Behind Bad Bunny’s ‘DtMF’: How Plena Came to Define This Culture-Shifting — and Tear-Jerking — Moment

Bad Bunny has done countless memorable things in his career, and high on the list is making the holiday season an event for his fans. He dropped his “X100pre” album on Christmas Day; the “El Ultimo Tour” LP around Thanksgiving; and his sixth studio album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” just ahead of Puerto Rico’s Three Kings Day.

The timing is fitting. On the island, the holiday stretch lasts well into the new year, and the project’s title track, “DtMF,” was born from that festive spirit. Its origins trace back to Bad Bunny’s first parranda navideña in 2024, a night of traditional Christmas caroling he spent with close friends and longtime collaborators, including producer MAG and engineer La Pacienca.

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MAG left that night still humming. “I just kept hearing plena in my head,” he tells Variety. “In the same way Afrobeats is a contemporary take on tradition, I wanted to try that approach with plena.”

Although “Debí” was already considered finished, MAG returned to his archives and pulled up a “melodic idea” — a loop crafted by producer-songwriter Scott Dittrich and created with Tyler Spry and Julia Lewis. The trio had been building drumless samples specifically for MAG to shape into ideas for Bad Bunny’s next album.

The loop was anchored by one distinctive detail: descending digital chords that sounded, Lewis said, “like an old dial phone.” Adds Dittrich, “I usually revisit the ideas we make and add or change things but I remember listening to that one and feeling like it was perfect as is.”

“Once I added a bassline and started imagining the percussion, I sent Benito a two-minute voice note,” MAG recalls. “‘Bro, I know the album’s finished but listen to this.’ I started beatboxing the drums while playing the loop with the bassline in the background. At first, I thought when the synths came in, it would turn into a salsa. There was so much potential there.”

Bad Bunny pushed back: “We’ve put everything we possibly can into this album.” Still, MAG insisted, and once Bad Bunny heard the finished beat, he was convinced.

Rooted in the island’s rich musical traditions, “DtMF” fuses folk rhythms with modern sounds, flourishing with Bad Bunny’s unmistakable reggaeton pulse, and blurring the line between past and present. The single went on to inspire a viral trend where fans shared emotional photo and video montages of loved ones — often those they’ve lost — soundtracked by the single’s poignant message (“I should have taken more photos”).

Since then, the record’s global effect has been undeniable, shaping culture at every level: from historic Grammy nominations and his headlining slot at the Super Bowl Halftime show next year.

“For us, this song and record defined a moment where we missed Puerto Rico — we missed home,” says La Pacienca. “The background vocalists on the song are from a local school… there was no pressure to do anything that didn’t feel good or that didn’t come from this place of love. This was magic from the start, and it’s because it couldn’t have been more homegrown.”

Songwriters: Roberto Jose Rosado Torres (La Pacienca), Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (Bad Bunny), Marco Daniel Borrero (MAG), Tyler Thomas Spry, Benjamin Falik (Julia Lewis), Hugo Rene Sencion Sanabria (Hydra Hitz) and Scott H Dittrich.

Producers: Marco Daniel Borrero (MAG), Tyler Thomas Spry, Scott H. Dittrich, Benjamin Falik (Julia Lewis) and Roberto Jose Rosado Torres (La Paciencia).

Label: Rimas Entertainment LLC.

Hitmakers:

Marco Daniel Borrero (MAG), producer and songwriter 

Roberto Jose Rosado Torres (La Paciencia), producer and songwriter 

Scott H. Dittrich, producer and songwriter

Noah Assad, Bad Bunny’s manager and CEO of Rimas Entertainment