There is famously no bad blood between Bad Bunny and Taylor Swift. In fact, if their respective discographies are any indication, the mega stars may be closer to twin flames than anything else.
This week, Bad Bunny and Swift have become chart competitors as they go head to head on the Billboard 200. Bad Bunny’s new album Debí Tirar Más Fotos has been inescapable since its January 5 release, and was expected to top the chart in its second week of sales. But Swift’s new reissue of the limited-edition vinyl exclusive Lover (Live From Paris) has threatened Benito’s chart-topping effort. Now, the two titans are vying for Number One.
Some fans might not be thrilled at Swift’s six-year-old live set beating out Bad Bunny’s new LP, but other fans online have taken the opportunity to draw parallels between Bad Bunny and Swift’s discography, mainly they’re mirroring song titles and lyrics.
Song Titles
Bad Bunny and Swift’s discographies are each definitively distinct. While the Puerto Rican artist makes innovative reggaeton while also experimenting with Puerto Rican folk traditions, Swift has created a career from her wide-ranging pop music that includes singer-songwriter acoustic offerings to dance-ready Top 40 and everywhere in between. She’s gone everywhere — except Latin pop. Bad Bunny and Swift don’t even employ the same language in their songs, yet both musicians strangely share the same song titles across different tracks, as eagle-eyed fans online have out.
One user posted a picture of their music queue featuring Swift’s “Welcome to New York (Taylor’s Version)” sitting right next to Bad Bunny’s new song “Nuevayol” with the caption, “mis dos personalidades,” which translates to “my two personalities.” Another user responded to that post with a screenshot from Benito’s own Instagram story, which showed a picture of the pair meeting at the 2023 Grammys with two Spotify songs on top: the Latin star’s “Agosto” from 2022’s Un Verano Sin Ti and Swift’s “August” from 2020’s folklore. In a Matryoshka doll series of tweets, another user responded by writing, “Has anyone ever seen Bad Bunny and Taylor Swift together in the same room?” above a screenshot of Swift’s 2024 deep cut “The Black Dog” next to Bad Bunny’s 2023 track “Perro Negro.”
There are more parallels: There’s “Mia” featuring Drake (who once had close ties with Swift), from Bad Bunny’s first album X100Pre, and Swift’s “Mine” from her 2010 LP Speak Now; “La Cancion,” Bad Bunny’s hit with J Balvin and “Our Song,” Swift’s first radio hit; “Ojitos Lindos,” another off the Latin star’s Un Verano Sin Ti and “Beautiful Eyes,” a deep cut from Swift’s Walmart exclusive EP; and finally, Bad Bunny’s title track “Un Verano Sin Ti,” which directly translates to “a summer without you” and holds similar sentiments to Swift’s scorching hit “Cruel Summer.”
Lyrical Parallels
Fans have pointed out that the similarities between Bad Bunny and Swift extend into lyrics, too. One X user wrote, “The parallels between Bad Bunny and Taylor Swift will always be my favorite thing in the world,” above a screenshot of lyrics from Benito’s new track “Bokete” and Swift’s iconic break-up anthem “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version).”
In “Bokete,” Bad Bunny warns an ex that she will grow old and regret, “De que lo más real que has tenido en tu vida lo dejaste ir” (“Letting the realest thing you’ve ever had in your life slip away”). Swift scorches an ex on the 2012 classic with similar lyrics: “Back before you lost the one real thing you’ve ever known.” They’re not exactly reinventing the wheel here, but they’ve clearly tapped into the same creative force. If you think about it, the parallels aren’t that surprising coming from two people who are poets at heart with a penchant for translating emotions into irresistible, genre-defying music.
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