BAD BUNNY CONQUERED THE WORLD.NOW WHAT?

Backstage, minutes before Bad Bunny’s headlining set at Coa­ chella, everyone seems to be running on pure adrenaline.

- JULYSSA LOPEZ

A group of dancers are climbing a set of stairs toward their marks when a security guard stops a wardrobe designer in their midst and refuses to let him pass. “He’s the designer!” one woman shrieks, her voice crackling with the anxiety of countless things that could go wrong. A gate flings open, and Kylie and Kendall

Jenner pass through the backstage area, leaving me so surprised that I wheel around and almost hit Kylie with my backpack. Nearby, a troop of fans break into sprints, trying to get into a private area just in front of the stage that’s rapidly filling up with celebrities from all over the world. Eventually, the Jenners; Blackpink’s Jennie, Rosé, and Jisoo; Mexican singer Peso Pluma; and Hailey and Justin Bieber all stand there to watch Bad Bunny make history in real time.

The crowd radiates a chaotic, uncontainable energy, understanding that there will be a precise before and after this moment. Bad Bunny is about to become the first Latino solo act and first Spanish­language artist to headline Coachella in the festival’s 30­year history.

Screens flicker. As the audience roars a few decibels louder in anticipation, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio is standing onstage in the dark, a mantra running through his head: Thank you, God, thank you, life, for letting me do this. It’s one of the only private moments he lets himself have during the performance — if he gets sidetracked by any thought, he tends to forget his lyrics, and this event is too big for distractions.

Martínez dives into his set, blasting through hits from Un Verano Sin Ti,