Whether anticipated or dreaded, the talk leading up to Bad Bunny’s halftime show was undeniably energized. Since announcing he wouldn’t be touring in the U.S. due to fears of ICE at his concerts, his public image has been thrown into the political sphere—a sphere that he is not unfamiliar with. Through music videos and carefully chosen lyrics, the rapper has long championed Puerto Rican identity while raising awareness of the island’s issues rooted in U.S. ownership. With all the buzz about his political standings and speculation regarding what his performance would contain, it’s no surprise that this year’s halftime show became one of the most watched to date, averaging around 128.2 million viewers between 8:15 to 8:30pm. Unsurprising still, it garnered both very positive and very contemptuous reactions. So, what exactly was the messaging behind his show?
The Show Itself
The show opens with a young man dressed as a jíbaro (a traditional Puerto Rican farmer) holding a guitar and saying “Qué rico es ser Latino”—“how wonderful it is to be Latino.” This, in retrospect, sets the tone for the show as a whole, preceding a celebration of not just Puerto Rican culture, but Latin culture as a whole.
However, there is also significance in the clusters of sugar cane surrounding the man. Throughout the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, sugar plantations in the Caribbean were devastating in both their size and impact; over the span of these hundreds of years, thousands of enslaved Africans were brought to the islands to endure backbreaking work for Europe’s profit. Representative of the colonial presence in the Americas at the time, the sugar cane was a major part of the Puerto Rican economy until its decline in popularity, largely due to the abolition of slavery, workers strikes, and mismanagement. In 2000, Puerto Rico closed its final operating sugar cane mills.
This specific foliage seems ever-present as a backdrop for Bad Bunny’s show, as the camera pans up to reveal long lines of dancers dressed as sugar cane workers after the young man yells, “Hoy se bebe,” a playful phrase that roughly translates to “today, we drink.” Accompanied by the opening instrumental of Tití Me Preguntó, Benito’s 2022 dembow hit from Un Verano Sin Ti, these first ten seconds are welcoming despite the darker history conveyed by the imagery. Arguably his most popular song, it makes sense that this is the introductory number, presumably serving to catch the viewer’s attention with a song that many have already heard. For the next minute, it is performed while walking through familiar Latin American scenery — a stand for coco frio, a group of older men playing dominoes, and a piragua stand featuring various Hispanic flags on the flavor bottles.
Following a blunt transition into Yo Perreo Sola, we are immediately met with a slow panorama of various dancers and Latin artists in Bad Bunny’s “casita,” a prop house that has continuously been used on his tour. During shows, the casita is usually filled with VIP guests. This time is no different, with some familiar faces being Cardi B, Pedro Pascal, Karol G, and Young Miko.
Shorter clips of popular reggaeton songs like Safaera, Party, and VOY A LLeVARTE PA PR led up to a seemingly prefilmed clip of Bad Bunny falling through the roof of the casita, into a room of a family watching his halftime show live. Dusting himself off and walking out of the house, a camera leads us through a crowd of young people dancing to Gasolina with the opening beat of EoO. Declaring in Spanish, “you are listening to music from Puerto Rico, the neighborhoods, the caseríos,” the flashing lights of the stands hype up his quick performance of the recent hit from Debí Tirar Más Fotos.
“Good afternoon, California,” he says, following a transition into the introduction to MONACO, played by young violinists. Stating his full name, he continues, “If I am here today at Super Bowl 60, it’s because never, never have I ever stopped believing in myself. You too… you too should believe in yourself. It’s worth more than you think. Believe me.” Finishing off Bad Bunny’s inspirational motif with the first lyric of MONACO, “¿Este es lo que tu quería?”—“Is this what you wanted?”, we pan over to a wedding taking place. After finishing the formalities in Spanish, the couple kisses and walks off to reveal Lady Gaga clad in a blue dress with a bright red flor de maga, Puerto Rico’s national flower, on the right strap. Her outfit, complete with white accents, has the same coloration as the Puerto Rican flag.
Her part of the show is a salsa remake of Die With a Smile, her dramatic 2024 hit with Bruno Mars. The wedding scene continues, with her song transitioning into lyrics from BAILE INoLVIDABLE—“while one is alive, one should love as much as possible.” Complete with coordinated salsa dancers, the scene is alive, with Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga dancing at center stage. Waking up a young child sleeping on a set of chairs, he continues singing his salsa hit, surrounded by the wedding guests and saying “Dance, dance, dance, without fear. Love without fear.”
A shot of the couple kissing distracts from Bad Bunny positioning himself at the edge of the platform, ready to fall off into a crowd of hands at the bottom as the instrumental for NUEVAYoL begins. A coordinated, elegant visual transitions into a more bustling one, akin to the Latin areas of New York City. Dancers celebrate and whirl around in front of conversations being had by a barbershop, a small market setup with a glowing “We accept EBT” sign, and a Caribbean Sport Bar Grill with a Puerto Rican flag containing large “CONEJO” lettering on it (“bunny” in Spanish). The dances that follow in this segment are less coordinated and more full of spontaneous excitement and energy, wrapped in the warmth and color of community. “Puerto Rico feels close,” Bad Bunny sings happily, taking a shot from an older lady at the Caribbean bar.
The trumpets die down and we are suddenly placed in the perspective of a family watching Bad Bunny’s Grammy acceptance speech as the song continues with “The best in the world.. number one, the best in the world, OK? Puerto Rico.” Bad Bunny comes up to give the young boy in the family his Grammy—a young boy many online have speculated to be Liam Conejo Ramos, the five year old detained by ICE in the previous month. However, the child here is just an actor, perhaps representing a young Benito or aspiring young Latin American children as a whole. “Always believe in yourself,” he says, as the beat fades away.
Now, we are presented with a jíbaro strumming a guitar and revealing Ricky Martin, the pop star known for singing Livin’ La Vida Loca. He sings the chorus to LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii, a song on Debí Tirar Más Fotos that highlights Puerto Rico’s resistance against colonialism—“They want to take away my river and the beach / They want my neighborhood and for abuelita to leave / No, don’t let go of the flag or forget the le lo lai / Because I don’t want them to do to you what happened to Hawaii.” He sings passionately into the camera as the show takes on a more political tone, power lines behind him blowing and throwing off the dancers dressed as jíbaros that were on them. The opening drums of El Apagón are played—a song whose name itself (“The Blackout”) alludes to the frail power grids of Puerto Rico that cause frequent blackouts.
“Puerto Rico is great,” Bad Bunny sings, emerging with a Puerto Rican flag—notably, the blue of the flag’s triangle is much lighter than the navy version more popular in the U.S. While the navy triangle widely signifies Puerto Rico as a property of the U.S., the light blue flag is a historical one of resistance against Spanish rule. Recognized as the first national flag, it was the face of a fight for independence and sovereignty.
He lets up holding this flag only to climb on top of the powerline, singing, “Now, everyone wants to be Latino.. but they lack rhythm, drums, and reggaeton,” once he reaches the top. “Welcome to the calentón,” are the last lyrics before the power lines begin sparking again.
After a few seconds pause, he begins singing CAFé CON RON as El Apagón’s electric beat kicks back in. The energy builds with the lyrics, “We’re already in the streets, come out to your balcony,” with all the dancers from previous segments filling in the spaces between the plants. Weaving through the crowd, various flagbearers run to where Bad Bunny is, with Puerto Rico and the U.S. leading the others.
Benito, clutching a football, says “God Bless America,” then asserts that he doesn’t just mean this in the traditional American sense. In fact, the U.S. is mentioned only after he lists various other countries in the continent of America over the final drum beats of CAFé CON RON, building up to: “And my motherland, my homeland: Puerto Rico.” Turning out the football and holding it out to the camera, we can now see that it says “Together, we are America.” “We’re still here,” he says, as the musicians around him hold their instruments up to the sky as he does with the football. The final song of the show is DtMF, played joyously as the dancers and musicians and flagbearers around him jump, singing the lyrics. “I hope my people never move away,” the lyrics sing, surrounded by fireworks setting off in the stands and loud, cheerful trumpets. “Thank you so much,” he says, ending the show.
A Message of Togetherness
While not entirely groundbreaking, a celebration of Latin culture and identity at the biggest annual American sporting event serves as a reminder of the role Latinos have had and will continue to have in shaping the mindsets and culture of the U.S. In the face of pressure from the White House, which previously criticized the choice of Bad Bunny as the halftime performer by saying “all it does is sow hatred,” Bad Bunny delivered an energetic performance whose underlying tone was pointedly one of unity and love. Above all, as he stated at the Grammys and reiterated in his show: the only thing more powerful than hate is love.
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