What did Bad Bunny say about J Balvin? Thunder Y Lightning lyrics controversy explored as latter responds

Bad Bunny released his latest album, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana, on October 13, 2023. Since its release the album has generated wild reactions with fans claiming that the singer has cast shade at a fan whose phone Bunny threw away in January 2023. However, that's not all. The album is facing another controversy with its song Thunder y Lighting allegedly casting shade at Columbian singer J Balvin.

Made in collaboration with Eladio Carrion, the track features the following lyrics allegedly about J Balvin:

"You guys have seen me with the same people while you all are friends with the whole world like Balvin."

The Columbian singer has since responded to the lyrics in an Instagram Live video, which is currently unavailable, but did go viral when it was Live. He expressed confusion at the lyrics of the new song released by his longtime friend and collaborator.

Noted that Bad Bunny was an excellent artist, J Balvin said that the person he knew is a "great person." He added that the two supported each other mutually and created history as well as a "new story within music."

“I don’t understand what was going through his head but well, the guy I know is a good person,” he added during the Live.

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Why is Bad Bunny allegedly throwing shade at J Balvin?

J Balvin is known for his commercially oriented public-pleasing approach to music and art, and Bad Bunny seems to be criticizing the same through the lyrics of his new song.

The lyrics come after Balvin called for the boycott of the Latin Grammys on Twitter, due to what he termed was the lack of urban representation in the awards. However, the tweet has since been deleted.

It is worth noting that Bad Bunny's friend and fellow Peurto Rican rapper Residente has also thrown shade at Balvin's approach to the Awards. In a now-deleted video, Residente compared it to a hot dog cart being offended because it didn't "earn a Michelin star" before calling Balvin's music "a hotdog cart."

"You’re telling urban artists to boycott the awards and not celebrate the artistic life of Ruben Blades, cabrón, a man who marked the history of Latin music. It’s as if a hot dog cart got offended because he couldn’t earn a Michelin star […] your music is like a hotdog cart," Residente said in the video.

However, that isn't all as Balvin also known for his racism and gender bias which was quite evident in the video of his 2021 single Perra. The video showed BIPOC persons including Dominican rapper Tokishca as animals, dogs to be specific, who are fed in bowls and kept on leashes. The video was taken down after it received a lot of backlash.

On the other hand, Bad Bunny has been quite vocal about gender bias and even dedicated his Top Win at the 2020 Billboard Awards to women. He also spoke out in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement following the brutal murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis in 2020.

In an exclusive statement to Time Magazine, he apologized for his silence before stating that he couldn't believe incidents like these were still happening.

"Maybe it’s because I’ve always seen people’s hearts and, in my house, I was always taught that we are all the same regardless of race, religion and surname; that we are all brothers/sisters," he went on to say.

The singer continued:

"I SWEAR I don’t feel well, and I don’t think I can express myself properly,I swear it hurts! It hurts to know that people are still being killed because of the color of their skin. LIVING IN A WORLD LIKE THIS, NONE OF US CAN BREATHE!"

While Balvin and Bad Bunny have collaborated previously, Balvin's recent actions are contradictory to Bunny's socio-political activism in his music and outside of it. Some fans believe that this might be the reason for the apparent shade at Balvin in his new album.

However, it is worth noting that the singer has yet to make a statement about the alleged shade he threw at Balvin.