Last Sunday, over a hundred million viewers tuned in to the Super Bowl. Many wondered how Latin rapper and singer Bad Bunny would perform at the highly anticipated halftime show.
Would he speak against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, as he did in his acceptance speech for Album of the Year at the Grammys? Would he play the catchy, nostalgic “DtMF?” Would fellow stars Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin be featured?
He did all of those things, but above all else, his show celebrated origins.
Staying true to both his Puerto Rican and familial heritage, Bad Bunny walked out in an off-white football jersey labeled “OCASIO” in reference to his full name, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio. Mid-set, he paid homage to little Benito, awarding a Grammy to a child actor playing a younger version of himself.
With a model sugar cane field, a partial reconstruction of El Morro, the 16th-century Spanish-built stone fort on the coast of San Juan, a coco frío stand serving piragua (Puerto Rican shaved ice), La Casita, a replica of traditional, colorful homes in Puerto Rico used in his concert residency (and slowly diminishing due to gentrification) and even an actual wedding officiated onstage, the show transcended global and cultural boundaries.
The set placed Bad Bunny’s beloved Puerto Rico at the heart of a worldwide celebration, where salsa, bomba and plena oscillated between and were married with reggaeton and dembow. Bad Bunny invoked a vibrant Latin heritage that continues to thrive across generations, recognizing its utilitarian aspects of farmwork, cane-cutting and grid system maintenance, in communion with the communities that labor supports, as well as the hard-earned joys workers toil to secure.
The performance also included Lady Gaga singing a salsa-inspired version of “Die With a Smile” and Ricky Martin – arguably the originator of modern Latin pop — covering Bad Bunny’s “Lo Que le Pasó a Hawaii.”
Bad Bunny’s latest album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” took the spotlight at halftime – the stage even included the iconic white plastic chairs on the album’s cover. The performers prioritized Latin rhythms and tucked in socio-political commentary with songs like “Lo Que le Pasó a Hawaii,” which suggests a wariness that, just like Hawaii, Puerto Rico’s culture could be diluted by American imperialism. Another politically conscious hit, “El Apagón” (“The Blackout”), includes double-entendres about Puerto Rico’s frequent power failures.
The lead-up to Bad Bunny’s performance was tainted by culture-war controversies. He received much criticism from conservative commentators who questioned why the Super Bowl selected a Spanish-language artist.
In a pre-show conference, Bad Bunny addressed the backlash.
“English is not my first language,” he said. “But it’s okay, it’s not America’s first language either.”
Flying a version of the Puerto Rican flag commonly associated with the territory’s independence movement, Bad Bunny said in English, “God bless America.”
Then he named dozens of countries across the Americas, beginning and concluding with Puerto Rico. Challenging the notion that “America” can only refer to the United States, his list positioned Latin America not as separate from or inferior to North America, but as an integral part of the American story.
At the show’s close, Bad Bunny spiked the football he was carrying, inscribed with the English text “Together, We Are America.”
“Seguimos aquí,” he said — Spanish for “We’re still here.”
The final message that flashed on the big-screen read “The only thing stronger than hate is love.”
