Bad Bunny DtMF meaning in English: Explaining the lyrics for hit song from 2025 album

With more than 100 million equivalent album sales, 17 Latin Grammys and six Grammys under his belt -- including one for Album of the Year -- Bad Bunny has a claim for the title of  "world's biggest pop star."

The 31-year-old -- real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio -- has drawn plaudits for his rugged voice, ear for production and introspective lyrics. He put all of those tools to use in his 2025 release, "Debí Tirar Más Fotos", a 17-track offering that made Bad Bunny the first Latin artist to pick up an Album of the Year nod.

Bad Bunny's discography is teeming with enchanting tunes. Few have had the staying power of "DtMF", though, a four-minute track that has racked up upwards of 1 billion streams on Spotify since its Jan. 5, 2025 release.

Like many of Bad Bunny's hits, "DtMF" is filled with social and political undertones. Those themes might have not been evident to the English-speaking ear -- at least not at first listen. But rest assured, Bad Bunny's love for his homeland of Puerto Rico is evident throughout the ballad.

With that, here's what you need to know about "DtMF", a ditty that is almost certain to play a starring role during Bad Bunny's Super Bowl 60 halftime show performance.

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Bad Bunny DtMF meaning

"DtMF" is the title track to Bad Bunny's seventh studio album. It's an acronym for "debí tirar más fotos", which translates to "I Should Have Taken More Photos."

The song, like its title suggests, is a nostalgic number, with Bad Bunny expressing regret over failing to take pictures of the people he loves who have since left Puerto Rico. The sentiment is universal. But it's also distinct to Bad Bunny's beloved Puerto Rico, an island increasingly ravaged by tourism.

In the track, Bad Bunny calls upon his people (his "mios") to "never leave", a common refrain among those subjected to colonialism and U.S. imperialism. Formerly a Spanish colony, Puerto Rico was absorbed as a United States "territory" following the U.S. victory in the Spanish-American War in 1898.

Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. But they have no actual representation in the federal government, save for a single non-voting delegate in Congress. The Insular Cases Act of 1901 ruled that Puerto Ricans -- and other inhabitants of U.S. "territories" -- were unable to govern themselves as a result of their status as "alien races" and "savage tribes", according to the ACLU.

Since Puerto Rico's absorption into the U.S. empire, it has become a tax haven for the ultra-wealthy. Masses of Americans from the mainlands are taking to its shores, pushing native Puerto Ricans to the bounds of society.

"Puerto Rico’s pervasive poverty is disproportionate to other U.S. jurisdictions, more than three times as high as that for the United States as a whole, more than twice as high as for the poorest states of the union and higher than all but one other U.S. territory," a 2023 Centro report found.

It's little surprise why other populations subjected to colonialism and U.S. imperialism have embraced the track since its 2025 release.

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Bad Bunny DtMF lyrics in English

[Verse 1]
Another beautiful sunset that I see in San Juan
Enjoying all those things that those who leave miss.
Enjoying those nights, the kind that just don't happen anymore.
That just don't happen anymore
But wanting to go back to the last time
That I looked you in the eyes
And tell you the things I didn't tell you (You look like my crush, haha) And take the pics of you I didn't take (Man, for real, you look really pretty, let me get a pic of you).
Hey, my chest is raw, that was a gut punch
My heart is kicking like crazy.
Tell me, baby, where you at?
So I can pull up on you with RoRo, Julito, Krystal
Roy, Edgar, Seba, Oscar, Darnell and Big Jay, on the Batá
Today we're gonna tear the street up.
And it would be cool if you played my güiro
I see your name and sighs just come out.
I don't know if they're firecrackers or shots.
My white girl, my coke, my kilo.
I'm in PR, chill, but

[Chorus]
I should have taken more photos of when I had you.
I should've given you more kisses and hugs whenever I could.
Hey, I hope my people never move.
And if I get drunk today, well, then they better help me.

[Verse 2]
Hey, today I'm gonna be with my grandpa all day, playing dominoes.
If he asks me if I still think about you, I tell him no
That my time of being so close to you is over.
It's really over, ey
Let 'em fire up the rides, I'm off to Santurce.
Here, they still turn it up.
Check out the babes, damn, mami, how sweet!
Today I want to drink, drink, drink
And talk s— until they kick me out.
I'm really crazy (I'm really crazy), I'm really crazy (I'm really crazy)
Dude, you drive, 'cause I'm so wasted I'm gonna crash even just walking.
I'm really crazy (I'm really crazy), I'm really crazy (I'm really crazy)Let's enjoy ourselves, 'cause you never know if we're running out of time.

[Interlude]
Folks, I f—ing love y'all, I love you.
Thanks for being here, for real.
For me, it's really important that y'all are here.
Each one of you means a lot to me
So, let's get in the picture, come on over!
Everybody get in, the whole crew, come on!
Hit it!

[Verse 3]
Bernie already has his boy, and Jan her girl.
We're not about that flashy life and chains anymore.
We're about the things that are worthwhile.
Hey, for the perreo, the salsa, the bomba, and the plena.
Peep the way mine sounds.

[Outro]
I should've given you more kisses and hugs whenever I could.
I hope my people never move.
And that you send me more nudes.
And if I get drunk today, Beno's gonna have to help me.

What is DtMF about?

"DtMF" is a plena -- a distinct form of music born in the "working class barrios of Ponce, Puerto", according to the Puerto Rican Cultural Center. The songs, like Bad Bunny's, are folkloric in nature, featuring stories that affect the everyman. In the case of "DtMF", Bad Bunny expresses regret over failing to take enough pictures of a past lover. The track is somber and filled with wistfulness, with Bad Bunny not only longing for an embrace with his former flame, but also the land which housed them -- San Juan, the capital city of Puerto Rico.

In the track, the narrator remains in his beloved city, while his former lover has disappeared into the great unknown. In a 2025 piece for Latinitas Magazine, Dr. Albert DeJesús Rivera posits that Puerto Ricans' exodus to the mainland United States is the result "of displacement, imposition, and cultural erasure that arise from decades of colonial policies and the use of the island as a U.S. resort for capitalist agenda." Bad Bunny's assertion that he hopes his people never leave, in that context, is a condemnation of U.S. policy on the island. While Bad Bunny appears to direct his croons towards a former romantic interest, the spirit of the track is eminently political.

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Bad Bunny most popular songs

Here is a look at Bad Bunny's most popular songs. 

*Indicates song is a collaboration with others, and Bad Bunny was featured on the track