Bad Bunny’s DTMF: Memory, Resilience, and Honoring Loss in Latinx Communities
By Dr. Solimar Santiago-Warner, LCSW, PMH-C, Birth Trauma, Infertility & Reproductive Loss Therapist in NY & CT
When Bad Bunny released his latest album DeBÍ Tirar Más Fotos (DTMF), translated as I Should Have Taken More Photos, he gave us more than music—he gave us a meditation on memory, belonging, and the bittersweet ways we hold on to what we’ve lost. At Solmaterna, where we walk alongside families navigating grief, reproductive trauma, and identity transitions, DTMF resonates as a cultural touchstone for how art can help us cope, heal, and honor our stories during Latinx Heritage Month.
The Album as a Love Letter and Lament
The title itself, I Should Have Taken More Photos, speaks to regret and longing—universal emotions anyone who has experienced loss understands. Whether it is the loss of a loved one, the loss of pregnancy, or the loss of a dream for the future, the ache of “I wish I had more to hold onto” echoes loudly.
Musically, Bad Bunny fuses reggaetón and trap with salsa, plena, bomba, jíbaro, and house. This blending of ancestral Puerto Rican sounds with contemporary beats becomes a symbolic act of holding the past and present together—a reminder that our roots carry us even in times of rupture.
Songs of Strength, Joy, Sorrow, and Resilience
“DTMF” (title track): A confession of nostalgia and missed opportunities to capture memories, balanced with gratitude for what was lived.
“Baile Inolvidable” (Unforgettable Dance): A track that pulses with joy, urging us to celebrate life and community through dance while acknowledging the ache of love that cannot be relived.
“Turista” and others: Songs that critique displacement, gentrification, and cultural erasure—reminding us that sorrow is not only personal but collective, shaped by systems and histories.
Each song becomes both personal diary and cultural archive, offering listeners a way to feel, to grieve, and to resist forgetting.
Coping with Loss and Trauma Through Music
Music is more than entertainment—it’s a coping strategy. With DTMF, Bad Bunny reminds us that:
Memories are resistance. Photos, songs, and rituals help us preserve what was lost and carry it forward.
Community is medicine. Singing, dancing, and listening together provide connection when grief isolates us.
Sadness has a place. In Latinx traditions, joy and sorrow often coexist—celebrating while mourning, laughing while crying. This duality is part of resilience.
For those experiencing reproductive loss—miscarriage, stillbirth, infertility, or pregnancy termination—the regret of “not enough time, not enough memories” can be devastating. DTMF names that longing, even if indirectly, creating a soundtrack for grief that is unspoken yet deeply felt.
Latinx Cultural Values as Healing
Bad Bunny’s album reflects core Latinx values that are essential in grief work:
Familia and elders: Honoring abuelos, parents, and ancestors reminds us we are never alone in our struggles.
Resistencia: Naming injustices, from colonial exploitation to gentrification, mirrors how families resist silence around reproductive loss and trauma.
Alegría as survival: Joy is not denial; it is a way to keep moving through grief, to celebrate life even when mourning.
Honoring Latinx Heritage Month
Latinx Heritage Month is a time to celebrate our histories, but also to hold space for our pain. DTMF is both a love letter to Puerto Rico and a lament for what has been lost—whether homes, traditions, or future generations.
For Latinx families experiencing reproductive loss, the album’s themes of memory and belonging are a reminder that grief is part of our heritage too. To honor our culture is also to honor the children who never came to be, the pregnancies that ended too soon, the dreams that still linger.
How We Can Carry This Forward
At Solmaterna, we invite you to use music as part of your healing:
Create a playlist of DTMF tracks that bring you comfort or help you release emotion.
Ritualize memory: light a candle, write a letter, or look at old photos while listening.
Share with community: invite friends, family, or peers to join in conversation about what the music stirs up.
Honor your heritage: learn about the traditional sounds in DTMF—plena, bomba, salsa—as reminders of cultural continuity.
Closing Reflection
Bad Bunny’s DTMF is more than an album—it’s a mirror. It reflects the joy of dancing, the sorrow of loss, the resilience of culture, and the strength of community. For Latinx families grieving reproductive loss, it offers a language of music when words fall short. And in this Latinx Heritage Month, it reminds us that remembering—whether through photos, songs, or stories—is itself an act of love.
#NYCTherapist #PerinatalLossSupport #SolmaternaHealing #BirthTraumaTherapist #LatinxTherapy #DTMF #LatinxHeritageMonth
