Tan condenadamente bueno!
On Saturday, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared Super Bowl Sunday to be Bad Bunny Day in California. Today, Bad Bunny himself took center field at the Super Bowl halftime show and made the day for everyone, Spanish-speaking and otherwise.
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Aside from all the MAGA foot stamping & NFL audience ambitions Bunny had to endure on the way to Sunday’s big show, the recently minted Album of the Year winner faced a very high bar to meet or surpass last year’s tour de force from Kendrick Lamar. Yet, rising to a challenge, and the moment, has often been one of the major flexes of Bunny a.k.a. Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio’s success.
And tonight’s performance was a complex and compelling success.
(L-R) Pedro Pascal, Karol G and Cardi B perform onstage during the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show at Levi’s Stadium Feb. 8, 2026 in Santa Clara, Calif.
Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Joined by Lady Gaga (singing a salsa rendition of “Die with a Smile”) and Ricky Martin (covering the artist’s “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii”) at different points, Bunny exclaimed to the crowd at home and in Levi’s Stadium to “dance without fear, speak without fear” as a Puerto Rican flag waved behind him.
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Under the last vestiges of the California afternoon sun, a phalanx of dancers, fruit vendors, piragua sellers, boxers, telephone pole repairmen, that trademark Concho toad, a string section, a real-life wedding, flags of the hemisphere’s nations and migrant workers clad in the emblematic pavas, the global superstar was blunt in his mantra of the day that “the only thing more powerful than hate is love.” His signature Casita (which he exuberantly crashed through the roof of at one point) housed a murderer’s row of celebrities, including Pedro Pascal, Jessica Alba and collaborators Young Miko, Karol G and Cardi B.
If the cheers from the more than 60,000 in the home of the San Francisco 49ers were any indication, there was a lot of love in the house. When Bunny handed his Best Album Grammy to a young boy who was reminiscent of Liam Conejo Ramos — the 5-year-old recently freed after being kidnapped and detained by ICE — the whole place picked up what he was really putting down and went wild.
Which is why, in an America torn apart by gaping ideological, racial and wealth divides, the proud puertorriqueño Grammy winner nailed it today by transforming the cavernous concrete Santa Clara stadium into a sweat soaked San Juan nightclub for 13 hip-shaking minutes.
Certainly, the vibe and groove were welcome reliefs after the low-scoring and low-energy first half of the latest Super Bowl battle between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. While, the cultural and political significance of Bad Bunny’s performance cannot be denied, up until the actual halftime show, the potency and nuance of his music seemed to get short shrift.
However, with the opening notes of the reggaeton and rhythm-infused hit “Tití Me Preguntó,” Bunny effortlessly shifted and raised the energy, launching into what he promised would be a media spectacle for the Super Bowl.
His triumphant and ebullient block party-esque celebration of Latinidad featured a medley of songs old and new, spanning albums Un Verano Sin Ti and history-making Debí Tirar Más Fotos.
Clad in a structured white suit featuring his last name and the number 64 on his back, Bunny shimmied through his deep bench of hits like “Yo Perreo Sola,” “Party,” “VOY A LLeVARTE PA PR,” “EoO,” “Monaco,” “BAILE INoLVIDABLE,” “NUEVAYoL,” “El Apagón” and a pulsating house remix of “CAFé CON RON” (as well as the few distinct rump-shaking notes of Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina”). Ever the showman, the King of Latin Trap stage-dived into the hands of his energetic dancers, before the scenery shifted from the Jíbaro fields to the Nuevayol locales of a local bodega and barbershop.
A couple marries during Bad Bunny’s performance onstage (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
His performance took place in front of attendees including Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Adam Sandler, Range Media chief Peter Micelli, tennis legend Roger Federer, Mark Wahlberg, Gov. Newsom, Jon Bon Jovi (who intro’d the Patriots), Chris Pratt (who intro’d the Seahawks), Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber, Travis Scott, Hall of Fame NFL icons, avowed Bunny fan Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx, Kendall Jenner, Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Rob Lowe, J Balvin and no Donald Trump.
Even with protests outside and a brief message transmitted via the jumbotron, there was no explicit “ICE out” from Bunny like at last week’s Grammys. It may disappoint some, but he didn’t need to go there and let an already-rabid MAGA froth all over the night. Instead, as a lame ass Kid Rock-led “All-American” alternative halftime played out on far-right media, the rap-pop superstar put on a celebration of excellence and spotlighted some of the best of 21st century America — with an unsentimental look at some of the worst.
“God Bless America,” he said, before listing the various nations that make up the Americas: Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, Republica Dominicana, Jamaica, Haiti, Antillas, United States, Canada. Finally shouting out Puerto Rico, he lifted up a football reading “Together, we are America,” punting it and then launching into the boundless “DtMF,” a nostalgia-tinged crowd- pleaser that begs to be chanted alongside a crowd.
Surrounded by palm trees, bamboo and foliage on the field where the 9-0 Seahawks-leading game had been minutes before, the global musician’s decision to center resilience, culture and delight proved to be the biggest and most poignant middle finger to the cruel abductions, deportations and killings by federal immigration agents.
For all the huffing, puffing and controversary in MAGA circles over Bunny being picked by the NFL and Jay-Z to be the inaugural Spanish-speaking solo halftime show headliner, the Happy Gilmore 2 actor’s stint on stage tonight was a bit of a rerun. Six years ago, Bad Bunny made a guest appearance at Super Bowl LIV with Jennifer Lopez and Shakira (who wished him good luck tonight on social media) for a verse from “I Like It” and “Chantaje.”
Today — with the rest of the world looping American music back to us in its own colors and themes the way the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin harnessed the Blues back in the 1960s from the UK to the USA — unleashed his rise to marquee act. Watching tonight’s halftime show, which is often hailed for the exposure it brings to its stars, it should come as no surprise that Bunny has been one of the most successful and streamed artists on the planet the past five years.
Bad Bunny stage-dives during his performance.
Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
Honed by his 30+ show No Me Quiero Ir de Aqui (I Don’t Want to Leave Here) residency back home in Puerto Rico last year, Bunny leaned a bit on the tried-and-true, and, like Lamar last year, pivoted into the now. In that vein, both popular and subversive in the tradition of Louis Armstrong, Lin Manuel Miranda, Edith Piaf, Fela Kuti and the “Not Like Us” rapper, Bunny has been playing the long game since the beginning — which is what brought him to the big game today.
Earlier this week in a sit-down with halftime show sponsors Apple Music and even earlier via his teaser trailer, the “Otro Atardecer” crooner told fans and foes alike what to expect tonight. “It’s better if they learn to dance,” he said, cutting to the chase. After the Spanish-language spectacle that went down Sunday, if friend and foe weren’t dancing they really missed the point of the biggest picture of all in America 2026.