He won album of the year at the Grammys. He’s the most-streamed artist in the world on Spotify. And Sunday, as Bad Bunny takes the stage as the first Spanish-language Super Bowl halftime headliner in history, he offers a perfect lens onto a divided American society.
After saying “ICE out” during his acceptance speech at the Grammy Awards and skipping U.S. venues for his most recent world tour over concerns about the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the world is waiting to see if Bad Bunny will make protest central to his halftime performance.
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio shot to global fame over the past decade for being unapologetically himself: Puerto Rican, emotionally vulnerable in his songwriting, genre-bending in his musical approach. His fanbase spans from Argentina to China to Mozambique. But at a time when the U.S. is deeply polarized – over politics, worldview, and who “belongs” in the country – he’s also become a political lightning rod.
Why We Wrote This
Bad Bunny, the first Spanish-language Super Bowl halftime headliner in history, has made his Puerto Rican roots and values a key part of his artistic identity. He is performing for a deeply polarized America, at the same time Turning Point USA holds a competing show.
President Donald Trump criticized the National Football League’s selection of Bad Bunny, and questioned the artist’s popularity. And in February, Turning Point USA, a conservative organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk, announced an alternative halftime production headlined by Kid Rock, who was big in the early 2000s and blends rock, rap, and country music. The event, which will be streamed on X and YouTube, has been dubbed the “All-American Halftime show.”
“I get to come out and celebrate music, and football, and all the things that America is all based on,” country singer Lee Brice, who will join Kid Rock, told Fox News.
Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and Bad Bunny is a U.S. citizen.
“It insinuates that Bad Bunny isn’t American, which is really just saying he is not white,” says Vanessa Díaz, author of a new book on how Bad Bunny became the global voice of the Puerto Rican resistance.
Meeting the moment
Bad Bunny has incorporated protest into his work for as long as he’s been in the spotlight. But his resistance is often shown in subtle ways. In 2018, he went on Jimmy Fallon’s show and spoke about Puerto Ricans still living without electricity post-Hurricane Maria. He left his tour in 2019 to join protests calling for the resignation of Puerto Rico’s governor. In 2020, Bad Bunny wore a shirt in a televised performance honoring a trans woman who was referred to in dehumanizing ways by Puerto Rican police and media after she was found dead.
Dr. Díaz, an associate professor at Loyola Marymount University, expects Bad Bunny to draw attention to this political moment in the U.S. during his halftime performance, but that doesn’t mean in-your-face anti-ICE slogans. “His call to action may look different, like this idea of everyone dancing,” she says. “Puerto Rican music is steeped in resistance.”
Last year’s Super Bowl halftime show by Kendrick Lamar was also divisive. His 13-minute performance included an appearance by Samuel L. Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam. Many interpreted the show – heavy on Stars and Stripes motifs – as an implicit political statement in opposition to the election of Donald Trump. Conservative influencer Eric Daugherty posted on social media, “Raise your hand if you survived the black nationalist Super Bowl LIX halftime show.”
When the baton was handed to Bad Bunny, it seemed like a safe choice. The star had already appeared at the 2020 halftime show to duet with headliner Shakira.
He’s a “phenomenal choice” says Bob Lefsetz, a music business analyst. “They have gotten someone who is of the moment, who is not coasting on the past, but is peaking right when they book him.”
Alejandro Granadillo/AP/File
Bad Bunny 101
Despite Bad Bunny’s performance being framed as yet another fissure in U.S. society, he’s also shown he can unite people.
“The idea that Bad Bunny is somehow a narrow or divisive choice is just something that’s kind of like denial of reality,” says Simon Vozick-Levinson, deputy music editor at Rolling Stone magazine. “He is a great communicator, he’s an incredible performer,” he says, adding that anyone who isn’t sure “should try listening to his music. They’ll probably find something they can enjoy.”
In his most recent album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, Bad Bunny samples classic salsa music that appeals to older generations, while also working in Latin Trap and reggaeton, and Puerto Rican genres like bomba, which originated in the 16th century.
“It’s music that just makes you want to dance,” says Alejandra Márquez Guajardo, an assistant professor at Michigan State University who uses Bad Bunny’s lyrics and videos to teach a course about gender in Latin America. Dr. Márquez is Mexican, not Puerto Rican, but says the first time she heard his music it made her feel a part of something bigger. It’s “the idea of having pride in who we are,” she says.
He’s also inspired non-Latinos. Last October, he joked on Saturday Night Live that Americans had four months to learn Spanish if they wanted to understand what he was singing at the Super Bowl. It triggered concrete action, with the Wall Street Journal reporting on TikTok trends where fans break down his songs line by line to learn their meaning. He also inspired the language-learning application, Duo Lingo, to offer “Bad Bunny 101” lessons and sparked a Super Bowl telenovela-like advertisement for a lipgloss that somehow helps Melissa McCarthy learn to roll her ‘r’s and trill off Spanish tongue twisters.
In response to fans rushing to learn Spanish before Sunday’s performance, Bad Bunny said in an interview with Apple Music that understanding his lyrics isn’t the most important part of his show.
He encouraged fans to root for their teams, have fun, and dance from their hearts. “They don’t have to learn Spanish,” he said. “It’s better if they learn to dance.”