New York City and Puerto Rico are 1,600 miles apart, but the physical distance means little. For decades, waves of migration have woven Puerto Rican culture into neighborhoods like the Bronx, East Harlem, and Bushwick, creating a bridge that spans far beyond geography. In more recent years, that current has been shifting. As gentrification and economic pressures reshape both places, a new generation of Puerto Rican artists has been choosing to return to the island, determined to build something sustainable for their community. While Bad Bunny's recent activism against overdevelopment has brought global attention to these issues, artists like Buscabulla’s Raquel Berríos and Luis Alfredo Del Valle have been part of this movement for years, creating music that captures the beauty and complexity of coming home.
Buscabulla formed in 2011, when Berríos and Del Valle met while living in NYC, each chasing their own version of the American dream. Their personal and creative lives quickly became intertwined as they fell in love amid the band’s conception. The relationship and their career evolved in tandem, as they solidified their reputation in Brooklyn's indie scene, wed, and had a daughter in 2014. That same year, they released their self-titled EP, produced by Blood Orange's Dev Hynes, which introduced their dreamy fusion of electronic production and Caribbean influences. Three years later, the duo followed up with EP II, featuring Helado Negro, further establishing the duo as one that embraced a diverse range of musical influences.
Bad Bunny and the Strong Pull of Home
Despite their growing success, they'd both been feeling an increasingly strong pull of home. In 2018, in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, Berríos and Del Valle decided to return to the island, settling in the coastal town of Aguadilla. "Our love for Puerto Rico hasn't changed since moving back, it's still where we want to be, and it's deeply tied to who we are," Berríos reflects. "But after living abroad for almost a decade, there was definitely an idealized view of the island that shifted once we were back and living in it day to day."The move undeniably shaped their full-length debut, Regresa. Released in 2020, the album, whose title translates from the Spanish as "Return," chronicled their bittersweet journey. The album explored displacement and resilience as Berríos' textured vocals floated over Del Valle's production, which seamlessly blended synth-pop with traditional Caribbean rhythms. Despite its release at the outset of a global pandemic, Regresa gradually attracted attention, peaking in 2022 when Bad Bunny tapped Buscabulla for "Andrea," a standout track on his record-breaking Un Verano Sin Ti.
"Collaborating on 'Andrea' was a huge milestone for us," Berríos tells New Times. "It brought a lot of exposure, but more importantly, it was a powerful, meaningful song that tackled serious social and gender issues in Puerto Rico. That experience really shifted my perspective and made me want to create music that goes deeper, that's more emotionally and socially complex."
That desire for depth is glaringly apparent in Buscabulla's new album. Se Amaba Así, which translates as "The Way They Loved," represents a turning inward for the duo. "The title track is a song about 'how we learned to love,' both in good and bad ways," Berríos says. "It reflects our interest in writing about more intimate, psychological, and subconscious themes."
The album emerged from a period of profound change. "Since releasing Regresa, so much has happened that we never could have predicted," Berríos elaborates. "From the pandemic to collaborating with Bad Bunny to touring internationally and then losing my father, facing gentrification, and having to move from our home. It's been a chapter full of both highs and deep challenges.""It's been a chapter full of both highs and deep challenges." —Raquel Berríos of Buscabulla
tweet this
Rather than breaking them down, these experiences became raw material for the couple's art. "All of it took a toll: personally, creatively, and in our relationship. But through that, we found a way to turn the pain into music. That emotional alchemy is what gave life to Se Amaba Así."
Miami as Launching Pad
Musically, the album pushes into new territory. "We wanted to explore a sound that was a bit more cinematic, with deeper emotional gravity to reflect the themes of the record," Berríos says. "There's a lot of acoustic guitar, referencing the old boleros, trio music, and even '90s Latin power ballads of our parents' generation, while contrasting that with a modern, more sound-designed approach."The Miami show offers a perfect launching point for this material. "Starting the tour in Miami felt natural for a few reasons," Berríos says. "My mom and sister live there, and it's where we drop off our daughter before hitting the road, so it made sense logistically. But beyond that, Miami is the heart of Latin music in the U.S. It's a place where we feel connected, where our people are."
While their recorded material tends toward the introspective and melancholic, Berríos says live performances allow them to channel those emotions in real time, transforming intimate songs into something transcendent. The duo enhances its shows with dramatic lighting and visuals. For this tour, they're embracing a classic Latino duo aesthetic, a throwback to old-school acts, reimagined for contemporary audiences.
As Puerto Rican artists increasingly choose between displacement and returning home, Buscabulla offers a third path: carrying the island wherever they go while remaining rooted in its soil. When they take the stage at ZeyZey on June 19, they'll bring stories of love, loss, and the complex dance between tradition and innovation that defines not just their music, but a generation's relationship with home.
Buscabulla. 8 p.m. Thursday, June 19, at ZeyZey, 353 NE 61st St., Miami; 305-456-2671; zeyzeymiami.com. Tickets cost $42 via shotgun.live.
