Piquete is popular Puerto Rican slang for "swagger", "style", or a unique and confident flair. It's that special something that makes a person stand out.
In "NUEVAYoL", Bad Bunny uses it as a term of mutual admiration, singing, "Tú tienes piquete, mami, yo también" (You've got swagger, baby, me too). It's a cool, essential word to know if you're a fan of reggaeton, as it captures the confident energy of the genre.
Bad Bunny is throwing a party for New York City, specifically for the Puerto Rican and Dominican communities there. The whole song is an invitation: "Si te quieres divertir con encanto y con primor / Sólo tienes que vivir un verano en Nueva York" (If you want to have fun with charm and grace / You just have to live a summer in New York). He shouts out the Bronx and Washington Heights, painting a picture of a Fourth of July party with his drunk cousin and shots of rum at a friend's house. It feels like a real summer block party where, as he says, "PR se siente cerquita" (Puerto Rico feels close).
Amidst the party, Bad Bunny takes a moment to remind everyone who's in charge. He compares himself to legends like salsa musician Willie Colón and rapper Big Pun, and boasts he's "Vendiendo discos como cuadros de Frida Kahlo" (Selling records like Frida Kahlo's paintings). He even asks, "¿Cómo Bad Bunny va a ser rey del pop?" (How is Bad Bunny going to be the king of pop?), and then answers his own question: "Con reguetón y dembow". The song then shifts to the dance floor, where he's flirting with someone who has as much style as he does. "Tú tienes piquete, mami, yo también" (You've got style, mommy, me too), he says, before telling her to dance.
Bad Bunny was bagging groceries at a supermarket in Vega Baja and studying audiovisual communication at the University of Puerto Rico's Arecibo campus when the tracks he was uploading to SoundCloud between shifts reached DJ Luian, who signed him to Hear This Music in 2016. He was born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio in Bayamón in 1994 and grew up in the Almirante Sur barrio of Vega Baja.
The breakout was "Diles" in 2016, then "Soy Peor" that December, and by 2018 he was on Cardi B's "I Like It", a number one on the Hot 100. His albums run from X 100pre and YHLQMDLG through Un Verano Sin Ti, the year end number one on the Billboard 200 in 2022, to Debí Tirar Más Fotos, which in February 2026 became the first all Spanish language album to win the Grammy for Album of the Year. He also has "Callaíta", "Dakiti" and "Tití Me Preguntó" behind him, a summer 2025 residency at the Coliseo José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, and a WrestleMania tag team match in 2021 that he and Damian Priest won.