The Classist History Behind Bad Bunny's 'Bichiyal'
When Bad Bunny released YHLQMDLG, he coined a new term: "bichiyal." It fuses two Puerto Rican slang words—"bicha" and "yal"—and illustrates reggaeton's complicated relationship with class and women.
When Bad Bunny released his sophomore album YHLQMDLG (an acronym for Yo Hago Lo Que Me Da La Gana, or I Do Whatever I Want) on February 29, he also introduced a new word into the world: bichiyal. It's the title of one of the album's songs—a nostalgic love letter to the old school perreo of the '90s and early 2000s—featuring the veteran reggaetonero Yaviah.
"What does 'bichiyal' mean?" a Colombian co-worker asked a few days after the album dropped. As a Puerto Rican, I hadn't thought twice about the newly minted term, because it's a mashup of two popular slang words in Puerto Rico: "bicha" and "yal."
In the context of the song, a "bichiyal" is a woman who exists between two worlds: the privileged life of Puerto Rico's upper-middle class and
