months sung fully in Spanish. “I need to dedicate this award to all of the folks that needed to depart their homeland, their nation, to observe their desires,” he mentioned within the speech’s transient English portion. Then, in Spanish, he devoted his win to all Latinos and the artists who deserved to be on the stage earlier than him.
Many MAGA-aligned voices have complained about Unhealthy Bunny’s Tremendous Bowl reserving by insinuating him as un-American, divisive, and a software of the left’s agenda. To them, his Grammys win will probably simply be taken as one other offense. However the ceremony ended up being a reminder of how facile most of these complaints are. Spanish audio system and immigrants are already embedded in American life, tradition, and music. To reject that actuality is to reject somebody like Unhealthy Bunny, who’s, by any definition, an American success story.
