Puerto Rico Becomes Viral Hit Thanks to AI-Generated Song

First time in San Juan, mi hijo. Capital of Puerto Rico…

A big corner of the internet has been singing and dancing to those lyrics over the last few weeks, with the red, white and blue of Puerto's flag emoji proudly sprinkled all over captions.

Some are claiming this catchy tune is a new "song of the summer" - it was created by internet personality and comic Bill Stiteler, known as Saxboy Billy, who's said he used AI music platform Suno to transform his lyrics into a song.

Since the original post, the song has had more than million views on TikTok, and celebrities including Mila Kunis, Charlie Puth and Jennifer Love Hewitt have made their own lip sync videos.

So how does it feel when your home has become a viral hit?

"To see the song being played by people who aren't Puerto Rican is amazing. It feels like we're on the map," says Maria Mercedes Grubb, who works as a chef in San Juan.

"Even the sentence about people clapping when the plane lands - that's so Puerto Rico!" she tells the BBC World Service's Outside Source programme.

With lyrics referencing Puerto Rico being a wild place to vacation, a Barack Obama statue and slot machines in the bus station - some are embracing the AI creation, while others are disappointed the earworm hasn't had as much human influence as they expected.

Mercedes Grubb takes a different approach and feels there is an underrated authenticity to the song, saying: "You can tell that there was genuine input about things that matter to the island. He used AI in such a clever way."

Song creator Stiteler, who's originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, told the BBC he's always appreciated Puerto Rican culture, referencing a statue of Puerto Rican baseball player Roberto Clemente in his hometown.

He says when he took his trip to the island "everything clicked".

Door 'opened' to new conversations

Many of the videos people create online to accompany the song show people in sunglasses and summer outfits, as if they're about to book the next flight to the island.

At the heart of the track lies a love letter to Puerto Rico - a small island in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, with a population of around 3.2 million people.

Spanish and English are the official languages of Puerto Rico, which is a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States.

Puerto Rico's culture being on the global stage is something Debbie Perez, who hosts the Boriken podcast, which explores Puerto Rican history, is passionate about.

"I'm glad the song has opened the door to have more nuanced conversations about Puerto Rico," she says.

"We felt like the creator appreciated our culture. He said he would love to collaborate with Puerto Rican artists - we have some amazing people who talk about Puerto Rico's social issues in their music."

When mentioning those social issues, both Perez and Mercedes Grubb bring up Puerto Rican megastar Bad Bunny's impact in raising the profile of their home.

"You cannot talk about Puerto Rico without talking about Bad Bunny. Whether you like his music or not, he's doing so much for the island," says Mercedes Grubb.

She says she could see that impact in her restaurant last summer during the star's unprecedented two-month concert residency in San Juan.

The show was credited with giving a boost to Puerto Rico's tourism, drawing an estimated $200 million into the economy, according to reports..

For many Puerto Ricans, Bad Bunny's music also highlights their daily struggles – and they would love to see more conversation around those struggles in pop culture.

Although Perez thinks the Puerto Rico song is a great expression of love for her homeland, she says it doesn't show Puerto Rico's full story.

"We have to be careful that love for Puerto Rico doesn't become consumption.

"Bad Bunny highlights the history and struggle of Puerto Ricans, people fighting for the land and beaches and environmental protections. We have power outages for example so it's important to further the conversation."

Bad Bunny highlights other issues

Puerto Rico's power outages have been well documented.

After the US territory was devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017, the electricity grid still remains short of needed generating capacity.

On average Puerto Ricans experienced 27 hours of power outages per year between 2021 and 2024, according to some reports.

Bad Bunny's protest song El Apagón has been praised for highlighting the blackouts and unstable electrical grid, with Maria saying it was an important moment for her to see the outages spotlighted during his Super Bowl headline show earlier this year.