Until recently, Jema Kellum had never danced salsa. She was more into Reba McEntire and line dancing at the local VFW in Dallas, a northwestern exurb of Atlanta. But then something changed. She went on a date to a Latin Party at the restaurant Rosa Negra. “I’m originally from Alabama, where we can line-dance to anything,” says Kellum, a hairstylist at Bloom Hair Salon. “But salsa is freer. You shake your hips more.”
Kellum is part of a wave of salsa fever currently taking over the country, much of it inspired by a single source: Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican singer-rapper-songwriter, and his wildly popular new album, released in January.
DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS (in English, “I Should Have Taken More Photos”), which was recorded entirely in Spanish, reimagines classic salsa with sleek, contemporary production. It spent three weeks atop the Billboard 200 albums chart, then shot back to number one again in May following its release on vinyl; DeBÍ TiRAR now holds the record for the biggest vinyl sales week for a Latin album in the United States. At the same time, the album caught fire on TikTok; viral trends linked to certain tracks have helped to push old-school rhythms into new territory and introduced salsa to a huge swath of Americans…