Which celebrity will we see in Bad Bunny’s casita? That question has been asked ever since it was announced that the DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOTos tour would stop in Spain. Anyone with an internet connection knows that the casita — a replica of a traditional Puerto Rican home, one of the live-stage settings designed by Mayna Magruder Oriz — is usually full of familiar faces. Influencers, athletes, actresses, and other public figures parade in and around the residence, which holds about 30 people (the roof supports 20) and contains sofas, a kitchen converted into a bar, screens showing what’s happening at the concert, and artworks by artists such as Lorenzo Omar and Alexis Díaz.

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LeAna López’s hips cue the musician, who, in a direct and improvised exchange, mirrors her movements on the primo, the lead drum of Puerto Rican bomba. The rhythm — born on Puerto Rico’s slave plantations in the 17th century — reverberates on this occasion inside a church in East Harlem, the Manhattan neighborhood known as El Barrio. The roar of the barrel drums builds, and, as the music reaches its peak, the scene seems to shift to the northeastern coast of the Caribbean island, to Loíza, the cradle of Afro–Puerto Rican culture. But in an instant, the traffic on Lexington Avenue breaks the spell, serving as a reminder: this is New York.

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Styling:

Lorena Maza @lorenamazastyling

Photography assistant:

Ana Aizersztein @fotosdeana_

Makeup:

Kaiya Carlin @kaiyacarlin

Casting:

Güerxs Casting @guerxs

Studio:

Delicia Studio @deliciastudio_

Production:

The LTC - @the__ltc

At a time when tens of thousands of people flock each night to see Bad Bunny in Madrid and share millions of videos capturing his every move, it feels strange to think that on this very day, exactly 50 years ago, a concert took place that was likely attended by fewer people than those dancing each night in the Puerto Rican star’s casita — and yet may have changed popular music forever.

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A life without imagination is not a life. Without fantasy, without creation, without daydreams or fairy tales. But how are we going to develop our imagination if we do not do so from childhood, playing with our toys, if we are instead dazzled by the bright screens of our phones? Thirty years ago in November 1995, when Toy Story premiered, that question was unthinkable. Today, after three sequels, half a dozen shorts, a handful of mini-shorts, a series and television specials, and with Toy Story 5 about to open in movie theaters, the question is unavoidable.

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BARCELONA, June 11 — Six-sevening crowds and joking about Bad Bunny, AI and football rivalries — 70-year-old Pope Leo XIV has appealed to a younger crowd during his visit to Spain as part of his efforts to revive the Catholic Church.

On popemobile rides, the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics has frequently been seen doing the 6-7 hand gesture — a reference to a meme that has spread widely on social media and is popular with teens.

Along with the masses and institutional events, there have also been multiple meetings with young people where the pope has used more down-to-earth language and spoken about topical issues like mental health.

The pontiff, fluent in Spanish, also held a private meeting with Puerto Rican music superstar Bad Bunny, just after addressing a crowd of 80,000 people at Real Madrid’s famed Bernabeu stadium.

On the plane to Madrid, the pope had joked about facing competition from Bad Bunny who was giving concerts in the Spanish capital at the same time.

“If they are confronted with the question ‘Do you want to go see Bad Bunny or do you want to go to see the pope?’ I think many will see Bad Bunny.

“But I think there will also be a few here to see the pope. And that says something,” he told reporters.

‘Spontaneous moments’ 

“He’s clearly making an effort to reach out to young people,” said US Vatican expert Elise Ann Allen, who has written a biography of the pope.

But she said there were also many “spontaneous moments” — like when the football-mad pope confessed to reporters that he was a supporter of Real Madrid, not Barcelona.

“I think these are just the pope being himself,” she said.

On the flight from Madrid to Barcelona, the pope rode part of the way in the cockpit — visibly enjoying himself and waving out of the window to a fighter jet accompanying the plane.

He joked with the pilots, according to video released by the Spanish carrier, Iberia.

When one of the pilots told him he was a fan of Real Madrid, whose players wear white shirts, the pope responded: “I’m all in white. In Barcelona you have to be careful.”

The pope has spoken about the challenges and opportunities of the digital age for the young and devoted his first encyclical — a sort of papal manifesto — to artificial intelligence.

He joked about AI’s limitations with an anecdote at a lunch in Madrid, where he told guests that he had asked AI before his visit what he should say to Spanish bishops.

“The artificial intelligence told him that ‘Pope Francis would say’... so he stopped it and said: ‘I think there’s another pope’,” Yago de la Cierva, coordinator of the papal visit, told reporters.

“Then the artificial intelligence said, ‘Ah, that’s right, it’s now Pope Leo.’”

In his speech to Spanish bishops, he urged them to “build a new reality through respectful dialogue and the use of new languages” to evangelise, urging them to recognise young people’s “search for meaning”.

‘Listens to young people’ 

“I think this pope listens a lot to young people,” said Alejandra Landae, a 28-year-old Mexican student in Barcelona, as she waited Wednesday near the Sagrada Familia basilica to see Pope Leo XIV.

Jose Maria Romero, a 20-year-old student from Seville who was also waiting nearby, agreed, saying the pope “is trying to unite young people”.

Allen said more and more young people were taking an interest in the Catholic Church.

“There’s something stirring in the waters, and he sees that and he wants to take advantage of it,” she said.

Rafael Ruiz, professor of sociology at the Complutense University of Madrid, told El Pais daily that recent surveys showed a rise of Catholicism among younger Spaniards.

“We do not know whether this is a Catholic resurgence or simply a stabilisation of the secularisation process,” he said.

“What we are seeing more clearly is an increase in the visibility of Catholicism and in the normalisation of Catholicism among young people,” he said.

Around 56 per cent of Spaniards identify as Catholic compared to 90 percent in the 1970s, according to a survey last month by the Centre for Sociological Research, an autonomous government body.

An opinion piece in Spanish daily La Vanguardia said the pope was “making God fashionable”. — AFP

April 23, World Book Day. A morning of brilliant Caribbean sunshine in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, and across the island. Luis Rafael Sánchez, 89, the most important living writer in Puerto Rico, who will turn 90 next November, suggests beginning the conversation — later to continue on the cozy terrace‑balcony of his home — at a discreet and elegant restaurant, where everything seems to pause when the staff catch sight of “Wico,” the affectionate nickname by which the writer is known on the island.

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It’s not a house: it’s a casita. The diminutive of casa — Spanish for “house” — is important. Not because it minimizes or diminishes what it describes, but because it implies affection, intimacy, and family. In the Caribbean, diminutives have the ability to smooth over complex topics.

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In September 2017, just as Abner Román and Karla Ly Quiñones were about to open the doors of Café Comunión in the Santurce neighborhood of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria devastated the island.

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Bad Bunny performs today, June 1, at Metropolitano Stadium. He played on May 30 and 31, and will return on June 2, 3, and so on, for a total of 10 shows. In the entertainment industry, this is known as a musical residency — a series of concerts an artist stages in the same venue over a short period of time. There’s no exact number that defines one, but one of the core ideas behind the concept is impact: the more shows, the better.

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