Source: Vaughn Ridley / Getty
On Thursday, the music space received what we have all been waiting for: the new Bad Bunny and Drake collaboration, “Mia.”
The two have been hinting at the long-awaited song since the top of 2018 when Bad Bunny first posted an Instagram photo of them smoking hookah together. Fans didn’t know it yet, but they were actually previewing the song. A couple of months later in May, Reggaeton producer DJ Nelson revealed the news that Drake would be singing entirely in Spanish on the track.
For the most part, the song did receive amazing reception from the majority of folks voicing their opinions on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/SheaSerrano/status/1050433179369267200
https://twitter.com/jabladoraaa/status/1050430339309539329
While there were plenty of good reviews, there was also a fair amount of criticism. Some fans compared the reception with that of “Taki Taki,” the new song with Ozuna, Cardi B, DJ Snake and Selena Gomez that came out just a week before. Gomez received a lot of criticism from Latinx folks who insinuated that she only wanted to be involved in Latinx media when it was convenient for her.
https://twitter.com/badliarisgay/status/1050534190276628481
Others just didn’t believe that Drake should have been singing the song, due to his mispronunciation of certain words.
https://twitter.com/melissam796/status/1050797086302724097
But cultural critic Zahira Kelly-Cabrera notes the embedded racism and colorism that occurs in gatekeeping who can participate in reggaeton and perreo music and who cannot. While Drake isn’t Latinx, he is still part of the Black diaspora from which the music genre originates.
https://twitter.com/bad_dominicana/status/1050502330494398465
https://twitter.com/bad_dominicana/status/1050526536766550016
So while many people will have their own opinions on whether or not Drake should continually be participating in Latinx music and Caribbean culture at large, we’re definitely not mad at this track.
