On Feb. 8, Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny, the most streamed artist in the world, took one of the biggest stages in music history. While this wasn’t his first time performing at the Super Bowl, it was his first time as the headliner.
Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, is a well-known cultural icon for the Puerto Rican and Latino community. Fresh off winning three Grammys, Benito took the Super Bowl stage with purpose and passion. It was no surprise that the artist was going all out in the weeks leading up to the event.
In interviews, he mentioned multiple times that subtitles would not be added to his performance. He even told viewers they had “four months to learn Spanish,” since no translation would be provided. This decision reflected his refusal to cater to anyone else’s audience. The performance was made by people of his culture, for his culture, and was rich with everyday life symbolism from his home, Puerto Rico.
To start the performance, Bad Bunny wasted no time showcasing his culture. He was seen in sugar cane fields surrounded by people working the crops. As he walked through, he passed different scenes that represented everyday life in Puerto Rico: a coco frío stand selling coconuts, older men playing dominoes in the street, and even a piragua stand.
Shortly after a real couple got officially married before the audience’s eyes, Lady Gaga took the stage to sing a salsa-inspired version of “Die with a Smile,” followed by “Baile Inolvidable.” The wedding soon turned into a lively dance party. This is also where we saw the now-famous scene of Benito waking up a child who had fallen asleep on a row of chairs. Viewers quickly took to social media to say they related to this moment as a “canon event.”
Next, Bad Bunny fell backward off a platform and was caught by a crowd of people, beginning the transition into the song “Nueva Yol,” which captures the Puerto Rican experience in New York. In the background, familiar bodegas and shops could be seen as people danced around him.
As the performance continued, Ricky Martin appeared and performed “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii,” which translates to “What Happened to Hawaii.” The song referenced a controversial political conversation about Puerto Rico’s resistance to becoming a U.S. state, like Hawaii. As Martin finished, electrical poles in the background sparked and exploded while workers climbed them. As the camera panned closer, Bad Bunny emerged from tall grass carrying a Puerto Rican flag over his shoulder, singing “El Apagón,” or “The Blackout.”
This scene symbolized the period after Hurricane Maria when Puerto Rico went nearly a year without consistent power due to a lack of U.S. aid. Bad Bunny even climbed a tower himself with no harness or equipment, standing on top with only a small railing—a likely nod to the many citizens who risked their lives trying to restore electricity on their own.
To close the show, Bad Bunny took the field and said, “God bless America,” but he wasn’t referring only to the United States. As he walked down the sugar cane rows with flag bearers behind him, he listed every major Spanish-speaking, North American and South American country. When he said “God bless America,” he meant all of the Americas—Puerto Rico, South America, and even gave a shoutout to Canada.
For this performance, Benito didn’t come to cater to English speakers. His people and his culture have a deep, rich history that many may not know. As he’s done many times before, Bad Bunny used his platform to highlight the everyday life and hardships of his people on one of the biggest stages in the world. Experiences and cultural moments like these can only be understood by living in Puerto Rico—or now, by watching Bad Bunny’s record-breaking halftime show.
