A phrase worth $40M: Bad Bunny’s ex-girlfriend sues over voice recording used in songs

Bad Bunny’s ex-girlfriend is trying to get her due in a recent lawsuit filed against the Latin superstar.

Carliz De La Cruz Hernández claims in a lawsuit filed in Puerto Rico this month that the “Neverita” and “Títí Me Preguntó” hitmaker has been using her voice without her consent, the Associated Press reported Monday.

At the center of the suit is a breathy recording of a woman saying, “Bad Bunny, baby,” which has been featured in two of Bad Bunny’s songs. De La Cruz is seeking $40 million in damages.

A representative for Bad Bunny did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment Tuesday.

Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, features the “Bad Bunny, baby” recording at the beginning of both 2017’s “Pa Ti” and 2022’s “Dos Mil 16.” Respectively, videos for those songs boast at least 355 million and 60 million views on YouTube.

De La Cruz claims that she created and provided the recording before the singer became famous. The lawsuit states that the singer and De La Cruz began dating in 2011 and he would consult his then-girlfriend about his music.

According to the suit, the “Bad Bunny, baby” phrase originated in 2015 and the pop star asked Hernández to record herself saying the phrase and send it to him.

They broke up in 2016, got together briefly in 2017 and went separate ways shortly after, the Associated Press reported.

In 2022, a representative for Bad Bunny contacted Hernández, allegedly offering her $2,000 to buy the “Bad Bunny, baby” recording, the suit says. She declined.

The suit also claims a representative for Bad Bunny’s music label Rimas Entertainment spoke with Hernández and also offered to buy the recording, noting that it would be used in the 2022 album “Un Verano Sin Ti.” A deal was not reached, AP reported.

The lawsuit comes more than a month after Bad Bunny won the música urbana album award at the 65th Grammys for “Un Verano Sin Ti.”