On May 6, Latin rapper Bad Bunny released a surprise album for his fans, titled “Un Verano Sin Ti” (A Summer Without You). In it, he navigates relationship highs and lows, narrating his experiences with love affairs. 

“Un Verano Sin Ti” is a triumph of modern reggaeton music, and with it, Bad Bunny both cements his status as the best Latin-music artist and makes a case for what is his best album yet.

Although the album was a surprise, receiving no promotion until after its release, it quickly became one of the most popular releases of the week, breaking multiple first-week records for an album released on Spotify. It is not hard to see why.

The first impression the listener gets from this album is its length. Spanning 23 songs and 81 minutes, it is Bad Bunny’s longest album  and seems a little intimidating to digest in one sitting. Furthermore, there are no intros, interludes, or outros, making each title down the tracklist a full-length work. He does, though, split the tracklist into two sides: Side A and Side B, which is an artistic, nostalgic touch for an album released on digital streaming platforms only to date.

On “Un Verano Sin Ti,” each song is its own piece. No filler songs are placed to fill up space and time in the tracklist. Even the two most skip-worthy songs, “Un Coco” and “Aguacero,” are still veritably above-average tracks. 

The best song on the album is also its most popular track — the billions-over streamed “Callaita,” featuring creative vocals and showing off Bad Bunny’s impressive lyricism. Another song, “Titi Me Pregunto,” is a great showcase of Bad Bunny’s crossover between Latin trap and reggaeton music. 

The album features production from experienced, certified hitmakers like MAG and La Paciencia, who both helped shape Bad Bunny’s sound. The beats are flowing, a mix of live instruments and computer-generated drum racks, which creates the impression that the listener is at a live concert. 

The production does give rise to the one singular issue with the album, which is the sound — Bad Bunny’s recruitment of his most-trusted producers does make some of the rhythms sound repetitive at times. The use of the dem bow rhythm — so common to reggaeton — can make some of the rhythms sound repetitive and droning, although the different live instruments, sounds and melodies more than make up for this one flaw. 

The features on the album are more than just features — Bad Bunny’s team does an excellent job of scouring the industry for artists that complement his sound, and unexpected collaborations with artists like Chencho Corleone add great depth and variety to the sound. 

Bad Bunny’s past albums have been criticized for their sometimes boilerplate, generic sound. But there is none of that on “Un Verano Sin Ti.” From the production to the vocals to the lyricism, each song is its own work, and there is no filler. It is really a tour de force of modern music.