Conference Agenda

Puerto Rican rap, trap, and reggaeton musician Bad Bunny has a distinct musical style that has helped skyrocket his success in recent years. One significant characteristic that can be heard across his studio recorded albums is a marked, phonated inhalation, colloquially described as a gasp, where the back of the tongue closes on the velum. While most popular music post-production involves the removal of breath, Bad Bunny includes these phonated gasps as structurally significant additives in the studio versions of several songs. hile most timbral analyses concern description, visualization, or perception in music (Spreadborough, 2022; Heidemann, 2016; Duguay 2022; Spreadborough and Anton-Mendez, 2019), Wallmark (2022) discusses the [ae] vocable in Megan Thee Stallion’s raps as being percussive or formally significant. Weinstein (2016) discusses the significance of breath in studio produced music as “pointing to the lingering aura of the musicians who produced them,” highlighting the intentional portrayal of authenticity and humanity through recorded music. In this paper I provide a corpus study that defines and examines the function of phonated gasps across seven of Bad Bunny’s studio albums. Building on Wallmark (2022), I define six functional categories and provide detailed analyses of select musical examples to demonstrate each. Because these gasps do not occur in live performance, I argue that they are structurally significant, intentional accentuations added in post-production that contribute to the listening experience. Drawing from Krims (2000) and Weinstein (2016), I argue that the gasps function as identity markers that indicate authenticity and sincerity. The gasps can function as formal section markers (the start or end of a section), be structural to the phrase (hypermetrically connected), signify a shift in vocal register, emphasize the text, signify an upcoming change in accompaniment texture, or function as percussive rhythmic filler. Across the seven albums, over half of the gasps are used to emphasize text (namely explicit sexual acts, emotions, or national pride). My analyses highlight the intentional use of phonated inhalations as a way of marking authenticity and significant moments in Bad Bunny’s non-live performances.