This is a comment text. The author is responsible for the analysis and positioning in the text.
When it was announced in October that Bad Bunny would be performing in the Super Bowl halftime show, he issued a lengthy statement in Spanish expressing his gratitude. At the very end he switched to English and said:
“If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn it.”
All those fans who took his words seriously back then and have been learning Spanish since then had a head start when Bad Bunny’s 13-minute show started on Monday night Swedish time.
He kept his promise and the halftime show was the first in the NFL’s 60-year history to be performed almost entirely in Spanish. It also became unique in more ways than one as it was the first to fully embrace Latin American heritage and everyday life (although Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s 2020 Super Bowl show, hosted by Bad Bunny, should be mentioned here).
It was a tribute to the land where he was born, with sugar cane plantation workers, coconut sellers and a loving Latino wedding – all with Lady Gaga performing as the icing on the cake.
For the rare scenographic show, or should we call it the musical, Bad Bunny invited the hundreds of millions of television viewers to his Puerto Rico – seen through a shimmering nostalgic lens. It was a tribute to the country where he was born, with sugar cane plantation workers, coconut sellers and a lovely Latino wedding thrown in for good measure – with Lady Gaga performing as the icing on the cake, dancing with the star to his “Baile inolvidable”. In one of the most nostalgic moments of the series, the elderly Ricky Martin, a musical pioneer, also appeared.
There was a wink here to Daddy Yankee’s huge hit “Gasolina,” which put reggaeton music on the world map and paved the way for Bad Bunny’s success. And their own song “Nuevayol,” which celebrates the Puerto Rican diaspora in New York. During the protest song “El Apagón” (“The Blackout”), there was even a scene of broken power poles – a reference to Puerto Rico’s recurring power outages and how the U.S. government dealt with the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017.
In short, packed 13 minutes in which some details inevitably passed us non-Spanish speakers by, which was Bad Bunny’s main argument. For a few minutes, he shattered cultural hegemony and invited the culture in which a large part of the US population feels most at home. The same population that is now appalled at how the Trump administration is demonizing Latino immigrants and politicizing Spanish.
Ahead of the performance, the big question was whether Bad Bunny would use the opportunity to take political action against Trump or ICE – or whether he would let the music speak for itself. Now he chose a middle ground where the content of his show and the fact that he sings in Spanish became political in itself during a messed up time.
After saying “God bless America” in English, Bad Bunny listed countries in South and Central America – a powerful moment of inclusivity and acceptance. At the same time, the message “The only thing stronger than hate is love” shone on a large billboard behind him.
Donald Trump was not slow to react. In a post on Truth Social, he complained that “no one understands what this guy is saying” and criticized the show as “one of the worst – ever!”
An opinion that he must be pretty much alone. That was objectively brilliant.
Read more:
Kajsa Haidl: Will Bad Bunny cause a political conflagration at this weekend’s Super Bowl?
Turning Point is organizing an alternative halftime show during the Super Bowl
