Why Bad Bunny's Super Bowl show will be a landmark moment for Puerto Rico

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NEW YORK (AP) — Crowds wore maga flowers and “pavas” — straw hats traditionally worn by jíbaros, Puerto Rican rural farmers. They drank Medalla beer and danced salsa.

Over the course of a 31-date residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Bad Bunny worked a miracle, inspiring patriotism in the hearts of a proud Boricua people, and in those traveling to Puerto Rico for the first time. He performed on two stages, one showcasing the island's natural beauty with its flamboyan and plantain trees, and another, a casita (“little house”), for the pari de marquesina, a house party.

If all the world's a stage — might as well make it home.

In February, it can be expected that the artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio will bring the same spirit to the 2026 Super Bowl. And he'll do so in Spanish — a landmark moment for Latino culture.

Bad Bunny's “No Me Quiero Ir De Aquí” residency (in English, “I Don’t Want to Leave Here”) bypassed a traditional U.S. tour, bringing approximately half a million people to the island during the slow summer tourism season and generating an estimated $733 million for Puerto Rico. Across three hours, attendees were guided through a musical history — reggaetón hits from Bad Bunny's singular discography as well as the folkloric styles of his latest album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.” (“I Should Have Taken More Photos.")

There was a political history, too: like in the affecting song “Lo Que Pasó a Hawaii,” (“What Happened to Hawaii”), a rallying cry for Puerto Rico's autonomy. Or 2022's “El Apagón” (“The Blackout”), in reference to Hurricane Maria, its aftermath and the continued anger and frustration over persistent, chronic power outages.

Of course, a Super Bowl halftime show traditionally runs 12 to 15 minutes. It's not a lot of time to bring Puerto Rico, or its complicated colonial history, to the NFL's mainstream — but it is enough for a taste.

It's worth mentioning Benito has done so before: making a surprise appearance at the Super Bowl in 2020, during Shakira and Jennifer Lopez's performance. He sang in Spanish alongside two artists whose bilingual hits helped usher in a crossover era for Latin music in the ‘00s. He’s a direct inheritor of their successes, and he's been able to kick the door down further — helping to establish an industry where Latino superstars need not record their music in English to have a career.

Bad Bunny is simultaneously an interesting and an obvious choice for the NFL: One of the most popular artists on the planet who understands that going global means embracing the local, performing during the most-watched television program of the year.

In a recent interview with i-D Magazine, Bad Bunny mentioned that one of the reasons his residency bypassed the continental U.S. were concerns around the mass deportations of Latinos.

“There was the issue of — like, (expletive) ICE could be outside (my concert). And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about,” he told the publication, referencing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ( Hundreds of people have been detained in Puerto Rico since large-scale arrests began in late January, surprising many in the U.S. territory that has long welcomed migrants.) It resonated with Latinos and the Spanish speaking community, who have grown increasingly weary amid growing anti-immigrant sentiment and raids, as President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and executive actions have vastly expanded who is eligible for deportation.

Bad Bunny has long been critical of Trump and backed Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. “I will never forget what Donald Trump did and what he did not do when Puerto Rico needed a caring and a competent leader,” he said in a video last year.

For some Trump supporters, Bad Bunny's booking at the 2026 Super Bowl is a divisive political pick. Conservative commentator Benny Johnson described Bad Bunny as an “anti-ICE activist" on Instagram.

Ryan Fournier, chair of Students for Trump, said that “whoever picks these people should be fired.”

For others, Bad Bunny's booking is cause for celebration. “Go get em Bad Bunny!" wrote Bruno Mars on X.

Roc Nation founder Jay-Z, who oversees the Super Bowl booking, said in a statement that what Bad Bunny has “done and continues to do for Puerto Rico is truly inspiring. We are honored to have him on the world’s biggest stage.”

At the very least, Bad Bunny, who performs in Spanish and will do so at the Super Bowl, is set to make history, further proving that connecting with a U.S. and international audience does not require singing in English.

The question is — what messages will Bad Bunny deliver in a culture where identity is politicized? And what does it mean that his performance arrives in the midst of one of the largest immigration crackdowns in U.S. history, where Latinos are especially vulnerable?

In February, Kendrick Lamar's 2025 Super Bowl halftime performance made art of his short set, offering a meta commentary on race and America. “The revolution ’bout to be televised,” he announced early in the performance.

It featured actor Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam, whose character critiqued the rapper and his dancers dressed in red, white and blue for being “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto,” reminding them to “play the game.” There was the sense that Lamar was breaking the fourth wall, reminding viewers of the NFL's political associations following Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling protests and the Black Lives Matter movement.

That Lamar was able to weave American themes into his history-making performance as the first solo hip-hop artist to ever headline the coveted slot will no doubt benefit Bad Bunny. At the very least, he may learn from the rapper's layered and conceptual narratives, that messages on the NFL stage do not need to be explicit to be effective.

At every date of his residency, Bad Bunny invited celebrities — among them LeBron James, Penélope Cruz and Kylian Mbappé — to join in his party. He also performed with many musicians, including Puerto Rico heavyweights Jowell y Randy, Arcángel and notably Marc Anthony. The pair duetted “Preciosa,” which is viewed as one of Puerto Rico’s unofficial anthems.

Written by Puerto Rican composer Rafael Hernández Marín in 1937, “Preciosa” references Puerto Rico’s hybrid identity — a mix of Spanish, African and the indigenous Taino cultures — and threats made to the island in its long colonial history. (“No importa el tirano te trate con negra maldad,” goes the chorus. “It doesn’t matter that the tyrant treats you with black hatred.”) It also arrived shortly after the 1937 Ponce massacre, in which a peaceful march organized by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party ended in a police shooting where 19 died and 200 were injured.

It's common for Super Bowl halftime performances to bring surprise guests into their sets — and no doubt Bad Bunny will do the same — but who he chooses will wait to be seen. If he pulls from the book of Lamar, any collaboration may have veiled political weight — informed by his residency, but softened for the NFL crowd.