Bad Bunny Delivers a Love Letter to Puerto Rico at Super Bowl Halftime

Bad Bunny opened the Super Bowl halftime in a beige football jersey labeled “OCASIO” with the number 64 and ended the set by spiking a football. The staging included a replica sugar-cane field, a wedding seemingly officiated onstage, and a New York–style street scene with a bodega, and it featured appearances by Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin.

The music threaded vintage salsa, traditional bomba and plena into reggaeton and dembow, favoring mostly organic sounds: a brassy salsa band and a white-clad band of plena percussionists. The show placed Puerto Rico at the center of a communal celebration, recognizing hard work—cane-cutting and electric-grid repairs—alongside dancing and parades.

Bad Bunny drew on his latest album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” and earlier hits while weaving cultural and political messages into the set. “Lo Que le Pasó a Hawaii” raised the worry that Puerto Rico’s culture could be overwhelmed by outsiders, and “El Apagón,” which mentions the island’s power failures, accompanied a sequence of workers on utility poles.

Puerto Rico

bad bunny, super bowl, halftime, puerto rico, reggaeton, salsa, plena, bomba, lady gaga, ricky martin