Earlier this month, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny gave a career-defining performance at this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show. Fans eagerly anticipated what he would bring to the stage.
It is safe to say that Bad Bunny has never shied away from putting his culture at the center of his artistry, and this performance was no different.
In the opening, we saw a jíbaro, a traditional Puerto Rican countryman, as he stands in front of a field representing the sugarcane plantations of Puerto Rico, donning a pava hat.
From this symbolic opening, the performance shifted into the fields themselves as rows of workers wearing are shown cutting down sugarcane. Bad Bunny makes his entrance walking between the fields as he begins to sing “Tití Me Preguntó”.
We are introduced to many historical marks of Puerto Rican culture including a coconut vendor, a table of elders playing dominos, a piragua stand, and he even featured a real taco cart from Los Angeles, California, Villa’s Tacos.
The level of detail and care that went into this performance was clear, showing Bad Bunny’s dedication to getting everything just right.
We then open to a wide shot of the casita, which Bad Bunny famously introduced in his Puerto Rico residency. The camera panned across the casita as we see many surprise appearances from celebrities like Jessica Alba, Pedro Pascal, and Karol G.
He also paid homage to reggaeton artists who have come before him, like Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, and Tego Calderon with a medley of their songs as he walked out of the casita. This was an incredibly heartfelt tribute to these artists who laid the groundwork to the genre’s global rise in popularity.
Later in the show, the music slows as we cut to Bad Bunny walking towards the camera to the beginning instrumentals to “MONACO”, and he gives a powerful message to viewers, that if he made it to this moment, it’s because he never gave up on his dreams and never stopped believing in himself.
The camera then pans to a wedding party where guests were dressed in white, which happened to be a real wedding between two Bad Bunny fans. As the couple says I do, the wedding party splits off to reveal Lady Gaga, who gives a salsa version of her song with Bruno Mars, “Die with a Smile”.
A lively performance of “NUEVAYoL” features another nod to Puerto Rican culture by featuring Toñita, a social club owner who is known as an icon to Puerto Ricans living in Brooklyn, New York.
One of the tearjerker moments of the show was the moment he handed off his Grammy to a younger version of himself, and a clip of his acceptance speech played on an old-fashioned television.
We then got another surprise performance, this time from Puerto Rican icon, Ricky Martin, who gave a passionate rendition of “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii”. This was one of the fan favorite performances of the show that had audiences reaching for a tissue while watching.
As he performed “El Apagón”, he stood proud carrying an original Puerto Rican flag on his shoulder as people scaled powerline poles in the background, which was a reference to the ongoing energy crisis in Puerto Rico as a result of the hurricanes.
The performance came to a close with a shower of fireworks in the sky as many of his back-up dancers came running onto the field carrying flags from various Latin American countries including the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Mexico.
One of the most impactful moments came at the end when Bad Bunny led the pack of flag holders, saying “God Bless America,” as he gave a loving shout out to almost every country in the Americas. He focused not only his own culture, but the cultures of so many other Latin American countries who have never known a spotlight quite like this.
This Halftime show was more than a performance, it was his chance to display this vibrant and beautiful culture in a way that made not only other Puerto Ricans like me proud, but the whole Latin community. It’s clear that Bad Bunny did not aim to divide, but to spread love and bring hope to others during a time where it seems lost.
He ended his performance with one final message, “Seguimos aquí,” a common and meaningful phrase among Puerto Ricans that means “We’re still here,” which encapsulates the pride and resilience of the island and its people. As he approached the camera, he held up a football that said, “Together, we are America,” and danced off the field as he sang to “DtMF.”
