If you’ve ever felt a song hit you right in the chest like it understood exactly what you were going through then you’ll understand why people are falling in love with Chuwi. The indie band from Isabela, Puerto Rico, isn’t just making music; they’re telling stories. About migration. About gentrification. About joy and heartbreak. About what it means to stay, to leave, to remember where you’re from.
At its core, Chuwi is a family: siblings Lorén, Willy, and Wester Aldarondo, and their lifelong friend Adrián López. They started playing together just a few years ago, but their chemistry and their mission feel like they’ve been building to this moment for decades.
“We write about what weighs on us,” said Lorén in a recent interview. “Music is how we make sense of everything—what we’re proud of, what makes us angry, what breaks our hearts.”
A Sound That Feels Like Home
Chuwi’s sound is hard to box in. It’s got touches of Latin jazz, indie rock, soft reggaetón, and even tropical folk. It feels like sipping coffee on your grandma’s porch while someone blasts Bad Bunny down the block. It’s intimate and raw—but still full of rhythm.
Their music feels especially personal to young Puerto Ricans, who hear their own experiences reflected back in lyrics like the opening of “Tierra”:
The love of my life left for New York, my mom followed my aunt, to Florida they went … the plane landed, and no one clapped.
Lines like that don’t just make people feel seen they make them cry. Because for many Boricuas, especially after Hurricane María and the rise of Act 60 gentrification, this story is all too familiar: people leaving, homes disappearing, and an island changing too fast.
Then Came Bad Bunny
Everything changed when Chuwi landed a surprise collaboration with Bad Bunny on his 2025 album Debí Tirar Más Fotos. Their song “WELTiTA” exploded overnight, they went from a band you found through a friend of a friend to over 10 million monthly Spotify listeners.
And it’s not just numbers. It’s energy.
What made that moment so beautiful was how authentic it felt. Chuwi didn’t change for the spotlight the world just finally tuned in.
Beyond the Stage
Even as their popularity grows, Chuwi keeps showing up for their community. At Garnier Green Fest in Puerto Rico, they performed with a purpose: promoting sustainability and protecting the island’s coastline. Willy said it best: “This is important to us. We don’t just want to make noise we want to use our voice.”
They’ve also been vocal about the pressures Puerto Rican youth face especially those caught between wanting to stay on the island and needing to leave to survive. That tension is everywhere in their music. And it’s why so many fans say listening to Chuwi feels like therapy.
The Future Feels Personal
Right now, the band is working on their debut album, and according to Willy, it’s
a little chaotic, but in a good way.
Which makes sense Chuwi isn’t here to be perfect. They’re here to be real.
They’re still based in Puerto Rico, still juggling day jobs, still figuring it outbut that’s what makes their rise so beautiful. They’re not polished industry products. They’re us. Just with instruments and a whole lot of feeling. And maybe that’s why people are holding onto Chuwi so tightly. Because they remind us that music can be protest. That softness can be power. That our stories deserve to be heard even in a world that tries to silence small islands.
Chuwi is Puerto Rico; loud, tender, and impossible to ignore.