Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time show was one big love letter to his native Puerto Rico, culminating in a message of pride in his home and the Americas, and an appeal for unity with the US.
The 14-minute set included guest performances from Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, along with cameos from the likes of Pedro Pascal, Cardi B, Karol G and Jessica Alba, who could be seen dancing on the porch of his famous casita, a staple of his shows designed to look like a traditional Puerto Rican home.
The 31-year-old, who was the world’s most-played artist in 2025 according to Spotify, made history by becoming the first musician to perform entirely in Spanish at a Super Bowl, which is normally the most-watched event on US TV.
He did choose to say one line in English, “God bless America”, before listing nations of Central, South and North America as dancers carried their flags.
Behind them, a billboard message read “The only thing more powerful than hate is love”, and he held a football at the end of the segment bearing the slogan in English: “Together, We Are America.”
However, Bad Bunny, real name Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, did not use his performance to make any explicit political statements against the current US administration.
Despite that, US president Donald Trump, who did not attend this year’s Super Bowl, called Bad Bunny’s set “absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!” on his social media platform Truth Social.
He added that it was “an affront to the Greatness of America” and “nobody understands a word this guy is saying”.
An alternative event, the All-American Halftime Show, was organised by Turning Point USA and was headlined by Trump-supporting singer Kid Rock.
Bad Bunny’s performance at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, marked the first time the singer and rapper has performed in the United States since releasing last year’s Grammy Award-winning album Debí Tirar Más Fotos (I Should Have Taken More Photos).
Puerto Rico, which is a self-governing territory of the USA, was at the heart of everything in this performance, from his early emergence from a sugarcane field to a set that was meant to represent the sounds and sights of the place he calls home.
Transporting himself through a Latin landscape, with set pieces that included everything from a nail salon to a bar, the Grammy award winner reeled off a medley of his biggest hits, including Tití Me Preguntó, MONACO and BAILE INoLVIDABLE.
Family also featured heavily – from a young couple getting married in a crowd full of Latino dancers to the symbolic moment of Bad Bunny handing his Grammy award to a small child as his 2026 acceptance speech played on a small television.
Climbing an electricity pylon – symbolising the infrastructure that was ruined during the devastating storm – and rapping at the same time, he appeared to pay tribute to the people who died in the 2017 Hurricane Maria.
Bad Bunny further spread a message with his outfit – wearing a beige sweater emblazoned with the number 64.
It could represent the official death toll, which turned out to be significantly lower than the estimated thousands who died.
President Trump’s administration was criticised at the time by Puerto Ricans who said it failed to provide the same federal support compared to hurricanes that had occurred on the mainland.
There were no direct criticisms of President Trump, which some saw as a surprise after his two acceptance speeches at last week’s Grammy Awards, which he used as an opportunity to speak out against ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officers.
In his Grammy speech after winning best música urbana album, Bad Bunny called for “ICE out”.
Last year, he opted not to bring his world tour to the US mainland, telling i-D magazine he was worried his fans would be targeted by ICE officers.
He also said there were “many reasons” he would not be performing in the US this time around and “none of them were out of hate”.
Elements of Bad Bunny’s tour set, which has travelled to Central and South America and soon heads to Australia, Japan and Europe, were woven throughout Sunday’s performance.
This included his casita, a house which has gone viral on social media several times for its celebrity guests.
Tonight was no different, with Pedro Pascal, Jessica Alba and Cardi B dancing on stage.
Overcoming some early sound issues, the performer leaned heavily on hits from his most recent album, with EoO and DtMF providing some of the high points of the show.
It was not his first time on the Super Bowl stage – he made a guest appearance with Shakira in 2020 – and he brought confidence as the main star. He swaggered from one corner of the stage to the next all while delivering strong vocals.
Lady Gaga was on hand to bring a salsa-inspired rendition of her Bruno Mars collaboration Die With A Smile, and fellow Puerto Rican pop star Ricky Martin sang Lo Que Le Pasó A Hawaii, a song which warns Puerto Ricans to not allow their culture to be erased.
Bad Bunny ended his performance by shouting “God Bless America” and naming multiple countries and territories, including Puerto Rico and the US, with those two flags carried behind him side-by-side.
Sunday’s show represented the best of Latin culture on the sporting world’s biggest stage.
