Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time show arrived carrying more weight than most performances on this stage, because it was a cultural stress test of how the event has actually evolved.
Latin artists have appeared here before, most notably in 2020, when Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, appeared as a guest during Shakira and Jennifer Lopez’s co-headlined half-time show at Super Bowl LIV in Miami.
While that show was, by all measures, a success in terms of audience viewership, and Shakira notably saw her profile surge again in the years that followed, it remained a package of safe Latin pop, working within its established and accessible form of bilingual hits, crossover appeal and familiar spectacle.
This time, for many viewers not familiar with the current cultural zeitgeist, Bad Bunny may have registered as the biggest artist they had never heard of.
And he seized that opportunity with aplomb. This was a large, unapologetic celebration, not only of Puerto Rican culture, but of what good pop music does, period.
The show was performed almost entirely in Spanish, a first in the event's nearly 60-year history. It was colourful and vibrant, and delivered more as an invitation, through earworm hooks, insatiable grooves and stage panache, to explore each other’s cultures and recognise that there are often more similarities than differences.
That alone makes it one of the more significant half-time shows of recent years, particularly in how its initial announcement fed into the culture wars engulfing America and in how it reflected the NFL’s ongoing efforts embrace its changing audience. This has run alongside the steady increase in players of Latin American heritage in the league, continuing a presence that has grown since Cuban American Lou Molinet turned out for Philadelphia’s Frankford Yellow Jackets in 1927.
“Que rico es ser Latino” – “How great it is to be Latino” – Bad Bunny declared as he stepped out at Levi’s Stadium, setting the tone for a performance that celebrated Puerto Rican culture in all its range. Each of the songs arrived with its own set piece, sketching a portrait that moved from agricultural history and economic contributions to intimate scenes of community life, from cafes and markets to moments that felt closer to weddings and neighbourhood gatherings than stadium spectacle.
The set opened with Titi Me Pregunto, a song that cemented Bad Bunny’s status as a pop force in 2022 and remains one of his most recognisable hits.
Built on an irresistible Dominican dembow rhythm, driven by rapid-fire percussion and call-and-response phrasing, Bad Bunny moved through a stylised village environment that evoked working life and community, from scenes recalling agricultural history to neighbourhood culture, including boxers, dancers and the local marqueta, a small hub of cafes and grocery stores that functions as a meeting point.
As the set progressed, the mood shifted without losing pace. The propulsive Yo Perreo Sola kept the party moving, followed by a brief nod to reggaeton history through the opening strains of Daddy Yankee’s 2004 anthem Gasolina, the song widely credited with bringing the genre to global attention. From there, Bad Bunny climbed a power line to deliver El Apagon, its searing lyrics addressing rolling power cuts, displacement and corruption in Puerto Rico.
That balance between fiesta and protest ran through the whole performance, which also featured guest appearances by Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin. Gaga performed a salsa-inflected version of Die With a Smile, backed by celebrated Puerto Rican ensemble Los Pleneros de la Cresta, whose rhythmic percussion draws on Afro-Puerto Rican traditions rooted in the island’s African heritage.
Martin’s contribution was smaller but no less symbolic. It is now 35 years since the release of his self-titled debut album, a record that helped position him as one of the first Puerto Rican artists to achieve sustained global pop success. His brief, near a cappella appearance felt less like a cameo than a quiet passing of the torch.
With such a compressed timeframe and constantly transforming sets, Bad Bunny rarely addressed the crowd directly. Instead, the messages were carried through song choice and imagery. During Nuevayol, he called out Spanish-speaking nations across Latin America, the Caribbean and Central America, alongside the US itself, echoing remarks he made at the Grammy Awards this month about America's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
The message was underlined in the closing moments, when he stood beneath a banner bearing the message: “The only thing stronger than hate is love.” It was a half-time show full of colour, verve and, most importantly, heart.
