“The revolution’s ‘bout to be televised, you picked the right time but the wrong guy” is what Kendrick Lamar stated during his halftime show performance last year, and he was right. The Super Bowl Halftime Show has been used as a political platform in recent years by integrating symbolism into performances. An example of this is Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, who used elements in their performance to symbolize the immigration crisis at the United States-Mexico border. It was Kendrick Lamar who took this to another level by staging his whole performance around the dark history of Black Americans in the United States and warning Americans about the political state of the US. This year, Bad Bunny (a Puerto Rican artist) took the biggest stage in the US this past Sunday, showcasing his popular music. Conversely, Bad Bunny was considered a controversial pick, as some claimed he did not ‘embody’ a “true American” because he does not sing in English. Despite this, Bad Bunny’s performance was intertwined with deeper meanings of the history of the Americas, his homeland, and the prevalent political issues in the United States.
Why was the halftime performer pick controversial?
Bad Bunny has previously taken political stances on the issues surrounding United States and Puerto Rican politics for years now. Puerto Rico’s relationship with the United States dates back over 125 years. Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, which was acquired by the US during the Spanish-American War. After 1 year of self-rule from Spain, the US invaded the island in July for economic and military advantages, and fully occupied it by August. A couple of months later, in December, the Treaty of Paris was signed, agreeing to the cession of Puerto Rico. Ever since, there has been friction between the Puerto Rican people and the US and Puerto Rican governments, with constant oppression, such as the Jones Act of 1920. This law, according to Medium, inflates costs up to 4 times, causing a 13% increase in the cost of living compared to the United States. This, alongside the exemption of massive tax loopholes for corporations, put the country into a major recession (the 2006 Puerto Rico budget crisis) that is still felt today.
Throughout Bad Bunny’s career, he has called out the Trump administration for its response to Hurricane Maria in 2017 and, most notably, its immigration policies. In his music video “NUEVAYol,” an imitation of Trump’s voice says, “I made a mistake. I want to apologize to the immigrants in America. I mean the United States. I know America is the whole continent. I want to say that this country is nothing without the immigrants. This country is nothing without Mexicans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians, Venezuelans, Cubans,” and then gets shut off by the men in the video (NUEVAYol). This is one reason why many find him controversial. Additionally, his music is predominantly in Spanish, with him stating in an interview in Vanity Fair in 2023 that he is more comfortable with it, but many people in the United States are not accustomed to music that they cannot understand lyrically. The NFL backed up their choice by stating that they want the Super Bowl to have a global reach, rather than just an American audience, and his stats support that. Bad Bunny, for the fourth year (last time in 2022), claimed Spotify’s Global Top Artist in 2025, achieving 19.8 billion streams in 2025 according to Spotify.
The Half-Time Show
Bad Bunny staged the show around the tropical climate of Puerto Rico. He opened the show with an overhead view of sugarcane fields. There were jíbaros in pavas (rural farmers in traditional straw hats) hacking at the stalks. This harkens back to the beginnings of colonialism in Puerto Rico, where enslaved individuals were forced to harvest sugarcane for the settlers. The hat represents the rural Puerto Rican identity. After singing a few hit songs, “Tití Me Preguntó” & “Yo Perreo Sola,” he introduces himself in Spanish to the crowd.
“Mi nombre es Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio y si hoy estoy aquí en el Super Bowl 60, es porque nunca, nunca dejé de creer en mí y tú también deberías de creer en ti, vales más de lo que piensas.”
English Translation: “My name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, and if I’m here today at Super Bowl 60, it’s because I never, ever stopped believing in myself, and you should also believe in yourself, you’re worth more than you think.” A message to everyone to never stop believing, even if you are not the typical standard.
During “El Apagón” (The Blackout), Bad Bunny brought out the light blue version of the Puerto Rican flag. This flag represents the independence movement of the island when it was a colony of Spain. When the US ceased control of the island, it changed the color to a dark blue to match the color of the US flag. Displays of the light blue flag were banned to suppress the independence movement. According to CBC, Bad Bunny has stood with the political party that seeks independence from the United States. Simultaneously, he and the jíbaros danced on power lines representing the frequent power outages and the unreliability of the power grid. When he brought out Ricky Martin to sing “LO QUE LE PASO A HAWAii,” they expressed their concern about how they do not want to become the next Hawaii, letting their island be gentrified and lose its culture.
At the end of the performance, Bad Bunny exclaimed, “God Bless América.” He followed by naming countries in the Americas, seen as a message that America includes all of the Americas, not only the United States. Then, his message to Puerto Rico: “And my motherland, mi patria, Puerto Rico, seguimos aquí” (My homeland, Puerto Rico, we are still here). He ends the show with “DTMF” joined with representatives from all the countries he named along with musicians. Bad Bunny calls all people to come together at this difficult time and help one another, rather than hurt and tear each other apart. He displayed on the jumbotrons in the stadium, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” indicating that he believes that this is the cure to the divisions in the United States and worldwide.
Bad Bunny has shown that there is light despite how troubling our society can be. It goes hand in hand with the message of Kendrick Lamar’s half-time performance last year. With Lamar highlighting the problems and critiquing the United States political landscape, Bad Bunny provides a solution: speak out, love, and unite. With the political climate continuing to worsen in the United States, it is a reminder to not lose sight of hope but to continue advocating for change.
