Bad Bunny’s halftime show during Super Bowl LX didn’t just bring joy to the Latino community, but also brought consciousness to a bittersweet American audience that is currently experiencing an extreme wave of law enforcement against immigrants under the current Trump administration.
The show celebrated a lot of the Puerto Rican culture, like its traditional cornfields, as well as real establishments from Puerto Rico — like Lalo’s Barber Shop and Toñita’s, the last Latino social club in the Williamsburg neighborhood in New York City.
Bad Bunny started the show in the cornfields and made his way to “La Casita”, which was a pink house that represented a traditional home in Puerto Rico, singing his song “Safaera.” On the house’s porch you could see lots of famous celebrities, like influencer Alex Earle, actor Pedro Pascal and rapper Cardi B.
Following that moment, a perfect violin melody starts playing the song “Monaco,” and Bad Bunny used that energy to give a powerful message to society. “If I am here in Super Bowl 60, it’s because I never, never stopped believing in me and you should also believe in yourself,” he said, sharing advice that deeply resonated with me. I sadly grew up seeing many Latinos like me see themselves as less capable of achieving our life goals, whether personal or professional. So that so-called “American Dream” of a glamorous world full of opportunities seemed so far from my reality. As we grow older, it became more clear that we trace our own path. We are the ones that can put ourselves in that distant dream we once had. With our warm, vibrant and passionate way of living, us Latinos can get way further than we thought possible. It was this energy that Bad Bunny showed the world that night. After all, words were not needed to understand and feel his powerful messages about inclusion throughout the performance, like many non-Apanish speakers emphasized after the halftime show.
Talking about non-Spanish speakers, one was singing on the stage — “Roma-, roma-ma- / Gaga, ooh, la-la” — the icon Lady Gaga, who was singing “Die With A Smile” in a salsa-style. At first I was confused seeing an American singer in a show full of Latino people; a show that was made to showcase Latin culture. Soon, though, I realized that Bad Bunny’s intention was never to divide those two cultures, but to bring them together. I could feel his connection to Gaga. There were no barriers between them; backgrounds and ethnicities were not in play — the only aspect that mattered during that part of the performance was their hearts and intentions.
Lady Gaga, however, wasn’t merely just Bad Bunny’s guest. The superstar initially appeared on stage as the singer of a real wedding that took place on stage. No, you didn’t read that wrong — the groom and bride got legally married at the halftime show. Such a sweet moment! When I saw the bride and the groom, I knew it couldn’t be just an act. Bad Bunny is such an incredible artist that I believe sending a message wasn’t enough for him — he needed immediate action. After the groom kissed the bride, the wedding party started, getting to my favorite part of the performance: when Bad Bunny woke up a little boy that was “sleeping” on the wedding chairs. Immediate tears formed in my eyes — not just because it brought back memories of my childhood, but also because it referenced such a sweet specific moment of our lives, almost forgotten in time, dare I say, that it was like a movie going through my head. Many people didn’t understand the reference, but in Latin American weddings it is very common for parents to put a couple of chairs together for their kids to sleep, since us Latinos do like to party until the morning! In that scene I could see the seven year-old me, sleeping on those chairs and dreaming about having a wedding too — not quite because of the love yet, but to have a party like that myself.
Soon, a TV appeared on stage streaming a clip of Bad Bunny winning a Grammy about a week before the halftime performance. You can see a mom, a dad and a little boy watching the award ceremony from their staged living room set. Suddenly, Bad Bunny appears and gives his Grammy trophy to the kid, who represented his younger self. This might sound repetitive, but that was a very sweet moment from our “Benito” — the Puerto Rican kid who still lives inside the extraordinary artist we call Bad Bunny. That scene served as a reminder that you have to believe in yourself to achieve your dreams — mirroring the advice given by the singer earlier in the show. He was once that kid; weren’t we all?
The final part of the performance was by far the most powerful and I would risk saying, the most political one. “God bless America,” Bad Bunny said as he started listing every single country in America — America is a continent, and he made that clear. Right away, the flags from each country appear, each being carried by a different person. Together they exited the field with Bad Bunny to the sound of “DtMF” with the big LED board in the background stating “The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” a line from Bad Bunny’s Grammy speech. No one, not even myself, can describe the feeling of seeing your flag in that performance. We felt heard, we felt part of something bigger than hate, we felt love.
