Bad Bunny’s Symbolic Super Bowl Halftime Performance
Photo via Instagram
Benito Ocasio, better known as Bad Bunny, is a singer, rapper and producer originally from Puerto Rico. This incredibly well-versed artist has demonstrated his already overwhelming power, influence and demand with completely sold-out concerts all over Europe, Latin America and the U.S. This past Sunday he showed his true star power as the Super Bowl LX Halftime performer.
Prior to this show though, Bad Bunny had been on an incredible run. Just last week he made history as the first artist to win Album of the Year for a project sang completely in Spanish for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. Some more stats for you music nerds out there: Bad Bunny has over 19 billion streams on Spotify which gave him the title of Spotify’s Global top Artist for 3years in a row, gaining the title again just last year.
In the commercial promoting the halftime performance, the caption reads “on February 8, the world will dance.” The video is of people of different ages, ethnicities, and genders, dancing around the singer. A perfect example of what America has always been, unity through diversity. There has been a lot of chatter surrounding the message that he was going to make during the performance, especially following the statement he made during his Grammy acceptance speech. There were claims that he wore a bulletproof vest both at the Grammy’s and during the halftime show. He feared that speaking out might put a target on his back.
Photo via Instagram
For the halftime performance he chose to highlight love and light. Spreading the phrases, “Together, We Are America.” and “The only thing more powerful than hate is love”. The entire performance was centered around Benito’s Puerto Rican heritage and important staples within the community that he grew up in. It featured jibaros in pavas (rural farmers in straw hats), piragua stands and more. Also featured briefly was the mascot for his most recent album. The mascot is Sapo Concho, an endangered frog species native to Puerto Rico.
He had a special guest song by Lady Gaga who was dressed in a custom gown made by Dominican-American designer Raul Lopez. Also making a cameo was Ricky Martin. Dancing and also making appearances on one of the sets was Pedro Pascal, Cardi B, Karol G, and more. At the end of the set, Bad Bunny closed out the performance by listing off every country in North, South, Central, and Latin America. Along with the naming of each country, a group of people were dancing around the singer waving flags of each country. The camera cuts to show the Puerto Rican singer holding a football with the saying “Together, We Are America.” The symbolism and the cultural significance of this performance is something that will continue to be discussed for decades to come.