Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime performance showcases love and Latino pride — and sparks Trump's scorn

badness bunny girl promised a high-energy party ahead of his Super Bowl halftime show performance — and the "King of Latin Trap" delivered.

The 31-year-old Puerto Rican superstar took to an elaborate set depicting a landscape from his home island on Saturday night, performing 13 tracks in just under that many minutes at the halftime show put on by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and Apple Music.

Kicking off the night with a rendition of Tití Me Preguntó, Bad Bunny strutted through the set past symbols of Puerto Rican life and culture in an all-white suit. 

The performance atop music’s biggest stage is part of a victory lap after a banger year for the Puerto Rican artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio. The release of his massively successful sixth studio album, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, helped make him the most streamed artist in the world in 2025, according to Spotify.

He played a 30-day residency in Puerto Rico last year and will soon set out touring that album in Europe, Latin America and Asia. This comes on the heels of the star’s big wins at the Grammys just last weekend — including making history with the first all-Spanish language record to win album of the year, for the aforementioned DtMF.

The performance was checkered with references to Puerto Rico — from dancers in pava hats, women at a makeshift nail salon and older men playing dice around a table, to the classic dessert Benito picks up from a roadside stand, or the typical Puerto Rican house — la casita — which Bad Bunny crashed through the roof of part way through the performance. Inside the casita at the star’s mock house party, some Latin celebs could be spotted, including Karol G, Jessica Alba and Pedro Pascal.

But this wasn’t the first time Benito graced the stage at the Super Bowl. Shakira and Jennifer Lopez (both of whom cheered him on ahead of the performance) brought Bad Bunny out as a guest in 2020 when they co-headlined the event, in what the duo said would be a landmark moment for Latino culture and music.

And while Spanish language genres were on display then, tonight is arguably a bigger landmark: Bad Bunny performed solely in Spanish, making him the first halftime act to do so. 

In classic halftime show tradition, Bad Bunny didn’t come alone, either. Lady Gaga joined him on stage, borrowing some classic salsa sound for a dance-y version of her song with Bruno Mars, Die With A Smile, before taking the main act’s hand for a brief dance. 

Bad Bunny then burst into a performance of NUEVAYoL surrounded by backup dancers before handing a Grammy award to a little boy grinning from ear to ear, who many viewers took to represent a younger version of Benito himself. Some commenters online thought the boy bore similarities to five year old Liam Ramos, however — a young boy who was picked up by ICE alongside his father last month.

While the singer wasn't sending an overt political message, some of the song choices made a statement. With backup dancers dangling from power lines and the stadium lights flashing, Bad Bunny sang El Apagón — which translates to "The Blackout," in reference to socioeconomic issues in Puerto Rico, and the frequent power outages its citizens experience. Fellow Puerto Rican Ricky Martin also came out to sing one of bad Bunny's tracks about fears of gentrification at home on a set that mirrored the album cover art for DtMF.

Whether or not the Puerto Rican star would get political was a big question hanging over the performance in the lead-up to it last week, given Bad Bunny has been critical of Trump and his immigration enforcement policies in the past, and following his critical message for ICE at the Grammys.

Still, politics were bound to be in play, given the critical reaction from some Conservatives when Bad Bunny was first announced as the headliner in September. 

Conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA aired a counter-program billed as the "All-American Half Time Show," which went on at the same time.

There, Kid Rock took the stage as the headliner, joined by country artists Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett in a performance that started with an electric guitar rendition of the U.S. National anthem before launching into rock and country tracks with America-centric themes.

That alternative show is the one U.S. President Donald Trump said he’d be watching. In January, Trump told the New York Post that he wouldn’t be attending the Super Bowl — mostly due to distance, though he also said he didn’t like Bad Bunny or opening ceremonies act Green Day. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt also told media last week that the president preferred a Kid Rock performance over a Bad Bunny one.

Following halftime, however, the president focused his attention on Bad Bunny’s performance, calling it one of the worst halftime shows ever and a "slap in the face" to America on Truth Social.

In the end, Benito championed love and Latino pride over any outright digs. As a chorus of singers belted the longing DtMF, the title track from Bad Bunny’s most recent album, the star led a lineup of flagbearers waving the flags of various Latin American countries, expressing love for the nations.

“God bless America,” the singer said, before listing Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, too, plus a number of other countries from the Americas — including Canada — and holding up a football that said "Together, we are America."

And behind him on a screen in the stadium, one simple statement in all caps displayed for the stadium to see, reading "The only thing more powerful than hate is love."

Journalist

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