Did Alba Flores’ ‘Money Heist’ Character Inspire this Bad Bunny Lyric? - Netflix Tudum
- Bad Bunny: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Latin Recording AcademyWTFHe’s a big fan of Nairobi.Dec. 3, 2021
Before Squid Game came along, Money Heist was the most popular non-English-language original series on Netflix. In fact, the Spanish series is such a sensation that there's an entire documentary about it, Money Heist: The Phenomenon. The series has since developed something of an international cult following: Celebrity fans include Never Have I Ever creator Mindy Kaling, Aladdin star Mena Massoud, and Brazilian soccer star Neymar, who even appeared in a 2019 cameo in the series.
Then, of course, there's rapper Bad Bunny, who pays tribute to his favorite character in the song "Yo Perreo Sola." On the Latin Grammy Award-winning track from his 2020 album YHLQMDLG he sings about wanting "una malcriá como Nairobi," or "a smartass like Nairobi." And it looks like in that one line, Bad Bunny, a noted Money Heist fan, shouts out the character played by Alba Flores: Nairobi, a skilled counterfeiter and key member of the crew that robs the Royal Mint of Spain.
The Puerto Rican rapper has said that "Yo Perreo Sola" is told from the perspective of a woman who just wants to safely dance by herself at the club. "I wrote it from the perspective of a woman," he told Rolling Stone when the video, which features him in drag, was released. "I wanted a woman’s voice to sing it — ‘yo perreo sola’ — because it doesn’t mean the same thing when a man sings it. But I do feel like that woman sometimes."
But that's not his only reference to the show. In "Bronca (Freestyle)," he mentions the title while bragging about his wealth — "Vivo en la Casa de papel, tengo mucha pasta, tío," he raps — and he scored Úrsula Corberó (aka Tokyo) herself as the lead of his music video for the star-studded single "Un Día (One Day)," which he performs alongside J Balvin and Dua Lipa.
While Flores has said that she is thrilled a character she played is in the international cultural zeitgeist in such a big way, there’s just one problem: She’s never actually heard the song. It’s not her type of music, she said in a 2020 interview, and “I have not listened to it.” Perhaps, one day, Bad Bunny will convince her to change her mind.
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