It wasn't a Super Bowl halftime show, but a medium-time show. It was not just a celebration of America, but a redefinition of its meaning and boundaries. From Tití asked me sung in a recreated sugarcane field in Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California at the final football drop, last night's 13-minute Bad Bunny show wasn't just a celebration of Puerto Rico, as expected, but a broader, more inclusive idea of America, an alternative to the MAGA vision. Hunted in the streets by ICE special forces, the Latin Americans ended up yesterday ideally at the center of the biggest television show of the year. The United States is not America. No wonder Donald Trump considered it “an affront to the greatness of America.”
It is an intent made clear right from the writing that at least a hundred million Americans found themselves before their eyes on TV: “The medium tiempo show of the Súper Tazón” with Bad Bunny singing Tití asked me among the sugar cane stalks, the workers with the pavawhich is the typical straw hat of Puerto Rico, the old men playing dominoes, the banquet of coco frio and that of piragua. There, in the midst of a community that is one of the key words of the show, Bad Bunny brought the football symbol of the evening. For the first time in history a performer sang the entire halftime show in Spanish, bringing to the playing field a piece of Puerto Rican culture which is considered half American and which went through, in Bad Bunny's youth, devastating economic and environmental crises and which has an unresolved relationship with the United States being an unincorporated territory. The halftime show and residency for summer 2025 I don't want to go there of which it is an appendix they say the same thing: Puerto Rico should be a place to stay, not to emigrate from. Puerto Rico is also America.
Wearing a white shirt with the number 64, the year of his mother's birth, Bad Bunny then ended up on the roof of the casitathe reproduction of the traditional pink Puerto Rican house at the center of his show and which at the Californian stadium was full of stars and more: Jessica Alba, Pedro Pascal, Karol G, Cardi B, Alix Earle, David Grutman, Young Miko, Toñita, Ronald Acuña Jr. In front of them, the corps de ballet. The show was bigger than the music, in the first part a concentration of reggaeton pieces choreographed with the singer who sang on the roof of a pick-up applauded by a frog who appeared on the big screen, the coqui of his shows adopted as a symbol of resistance to ICE raids. The image was clear: outside a government that considers Latin to be an alien culture to be forcefully eradicated, inside the stadium people dancing and celebrating their culture, if not their existence.
If the presence of Ricky Martin among the banana trees and sitting on the plastic chairs on the cover of You need to take more photos represented a sort of handover between generations of Puerto Ricans, the big surprise was the salsa version of Die with a Smile with Lady Gaga appearing in more sober clothing than usual – it was overall a show from Zara rather than from a big brand – in the midst of the celebration of a wedding (apparently real, not simulated). A descendant of Italian immigrants, Gaga was the only one to sing in English. Bad Bunny also chose Spanish for the spoken parts and held up the flag of Puerto Rico for The apagon: “Puerto Rico está bien cabrón”. And then: “The capital of Perreo, now everyone wants to be Latino.” He even gave the Grammy to a child who, in the stage fiction, was watching the singer's acceptance speech at the record industry awards, when he said the famous “ICE Out!”.
Bad Bunny made it clear that Latinos are Americans in the finale, the clearest political statement, which came after the singer climbed a light pole, a symbol of the island's frequent blackouts due to old and inadequate infrastructure. While the words “The only thing more powerful than hate and love” were written on the screen, Bad Bunny walked towards the room with the symbol of the day, the football. Followed by dancers with flags representing all of America, not just the Stars and Stripes, he said perhaps the only phrase in English, “God bless America”, and made it clear what he means by America. Not the backyard of the United States, but the list of states that make it up, from Argentina to Venezuela, a very powerful list. “Seguimos aquí”, we are still here. He showed the writing on the ball, “Together we are America” and threw it forcefully onto the pitch. Thirteen minutes of joy condensed into a gesture of strength.
Trump had said he would not watch the halftime show, an affront to his idea of America. Shortly after the end of the show, and before the conclusion of the game in which the Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29-13, he had his say on Truth. « Nobody understands a word this guy says and the dancing is disgusting. This “show” is just a “slap in the face” to our country.” And again: «You will see, he will receive excellent reviews from the media that spread fake news, because they don't have the slightest idea of what is happening in the REAL WORLD».
Set list (the show at this link):
Tití asked me
I'm alone
Safaera
Party
Voy a llevarte pa' pr
Eoo
Monk
Die with a Smile with Lady Gaga
Inolvidable bail
Nuevayol
Lo que le pasó in Hawaii with Ricky Martin
The apagon
Café with ron
You need to take more photos
