Bad Bunny’s nostalgic Plena track “DtMF” reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, but another version went viral on social media: a Japanese translation of the song. Content creator Amanda Nolan, who performs online under the name amandumb, uploaded a Japanese cover version of the track on Monday. And she immediately found an audience.
People on various social media platforms enjoyed the translation and how good the Spanish-language song sounds in Japanese. At the time of publishing this article, Nolan’s video has garnered 2.8 million views.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Nolan tells Rolling Stone about her latest viral moment. “It was one of the most heartwarming reactions,” she says. “The amount of support and all the comments in English, Spanish and Japanese from so many different people around the world – it’s so cool.”
Viral success in Japanese
This isn’t Nolan’s first experience with a viral video. A Nashville-based content creator who has been uploading Japanese versions of popular songs online since 2019, her covers of Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” and the city pop classic “Stay with Me” received millions of views.
But her version of Bad Bunny’s “DtMF” falls into a cross-cultural moment the Puerto Rican star finds himself in after his historic and unifying Super Bowl halftime show.
Nolan was among the 128 million viewers who tuned in – and was immediately inspired by the show. “I really loved Bad Bunny’s performance, and I really loved the song,” she says. “‘DtMF’ is so beautiful. I had heard it before, of course, it was everywhere, and it was the song that was playing when he won the Grammy for Album of the Year. I thought: That’s a song I could translate.”
Inspiration after the Super Bowl show
It helped that “DtMF” was originally sung in Spanish rather than English, like most songs Nolan usually covers. “I love doing Spanish translations,” she says. Although she is not fluent in Spanish, the language’s structure and similar vowels make it easier and more accurate to translate into Japanese.
“Doing a Japanese version of an English song is very difficult. I have to condense the theme or completely rephrase it and change it from the original idea to fit the melody,” explains Nolan. However, the melodic Romance language leaves “much more scope,” which allows her to “retain and preserve as much as possible,” she says.
It was particularly important to Nolan that she keep the heartfelt message at the center of “DtMF” intact. “I was really blown away by its meaning…Bad Bunny talks about nostalgia and his culture, I feel like everyone can connect with that,” she says. “I’m half Japanese and half American, so global culture is very important to me, and seeing the love from English, Spanish and some Japanese speakers was very nice,” Nolan adds. “They said, ‘It makes me love the song even more.’
Universal feelings, global impact
Linguistic issues aside, it’s no surprise that Bad Bunny’s “DtMF” has resonated with audiences around the world. The song itself speaks to universal feelings of loss, regret and learning to live in the moment, while the Puerto Rican folk genre Plena gives it the perfect melancholic melody. It’s just another way the proud Boricua continues to elevate his island on the international stage.
While Bad Bunny’s global reach continues to grow exponentially, he is particularly popular with audiences in Asia. The star even delivered a Japanese verse on “Yonaguni” in 2022. Before his Super Bowl performance, Benito reached number one on Apple Music in China.
“There are a lot of people around the world who love me, not just Latinos. You just said I’m number one in China, right?” Bad Bunny said at the Apple Music press conference for the Super Bowl halftime show. Just this week, he also announced his first-ever live performance in Asia with a one-off show in Tokyo as part of Spotify’s “Billions Club Live” series.
Bad Bunny conquers Asia
“Right after the Super Bowl, he was constantly talked about in the news [in Japan]” says Nolan, who is currently in Tokyo visiting family. While she makes it clear that she is not an expert on Bad Bunny and its presence in Japan, she is not surprised by his growing popularity in the country. “Japan has always been open to music that is not in their own language,” she says. “Bad Bunny can easily gain a foothold here and become a pop favorite.”
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