Album Review
The Puerto Rican quartet, known for collaborating with and opening for Bad Bunny, tackle colonialism, survival, and resistance on their new LP
Two years ago, the Puerto Rican quartet Chuwi, made up of siblings Wester, Lorén, and Willy Aldarondo and their family friend Adrián Lopez, were a young indie band. They had two EPs under their belt and a small but devoted following on the island. Then Bad Bunny thrust them into the international spotlight by giving the band a feature, “Weltita,” on his blockbuster album Debi Tirar Más Fotos. In the months that followed, Chuwi performed at every show during Bad Bunny’s residency in Puerto Rico, recorded an NPR Tiny Desk concert, served as Bad Bunny’s opening act on the highest-grossing music tour of 2026, and found themselves on countless industry lists of up-and-coming bands to watch. Now, after a whirlwind ascent, the band is releasing their first full-length project, Libertad.
Chuwi’s music has captured audiences with their futuristic Caribbean-fusion sound. For their debut full-length album, the easiest path would have been to lean into the beachy, playful vibes of “Weltita.” But Libertad underscores that there is far too much at stake in Puerto Rico at this moment for the band to operate from a place of complacency. The album, produced by Wester and Willy, is intensely political, focused on the struggles of Puerto Ricans under U.S. colonial rule. In a departure from their previous work, the sonic landscape of the album is often dark and foreboding, matching the urgency of the political lyrics. But one of the most striking features of Libertad is that even its most intense tracks feature catchy melodies and irresistible grooves.
The opening tracks of the album, including the previously released singles “Plei” and “Falta Algo,” begin light and breezy but get progressively more complex in sound and theme, as the songs describe the struggle for survival faced by Puerto Ricans, including gentrification, forced migration, water and power shortages, and escalating austerity measures imposed by the U.S.
By “Bashiata,” Chuwi’s anger and anxiety is boiling over. Set to a downtempo bachata, the track features Lorén’s penetrating vocals filled with anguish at the impossible cycle of working endlessly to make ends meet. Sonically, Wester and Willy’s production incorporates distorted instrument samples that create the feeling of a haunted video game where players are on a perilous journey. But this journey is bringing them to the breaking point that pushes them into action.
Editor’s picks
In the second half of the album Libertad blossoms into a masterpiece, with its sonic intensity and searing political messages balanced by playful production. The tracks “Ay Mio,” “Cuco” and “Libertad,” in particular, are exceptional showcases of Chuwi’s ability to blend serious political lyrics with eclectic sounds. Inspired by the Cuban genres of pilón and timba, the funky “Ay Mio” rebels against the debt crisis in Puerto Rico that escalated when the members of the band were just children. This heavy content is balanced by a captivating hook that twists a popular children’s game in Puerto Rico called “1, 2, 3, Pescao.”
Trending Stories
Grounded in a charging rhythm blending Afro-Cuban abakuá and palo mayombe rhythms, “Cuco” (a boogeyman in Puerto Rican folklore) recounts the U.S. surveillance and assassination of many of Puerto Rico’s independence activists and leaders, including a member of the band’s family. The song was inspired by graffiti the band members saw as children that said “Cuco FBI.” The track weaves together experiences of colonialism, trauma, and resistance, with the innocence of childhood as a backdrop. The spiritual heart of the album is the title track “Libertad,” which builds on a slow and nostalgic cha-cha rhythm, evoking a Fifties Latin night club, and showcases Lorén’s intoxicating vocals as she describes a dream of a truly free Puerto Rico. The song grows in volume and in hope until it is shockingly interrupted by an ending that references the Jayuya Uprising of 1950, in which U.S. military planes bombed the Puerto Rican town of Jayuya to suppress growing nationalist sentiment.
Libertad highlights that, in the face of suffocating and delimiting colonialism, Puerto Ricans have always fought for a better future. It announces Chuwi’s emergence as a powerful voice in that fight and one of the most important and exciting bands in Latin music today.